Submitted by migudude t3_11bfq25 in LifeProTips
Since I don't look at my watch anymore during a nightly toilet break, I'm far less stressed about waking up. Falling asleep again is much easier when you don't stress about how long you can still sleep or how long you've already slept.
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It's the opposite for me. If I know I have, say, less than an hour to sleep, it's better for me to know and just doze. If I have multiple hours to sleep, I'll go to sleep soundly. If I don't know, I'm very likely to just doze when I have a long time to sleep or fall deeply asleep and by woken from it.
I need to know if I'm gonna be late to work. Without knowing, it will just stress me more.
I've been doing that for a while, not watching the time I mean.😂
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Personally, if I wake up before my alarm I NEED to check the time. Otherwise, I'll just nervously toss and turn in anticipation of it going off.
I haven't seen a clock in years. Even during the day.
Sometimes I think I slept for 5 mins and it’s actually 2 hours - so yes, seeing time if you have work or have somewhere to be is important
On the contrary, knowing whether it's 1 AM or 5 AM helps me a lot with sleeping. If it's 1, I can read for a short time and then drift naturally back to sleep. If it's 5, I'll either get up or doze until it's time to wake up.
If it’s a day off and I have no plans, I agree. If I have work or other plans in the morning, my anxiety is satiated by knowing what time it is if I wake up in the middle of the night.
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I disagree.
Most people want to go back to sleep when they have to get up for work or school.
Seeing the clock say I still have 2 more hours is amazing.
And if I dont check I will assume its going off soon, which is very unhelpful with falling back asleep.
Also I really like the feeling of 'fuck yeah, only 2 am, not even half way through the night' and I'm instantly gone again.
Oh, that's the best, especially when you feel like you've been asleep for a really long time
Additional LPT: Remove the time from your status bar, so you can also use your phone without the temptation to look at the time.
You must’ve posted this from a potato; otherwise your device has a clock
Not true at all. Sometimes I feel like I’ve slept forever and feel and check and it’s only 2, I get excited to go back to bed. But also if it’s 5 something, I just wake up, cuz going back to sleep for 45 min sucks
That's the point, just let it go and let your alarm wake you up when it's time, whether it's 1 minute or 1 hour. I practice this and can say it has considerably increased my amount of sleep and decreased the amount of restless tossing and turning I do in anticipation of the alarm going off. To the guy saying they can decide whether to just doze off or go to a deep sleep depending on the time left is crazy. Sometimes 5 or 10 minutes of a deep sleep can be as good feeling as a few hours throughout the night.
Why do you assume it's going off soon? Just go back to sleep and let it happen when it's going to happen whether that's in 5 minutes or 5 hours.
Agree….I have a clock turned away from the bed.
Natural clock confused with bad sleep.
I often wake up just before the clock.
If its 5 hrs or 5 minutes to go my brain may just fully wake up anyways.
Verify. You might get lucky with an extra few hours, in a way.
Oh fuck ya I hear this. I am so nervous that it’s literally 5 min away or something.
Life pros have no trouble getting back to sleep after looking at the clock
“The best is waking up and realizing you have more time to sleep. It’s like finding a thousand dollars! IT’S MY LUCKY DAY/NIGHT/DAY”!
I’m with you, OP.
I used to think like everyone else who has posted to the contrary.
But not watching the clock has never resulted in what they fear will happen.
It’s resulted in not having the stress that comes from it and I sleep like a baby now.
If I check the time I start to spiral. Like “ok, if I fall asleep RIGHT NOW, I’ll still get 4 hours. Ok… and… GO! That didn’t work. But if I fall asleep NOW, I’ll still get 3 1/2, which is still decent. And…. GO!”
It’s best if I don’t know.
I think it's important to mention that this is directed at people that have sleep problems in general. If you sleep well overall it's a non factor.
If like me sleep is up and down it becomes invaluable.
When I wake up during the night, I do not want to know the time, ever. My brain will automatically go to how many hours/minutes I have left to sleep and wether or not it's adequate rest based on when I fell asleep. If it's not I will lay there in commiseration. For me ignorance is bliss regarding time of night.
I set the alarm, turn the clock around so I can see it. Good to go after that.
