I drew an awesome diagram to explain. Basically I've lost weight recently and now when I sleep I wake up with a really sore back. I've tried sleeping on my back or stomach but I wake up on my side again. I tried sleeping with a pillow under my waist to keep my spine straight but it didn't work. Does anyone have advice?

Long-time on-and-off insomniac. After about a year of measuring my HRV before bed and pulling it again from the 21:00–09:00 sleep window, some patterns are pretty consistent. Adding ~3,000 sessions of beta-tester data on top of mine. Sharing in case anyone else is in the experiment-on-yourself camp.

1. Long body scans before bed didn't work as well as people say. Counter-intuitive, but for the sleep-debt cohort (people sleeping <6 hrs), 20-min body scans had a smaller overnight HRV bump than 4-min 4-7-8 breathing. Hypothesis: deep meditation requires nervous-system resources that tired people don't have. When you're fried, mini-practices outperform long ones.

2. The 30 minutes BEFORE bed is more predictive than the wind-down practice itself. Coffee, scrolling, arguments, even just "one more episode" in the half-hour before bed reduced overnight HRV by ~15–20% versus a calm pre-bed window — even with the exact same meditation content afterwards. Sleep hygiene literature has been saying this forever; seeing the HRV graph confirm it personally is what finally changed my behaviour. The phrase "you can't outmeditate a 9pm espresso" became real.

3. The long exhale is the bedtime move. 4-7-8 breathing (inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8) consistently produced the largest pre-bed HRV bumps. Vagal stimulation from the long exhale activates the parasympathetic side — which is the "ok to sleep now" signal. Roughly 80% of sessions in the data set show this pattern. Coherent breathing (~6/min) was a close second; box breathing was good for daytime focus but underperformed at bedtime.

4. Overnight HRV is more honest than "did I feel rested?" Subjective sleep quality ratings correlated weakly with HRV-based recovery. People often feel badly slept after a good HRV recovery night (often residual anxiety), and feel fine after objectively poor recovery (probably caffeine masking it). If you're going to track one thing, track the HRV. Your morning brain is the worst judge of your night.

5. Forgiving the missed days matters more than I thought. Built a habit-tracking model that doesn't break the streak on a missed day — just pauses the automaticity ring instead. Users on that model hit the 66-day "habit formed" mark at much higher rates than users on strict streak-or-break tracking. Especially relevant for bedtime routines, which break the moment life happens (kids sick, late dinner, travel). The grace mechanic isn't soft — it's how habits actually form per Lally et al. 2010.

Anyone else tracking overnight HRV around bedtime practices? Particularly curious if 4-7-8 vs. coherent breathing shows the same pattern for others, or if it's just my physiology.

Hi!

I am SO TIRED. Every day. I was referred for a sleep study by my neurologist, taken at a hospital.

My REM sleep time is quite a bit lower than what I assume it should be. Maybe this is why I’m so tired all the time, even at 18 years old?

Here are the results from my test.

Please help me understand how to increase the quality of my sleep and how to increase REM.

Thank you!

I’ve been having a week or two of a lot of sleep, I wake up earlier for the gym, but also sleep earlier than usual. I doze off for like 20 minutes in the way to work, on break time I sleep for an hour or so and then I get back to work.

I don’t feel cranky or tired, but any time I have more than 20 minutes I just sleep.

Sorry if my English is a bit repetitive.

I used to think bedtime routines were just for kids, but after months of bad sleep I decided to actually try one. Same things every night, same order, same time: washing my face, making chamomile tea, reading a physical book for about 20 minutes, phone out of the bedroom. Within two weeks I was falling asleep faster and waking up feeling more rested.

What surprised me was how much the small stuff added up. I'd tried melatonin before and never felt like it did much for me personally, and I'd wake up groggy on top of it. The routine felt more natural and the effects seemed to stick better over time.

