Adequate Sleep Is Necessary for Sanity and Success | Hacker News Reader

Adequate Sleep Is Necessary for Sanity and Success

ryanholiday.net

56 pointsjseliger27 comments

Sleep (quantity, quality), work on sth you like, work out, eat good food, and sharing and receiving love. It is not only about sleep but sleep indeed is fundamental.

Work on shit you like that pays you well.

It’s this second part that’s the stumbling block for most of humanity.

I remember one night tossing and turning unable to sleep. I was severely behind on project. I eventually said "f sleep" woke up and made quick working prototype. Various other emotional disturbance prevents regular sleep schedule

OTOH, I remember handful of nights severely stuck on something, fighting sleep at 2 am trying to fix something, eventually saying "f work" and going to sleep.

Next morning, while in the shower, a possible solution had popped in my head out of thin air. By lunch I had solved it.

I now try the "sleep over it" approach before losing sleep over it.

The trick is knowing which of these two solutions to apply at the time.

The solution seems obvious. Tossing and turning in bed, get up. Eyelids on matches, get some sleep.

Intermediate solution is to write down any ideas and then go back to sleep. That gets the ideas out of my head which for me is enough to calm down and go to sleep.

That’s what I used to do when I had my first issues with insomnia. Would go several days without sleep, and it was productive but then I would crash hard.

Sadly, it doesn’t work anymore. Still trying to find a solution. Days after days of no sleep is terrible

Totally agreed. The hardest part for me is usually the falling asleep part though....

The hard part for me is finding a job that doesn’t require me to wake up before I’m done sleeping.

Yes unfortunately all the better-paid jobs start before I get up in the morning.

Reading a very boring yet interesting enough book has allowed me to fall asleep. It keeps your brain on the pages for long enough that the brain gets off of the hamster wheel.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance did this for me

The Kolmogorov Complexity book is obviously brilliant but I've never made it more than two pages before falling asleep.

I'm doing much better on the falling asleep part and doing it early and consistently. But now have the challenge of being awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night and not getting a full 2nd cycle.

My acquaintance works 16-20 hours a day, every day. Is wildly successful and looks sane. n=1

Maybe he's just one of those lucky people that only need 4-5 hours of sleep every night ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯

sounds terrible

My boss is like this. Very unpredictable person and I don’t think it is healthy for anyone. Generally speaking I will know this is a massive red flag for future jobs.

At what point does he enjoy success? Does he take vacations?

He enjoys success by literally enjoying it successeeding. He sees his projects pay out, and move on to next asap.

How is that successful? Sounds like his days involve working like a dog.

He does work like a dog, but hes not even 18 yet and has already made more money than most people I know make in their lifetimes.

That’s actually incredible. I was picturing a 42 year old man. Good for him.

My acquaintance works 1-2 hours a day, every day. Is wildly successful, just racked up their 3rd billion and looks sane. n=1

Relevant...

https://reddit.com/r/decaf

It’s a luxury for some

Reply on news.ycombinator.com