MavisBacon

The first issue with that is periodic limb movements (or PLMs) by definition can actually range from subtle movements almost like muscle spasms to large limb movements, so constraints would be limited in efficacy for that purpose specifically. This would also surely negatively affect any insomnia, sucks enough waking up at 2am involuntary when I'm not in restraints

That said, my father has a sleep movement disorder as well- but his is more extreme and called REM Behavior Disorder. Basically means he physically acts out his nightmares on a regular basis. His neurologist has been trying to convince him to put barriers on the side of his bed so he doesn't fall out and injure himself but he's been hesitant. sucks getting older.

had a polysomnograph (aka sleep study) done which allowed them to recognize that I was having these movements during my sleep. My wife had always assumed I was just tossing and turning constantly while awake and I obviously had no clue what was going on without that PSG

I guess my point is that although the LED lit screen was awful for your sleep, that's not to say it's an awful thing for all. When it comes to insomnia there is always a psychological component, which makes the wind-down process before sleep incredibly important. As someone who works in accessibility I can tell you that it is a fact that reading physical texts at night is going to be a big issue for a lot of people over 40 and most people over 60. It's better that they are allowed to continue with their nightly reading habit with control over font size, contrast, brightness than to say "hey figure something else out, tablets at bedtime will kill you!". the alternative is likely to eventually be an even larger screen anyways or a more physically or cognitively stimulating activity.

I can relate deeply to this. Spent the last 2 years trying to get treatment for what turned out to be a neurological sleep movement disorder with an insomnia component. Basically I have sometimes ~150 involuntary limb movements/hr during sleep, they sometimes wake me up but even if they don't I wake up exhausted.

Things are getting better with medication finally, but yeah I've learned not to bring my sleep issues up with people generally. I diet, exercise, avoid caffeine and alcohol yes I've tried magnesium, as well as a slew of atypical antipsychotics, very old tricyclic antidepressants, and a parkinson's medication. Most people have a very hard time imagining what it's like to fight for each hour of sleep, so have a difficult time empathizing I think

A lot of people over the age of 40 or even 35 are going to have trouble reading a physical text from a comfortable distance in light dim and warm enough not to affect one's circadian rhythm. Though I see your points and agree with aspects of this piece I also really struggle to see how a dim light close to your face is objectively worse than lighting your entire room in order to read a book and think extreme statements about the harms of LED/Blue light/Screens tend to more often than not generate unnecessary anxiety in a world where LEDs and screens are inevitable for many/most

I get where you are going, but there are a few issues with this, the first being that no screens after sundown is a wildly unreasonable ask in 2023 (especially for the types of folks who frequent this board), at least in my opinion. A lot of the talk around screen time before bed also fails to factor the type of activity being done on the screen, and what type of screen is being used. Shopping on your laptop vs reading on a fully dimmed phone screen are entirely different ends of the spectrum in terms of stimulation and significantly different in terms of light emitted and screen motion

That said, I’ve found switching to warm dimming circadian lighting at night has been a huge help and is an easy enough solution

Yes this has been my experience of utilizing atomic habits. For me it was all about understanding the how and why of falling into or sustaining negative habits, as well as how the opposite is accomplished, and used this info to modify my most important habits- exercise, diet, and reading

I do get some of the OP blog poster’s anxieties about somehow optimizing every facet of one’s life using these techniques but I always approached atomic habits as making small but very meaningful changes over time and it’s been incredibly helpful for me

my background is in harm reduction and as far as I know there is no credence to these tales. There are people in the U.S. overblowing the fentanyl situation either to stoke fear for some personal or political benefit or sometimes it's just well-meaning undereducated folks spreading these tales.

fentanyl has generally speaking only made its way into the supply of non-opioids like cocaine as the result of contamination, not intentional adulteration. When we talk about fentanyl, in reality what's out there is perhaps some true fentanyl but a lot of fentanyl analogues that are much more potent (lethal dose in the mcg range). Often the people moving heroin are also moving cocaine and other drugs, and using shared surfaces to weigh and cut the product for street use. They aren't properly cleaning surfaces and instruments and thus fentanyl is ending up in all sorts of powdered drugs

fentanyl on weed has probably happened in some instances of intentional poisoning of an individual but I'd file this under similar in risk to your child being given an edible, or candy with a razor blade on halloween

not anymore, in certain parts of the country there is actually an issue of under-prescription of narcotics as an overreaction to the opioid crisis we are facing, with painkillers of course being the most difficult to access. Chronic severe pain patients and people with horrendous neurological conditions are going without the medications they need because prescribers are now terrified of heavy-handed medical boards

that said, 20 or so years ago prescribers in the U.S. were in various ways made to believe that painkillers such as oxycodone were not addictive and were these magical drugs that helped pain patients regain their lives in ways we had never seen before. Ended up in so many homes, lots of excess prescription opioids hanging around and as a result a lot of people ended up abusing them. For a significant number of people that led to heroin use, and then fentanyl came into the picture in 2015ish; so that's how we got here. heroin on its own when injected isn't actually that easy to accidentally overdose on- fentanyl however, is.