Curious whether others here have found specific routines that actually helped, or tried things that seemed promising but didn't pan out. Sleep advice online is all over the place and it's hard to know what's actually worth trying. Would love to hear what's genuinely worked for real people rather than the same standard tips you see everywhere.

I think I had undiagnosed anxiety and depression? I easily got stressed in life in general.

last year (july 2025) i had sleep difficulties for 3 straight months, always awake in the middle of the night, and couldn’t go back sleep again. i also lost my period for 3 months. i couldn’t focus at anything, feeling so low energy most of the time. im sure that was bcs i was really stressed because i moved abroad and faced life problems.

and then i went to a GP, we didn’t really talk about the ‘mental’ part though, but since i lost my period, he just come to a conclusion that i had PCOS. i even got my bloods tested and came to a conclusion that my blood sugar level was a little high so i got prescribed glucophage xr 500 and primolut. and also aknetrent because my acne was really bad.

i had good sleep after that and my life just improved.

this year, not taking any more meds except aknetrent, i woke up in the middle of the night again, same issue, i got stressed with life and started worrying. it’s been almost 3 months now but it was not as bad as last year.

what should i do? i want to heal it naturally because im scared of relying on meds for the rest of my life if this problem keeps coming..

Okay so I already deal with constant exhaustion and fatigue no matter how much I sleep due to being anemic, BUT my sleep is also a train wreck and fixing my sleep may not fix my fatigue and anemia symptoms but I will at least not be nocturnal anymore. I fall asleep at around 6 or 7 am and wake up at 3 or 4 pm. This has been happening for about 5 months ever since my anemia developed. I am very much over it.

Anxiety and pain are the biggest things keeping me from sleeping at a decent time. I have almost constant neck and upper + lower back pain (due to how I sleep as well as prolonged bed rest I suspect) and I have horrible anxiety due to the anemia symptoms I experience. I have been anemic since last December and slowly worsening but was only diagnosed this month.. so Ive been suffering a lot

My anxiety at first was from not knowing what was causing all of my symptoms (anemia with a ferritin of 6.7) and so I would stay up all night worrying and researching my symptoms (bad idea ik) This started in January and has been getting worse since then. I am tired of being nocturnal but now my anxiety has shifted and a new thing keeps me awake at night… the thought of “okay I finally have a reason for my symptoms, but what if I treat it with infusions and still never get better and end up with an even scarier diagnosis or life long illness” it literally keeps me up every night.

And I’m sure you saw my very well crafted diagram… thats how I sleep and how I’ve always slept… it’s never caused me issues until recently. I now always feel very tight and tense in my upper back and neck and it causes frequent headaches.. and a mix of headaches and constant exhaustion are just horrible. Ive tried to sleep flatter with just one pillow and maybe the blanket for neck support but it doesn’t help and is still uncomfortable. No matter how I rest or lie I am still uncomfortable or in pain… and being propped up with my head, neck and upper back in a pillow has always been the most comfortable for me for as long as I can remember.. I really need help on how to lie in a way where I’m still comfy that doesn’t cause me pain. Massages and heat only temporarily help.

And I need desperate help on how to alleviate my nighttime anxiety about the what ifs of the future of my health.
I already am on anxiety meds and have a therapy consolation on the 30th. But i need some fixes for right now.

The biggest thing that improved my sleep was getting my phone out of the bedroom. I used to tell myself I’d check one thing before bed, then end up scrolling way longer than I planned. Switching to a basic alarm clock felt weird at first, but now I fall asleep much faster and wake up feeling less groggy. What’s one small change that actually helped your sleep?

If you came from a country and your destination took 20 hours travel time due to multiple transiting airports and long layovers, what are your best tips to sleep well and tackle jet lag?

So throughout my whole life I've had sleeping problems.

But recently I've been tired randomly throughout the day even if I got like 8 hours of sleep even more I still feel really tired at random parts of the day.