Non work days with no alarm set I do the same thing 🙂💤🛌
It's just that is a knifes edge away from "fuuuuuck it's already 4 gotosleepgotosleepgotosleep"
Oh wow, dude, I tried just letting my anxiety go and it totally worked! Fuck I should have tried this earlier, all these wasted years!
If I wake up at 4 am, knowing I have to get up at 8, I'll be wide awake and it's a lost cause . If I wake up at 7:55, I could easily sleep for another 17 hours.
Ouuu you're an optimizer
Sometimes it can be worth it to check to decide if it's worth trying to get back to sleep or if you may as well just go ahead and start your day a little early.
Waking up to an alarm can be unpleasant, but it's often necessary to guarantee being up when you need to, so I figure why bother trying to get back to sleep with like 15 to 30 minutes left unless I'm tired enough for the stress of only 15 to 30 minutes left to not keep me awake.
I like that a lot better than “Ouuu, you’re mentally ill.” Which is what went through my head while I was typing the comment.
I mean same ( for myself) but different
Are you kidding? Knowing the hour in the middle of the night it's better for me. Say that I go to the bathroom at 3:00 am then I look the hour and instead of "3:00 am? Oh no, I have only 3 hours of sleep now" is more like "Yeah! 3:00 am! I still have 3 hours of sleep!"
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Lol, that pretty much is how it works, though. Not that it's quick or easy, not at all, but consciously and consistently making a decision to let go of the things that cause you anxiety is literally one of the best ways to train your brain to work differently beyond medication.
I think that the visual light/input of your phone or a clock as being the main reason why not to.
What I find useful is to use an alexa and ask it for your time.
This would make my sleep time hell. If I didn’t know how much more time I had, I’d go crazy waiting to hear my alarm.
I'm in this boat as well. It is an amazing feeling when its just 1am -2am and you already feel rested.
It sucks when it IS 5 minutes away though.
If I don't know that I can sleep for another 3h plus, I can't fall asleep again because I constantly feel like I have to get up in 10 minutes anyway. So I sleep better if I know what time it is.
Exactly.
I tried this once. It was 3 minutes before my alarm and I was angry that I just didn't get up before the alarm.
If I find that it takes too long to fall asleep, I will try blocking my view of my alarm clock. If I get up to pee, I need to look at the time.
He was being sarcastic.
This is definitely an opinion as opposed to a tip
What if you’re oddly suspicious of the amount of sleep you are getting and have to look at the clock to check if the alarm is on?
this is what I do too
Obviously.
Like when people say "Don't worry." Ohhhhhhhh, DON'T worry, wow! Never thought of that!
Yes, iPotato.
This has also worked for me. But I'm not sure if it would have worked without the alarm clock I have. It has the feature that it starts to shine 30 minutes before the alarm, getting brighter before starting to ring.
If the alarm clock is shining, I know it's time to get up. If it's not shining, I know there's enough time to sleep more. I don't need to worry I'll fall asleep 2 minutes before the alarm ringing.
Sometimes I wake up during the night and when I watch my phone I have it difficult to go back to sleep your LPT is so accurate for me
I only mean the anxiety of "am I going to get enough sleep tonight." But it really is that simple, stop caring and just let your body sleep. Or not. And if not, take the rest as good enough. Works wonders if you don't care how much sleep you get and just go to bed when you're tired and get up when you wake up.
I used to be the worst sleeper until I finally just said fuck it. Now I sleep like a baby, my head hits the pillow and I'm OUT 99% of the time. Still have those nights where I feel like I was up all night, but the next day I feel absolutely no different. Once I let go of caring about it and worrying about the next day, the entire problem disappeared.
As much as you may disagree, it really can be that simple though. Hopefully you can get to better sleep, best of luck.
Nah. I have to know how much time there is left. If I wake up during the night and it's 5 hours to go I'll get back to sleep immediately. If I don't know then it could be 30 seconds before the alarm, I have no idea so I'll end up thinking about that.
Nah. At least then there's 5 mins snooze. Much better than being woken up by the alarm.
For me it's less about AM I going to get enough sleep. Its more " I need to wake up to do -important thing- is that soon? And important thing isn't going to go away for at least another 20 years
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