Sleep

planted 01 Oct 2026 · 🌱 seedling

my experiments with sleep.
Used apple watch to track duration, interruptions, etc and tried to understand what's working/not working for me.

1. Head pointing South (or East): Rid of bad dreams
   Every night I would dream of fights, horror, or something cruel causing me to wake around ~3:30 am. Then I'd trouble falling asleep, then mindless scrolling.
   But since the day I moved my bed, I have had just 1 bad dream in 30 days.
   Before: Bad dream every other day (head pointed north)
   After: 1 bad dream in 30 days (head points south)
   I am not a believer of superstition or vastu shastra, but this is a solid data-point.
   Nothing else changed. Same room. Negligible changes to light, noise, airflow, etc.
   Going to move head back to north after some weeks and validate :)

2. No caffeine after 12pm: Easier to fall asleep
   Caffeine has a half-life of ~5 hrs. Which implies, it takes body ~5 hrs to eliminate 1/2 of caffeine consumed. So if I have coffee at 4pm, roughly 30mg will still circulate in my body at 9pm. The calculation varies (water consumption, body's caffeine sensitivity etc). But if sleep is priority -> no caffeine after 12pm is recommended. If I have to I would prefer decaf or hot chocolate.

Caffeine in normal products:

3. No screen after 9pm: Rid of restlessness
   The days I use screen, I have more interruptions in sleep. The days I use no screen - I sleep deeper. This no-screen time is now used to read book, chat, cook, brush, skin care, pack bags for tomorrow - anything that helps avoid screen.

4. No food, avoid water after 8pm: Deeper sleep
   If digestion is active, it makes harder to sleep. If thirsty, drinking small amount is fine.
   Drink water when I wake up - to break the fast and hydrate.