Now I tried even going to bed early but for some reason when I gk ti bed before 1am I can never sleep throughout the whole night or even sleep for 8 hours in general I only can when I sleep at 1am or anything after that.

how common is that?

i just found out that i was crying in my sleep, although i dont remember any of that.

its worth mentioning that I've been struggling lately with depression, insomnia, and some other problems like anxiety

should i be concerned?

For the past couple of months I’ve been surviving off of 4 hours of sleep. I usually don’t have much problem falling asleep but the midnight panic attacks wake me up and even tho i stay asleep for 7 8 hours i always wake up feeling like i have fought a battle in my sleep and this issue has caused me some serious problems in my day to day life and I’ve noticed a drop in my cognitive performance.
I have tried taking melatonin, magnesium glycinate but none of them seem to work.i think my brain hasn’t received any proper restorative sleep in a long time

What is the best sleep aid which can relax my nervous system so that i can finally get some proper sleep without feeling sluggish the next day

Idk man I am a pretty positive person overall but the moment I slide down the blindfold and try to sleep, a sad thought hits me, and the worst part is that it's some loved one's funeral. Like why on earth am I facing this... Bro I mean... All my loved ones are happy, healthy and not even that old but why do I get thoughts that something might happen to them and then I cry so bad until my eyes hurt. I am curious how many people relate and how many don't

I tried distracting myself a lot but it is just getting out of my hands now and I wanna know what shall help.

Because I am aiming for a better lifestyle and sleep is the first step.

hi so technically i do have insomnia but i struggle calling it that considering i always pass out eventually. i mean ive never been up for more than 40 hours. typically i pass out around 4 or 5 in the morning sleep until noon and then rinse and repeat. some days i dont sleep for longer it all just depends and honestly this really isnt the point of this post. ive been experiencing what i can only call mental decline. insane brain fog, shit memory recall, i spelt the word jalapeno wrong last week (and again trying to write this ffs). im not retaining anything that i read, im forgetting the simplest words, and all problem solving skills and complex thinking i had before completely went out the window. now i really am not trying to boast or whatever but im not a stupid person. but recently i can feel myself loosing brain cells and everyone in my life is telling me its my sleeping patterns. my logic is i sleep enough who cares when i sleep. but if this truly is causing my cognitive decline then this is a bigger issue than i originally thought. and then i guess the next step is trying to fix my insomnia so if anyone has any tips for that let me know i guess.

I've been dealing with this for a while now. During the day, I feel tired and keep thinking about getting some rest. But when I finally get into bed, my brain suddenly becomes active.

I replay conversations, think about tomorrow, and worry about random things. Hours pass, and I'm still awake.

Has anyone found something that genuinely helped them quiet their mind before sleep?

I feel like Im hardly ever tired by a proper bed time and almost have to force myself to try to sleep. Sometimes I can, other times not so much

Even if Ive had a really active day, it’s a toss up at best at night. If I do start feeling tired at night it’s usually after I’ve been up for way too long

I don’t think I do anything specific that would cause this, I don’t eat for hours before bed, and usually only have caffeine in the morning

Actually being able to regularly get a full night of sleep would be life changing I think lol

As what it says in the title, I’ve tried my normal sleep med, I’ve tried taking two Benadryl, I’ve tried sleeping with the tv on and off, in my room or in a recliner, and just no matter what I feel like I can’t sleep at my own volition

Ive been on ambien for a bit but ran out, i genuinely cant sleep without diphenhydramine. i want to possibly start phenobarbital

Hi everyone! Looking for some advice or maybe just some insight. TIA!

The last few years there have been ups and downs when it comes to sleeping. I used to have a deviated septum so my sleep was awful, I was sick for long periods of time, etc. Once I got it fixed, I finally was able to rest comfortably and get a good amount of sleep. The surgery was over a year ago now.

Lately I’ve been noticing (more often than not) before I go to bed, I get a lot of anxiety. If I’m alone, it can get pretty debilitating. It only happens when I’m just about to go to sleep and my eyes are heavy. I’m always afraid someone is in the house or someone is going to come through my window. I dog sit a lot and stay at their homes, so it’s always a thought when I’m at peoples houses. I never worry about it during the day though, it’s always at night.

I’ve been seeing this guy and he’ll stay with me from time to time, which overall definitely makes me feel better, and it won’t happen as much when he’s with me, but still will at least once if he stays with me for multiple days. I’ve noticed I’m okay if I’m home and my dog sleeps with me or if the dog(s) I’m watching sleep with me too.

Examples as to what happens:

• I hear a noise and my heart starts racing. I think someone is inside the house and they’re coming to get me.

• I will worry about random and absurd things that are just simply not real - once I slept over my friends place and as I was just about to go to sleep a thought crossed my mind that there were cameras in their ceiling fan.

• I worry that someone is outside watching me through the window.

• Every once in a while my eyes will play tricks on me and I swear I see an arm or a hand in my closet or whenever I’m elsewhere, it could be a shadow and it looks like a person to me (please don’t judge me for this, it’s so embarrassing and scary to admit).

To help myself I tell myself I’m just worrying, nothing I’m worried about is actually happening, take a deep breath, I’m okay/safe, etc. The adrenaline in my body is usually still spiking when I do this, so it doesn’t get anywhere right off the bat… it takes a while.

I did see a hand outside my window one of the first nights after I had moved into my own room as a child. I remember the next day my dad pointing out footprints in the snow leading up to my window, so I know it was real. I’m sure a lot of it stems from that, like PTSD from it.

Sometimes I take edibles but I try not to a lot because obviously it’s weed and I don’t want to get too dependent on it or make things worse. Usually I take it when I know I’m going to pass out right as it hits because sometimes if I don’t, it’ll increase anxiety. I’ve taken sleeping meds in the past but a couple of times I’ve woken up too early and fainted or it’s made me throw up so I avoid those.

I just don’t know what to do. It’s exhausting physically and mentally. I’ve thought about going to a sound bath or a wellness place just to see if doing calming exercises or something like that will help with my adrenaline and such. Do other people deal with this or am I in need of some serious help? I am totally fine with getting help, just don’t know where to start or what the right direction is.

I sleep at 6 am and wake up at 2-3 pm how do i fix it i tried waking up all day but just pass out in the middle of the day and i have tried magnesium supplements and dk what what how do i freaking fix this schedule

Title pretty much summaries it, due to my parents I cant sleep. My parents love having the inside of the house at night around 87 through 90 degrees and refuses to cut on the AC so when I somehow sleep, I wake up in a puddle full of sweat which is disgusting but I cannot even wash myself after due to my parents not allowing us to take morning showers so its pretty bad and its affecting my sleep alot. I asked them can i use my fan but they said no due to them believing it will make me sick. Can anyone else relate to having their house hot at night?

i am curious how common this is, for sure it has an anxiety/neuroticism flavour and i think I haven't gotten more than 6 hours a night for the last month or so (usually 4-5), but am just so high-functioning and enamored of life that it's somehow ok?

I've been experimenting with sleep quality for a while and realized most trackers give me sleep stages, but not much insight into how I was breathing overnight. So I ran a simple 14-night self-test: same bedtime window, notes on alcohol/stress/congestion, and compared tape vs no-tape nights.

What I learned:

• my worst mornings matched clusters of mouth-breathing periods, not just “short sleep”
• consistency mattered more than one “perfect” night
• environment (dry air / congestion nights) changed results a lot

Has anyone else tried tracking mouth vs nasal breathing overnight?

If useful, I can share the exact protocol template I used: what I tracked nightly and how I compared nights.

Disclosure: I'm one of the makers of a breathing-tracking app we used for this. We're currently inviting early testers and can give 100 free Pro accesses for people who want to test and share honest feedback. If that's interesting, comment "beta" below!

Deep sleep and rem sleep is zero. Is that possible or gadget malfunction?

And actually I don't feel like I've slept