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- Hacker News
- Plot twist: the existential dread of an AI-ified world where "AI" is the answer to everything was what was waking him.by lbrito
- You're joking, but the other night I had high fever and had nightmares of AI giving me wrong answers to questions I already knew the answer, but for some reason I kept insisting on writing the same prompts I didn't even needed over and over again.by locao
- > a flash of lightning following the boom
That’s not how lightning and thunder work.
by jonhohle - ^f lightning ;)
Honestly, feels more like a bit. I sometimes say I need to cross my i's and dot my t's to suss out who's still paying attention in a meeting...
by rithdmc - This is the most HN thing ever. Someone works to create an ultimately useless tool because no matter what you find the answer to be, the solution is the same:
-- Attenuate loud noises --
Which is exactly what they ended up doing
> With actual data, I could finally act with some confidence instead of guessing:
> I added proper acoustic panels (the IKEA ones for offices to create meeting areas work surprisingly well)
> I added extra insulation around the bedroom door and the window (silicone, rubber, ...)
- This reminds me of a weird story...
I went to work at a BBB office once. They turned all their computers off at night and every morning they were back on. It was just "normal" for them.
I can't even remember what problem I was troubleshooting. At the time I was working on IVR systems.
Anwayz, I was working late in their office. Everyone had turned off their computers and went home. At exactly Midnight, every computer in the office turned back on.
I walked around the office looking at desks wondering what had happened. On one persons desk was an alarm clock with a very quiet alarm buzzing. I checked the clock and it was set for midnight (probably a default). About two minutes later it turned off automatically.
I turned off computers and re-set the alarm to go off a few minutes later.
When that alarm clock went off it somehow caused either draw or feedback in the wiring that caused all the computers to turn back on. At the time I wondered if it had something to do with wake on lan.
In any case, I suggested that person take their alarm clock home.
by codazoda - clearly the alarm clock was set to wake the computers up from sleepby blitzar
- Motherboards turn on PCs based on observed voltage drop when pressing the PWR switch.
Could also have been “AC power restored” functionality being triggered.
by DANmode - you could’ve been a great start of a horror movie.by manuisin
- This is amazing. I wish I had this when I was struggling with sleep. I tried a lot of things and stacked them:
Mouth taping (stopped snoring immediately), magnesium glycinate before bed, no screens an hour before sleep, keeping the room cold, not eating dinner so late and regular sauna sessions. Individually they helped.
Together they made a real difference, loud cars and city noise don't wake me up anymore.
I know it sounds like biohacker stuff, but it works. This tool makes it possible to actually find the root cause instead of just guessing. Love it!
by lucalouren - Yeah, a cool/cold bedroom and not-eating-so-late have been pretty clear helpers for me, and I can very clearly see the differences the days that I eat a lot, late. Also the days when I have drinks after 5pm or so; alcohol is a well-known sleep disturber.
I'm also on a CPAP these days, but always looking for a better solution so I'm not so tethered to technology.
Last: when I'm trying to lose weight, I have to be careful or I'm also waking up from hunger. Only it doesn't show up as hunger at first, just a kind of mildly-anxious alertness - that's from the cortisol your body releases when your blood sugar is too low during the night. And then later, after about an hour awake, I get ravenously hungry.
So now I'm stuck trying to balance this: given that a lot of my physical activity is in the evening, how do I eat enough, early enough, that I don't sleep badly from too-low blood sugar and also don't sleep badly from eating too much too late?
Bodies are weird
by Windchaser - I live in a silent area at night and regularly woke up at 3:30 am a couple of years ago. Turns out it was a leading indicator for digestive issues, nothing major and fixed now but it seems 3:30am was the point my body said “I need more food and I don’t care you’re asleep” and according to the dietician I saw this is relatively common with IBS.
- wow i've been dealing with this exact problem for years. is the fix just eating a snack right before bed?by curiouser2
- Environment management is important, but internal relaxation skills and similar are as important. Consider doing body scans, various visualizations, breathing exercises when going to bed: I found a 20mn guided exercise I liked (it was yoga nidra) and in a few months it transformed me from a "horrible sleeper" into someone who actually enjoys sleep.by dmos62
- I find that forced yawning helps me relax and fall asleep when I couldnt otherwise.by onemoresoop
- I'm surprised that AI didn't tell him that the most likely cause of regularly waking up around 3 am is a cortisol spike. Try some breathing exercises or some other type of stress relief throughout the day, and you might sleep better.
In my case, thinking too much about the causes of bad sleep actually contributed to making sleep worse, so if this guy is anything like me then this whole project could be hurting his sleep rather than helping.
by phainopepla2 - Embracing biphasic sleep is also an option if your life permits itby CalRobert
- I’m actually the author of the post and doing regular breathing exercises and some additional things. Pretty sure my cortisol levels at night are (currently) not an issue. Morning walks looking up into the sky also help me a lot. Falling asleep isn’t my issue
I grew up in the country side and unfortunately, where I live now, double glassing isn’t a thing unless you live in a recently built house.
That doesn’t nullify what you’re saying, obviously putting worries into sleep affects the sleep itself. Still thought it was an interesting project to build as I’m anyways cautious about noise and air pollution topics :)
by showmypost - Interesting. I may need to add some sensors.
I spend time in two places. San Juan Islands WA and Santa Cruz, CA.
On island, nights are too quiet. During the day, a float plane a mile away sounds like it is next door.
In Santa Cruz, the house is on a major street. Busses, ambulances all sorts of yahoos.
I sleep better quiet. But I sleep even better when settled - mind not going, etc.
I generally don’t sleep well at all. The biggest factor is - has my brain settled. Background and noise don’t matter.
by jmspring - I find my mind goes straight to settled if my phone and all configurable electronics are in a completely separate room. Its like I give up seeking more stimulation.
An off topic addendum - those are 2 very nice places to be. Maybe someday.
by taurath - I recently had (and then lost/left on a plane!) a Lumenate Nova[1] and found it was very helpful at quickly getting me away from the mind going state. I work very late to overlap with distant timezones and would often find it difficult to get to sleep once I went to bed given I've been staring at screens and on calls only minutes before hitting the pillow. This was great.by glenngillen
- “Has my brain settled” I feel this.
I started meditating recently (~10mins per day) and have found it to be surprisingly effective. It’s a combination of body scanning & mindfulness meditation.
It doesn’t always help, but tends to.
by j_bum - > The biggest factor is - has my brain settled. Background and noise don’t matter.
I'm there too on this. Something I've found helps is listening to certain types of audio. Some audio books can work, but if they're too engaging or interesting it's counter-productive.
My current solution for this is a particular YouTuber; I noticed a long time ago that watching his videos in bed (when I already given up on trying to sleep immediately because my brain was too alert) seemed to help me relax and feel drowsy. Now it's almost a switch - start a video, phone face down, and I rarely need a second one.
by mft_ - I find if I work out consistently I am always getting great sleep and getting really tired in the evening, but if I don't I might not ever feel tired then I look up and it's 3am. I never made the connection between heavy exercise and sleep before, but it seems obvious in hindsight. Got to do what we are built to do not what modern life insists we do.by asdff
- That CO2 concentration looks unhealthy, I wonder to what extent it's affecting your sleep quality (as opposed to waking you up).
> Measure before you fix
In my case, I got a few IKEA CO2 sensors, and after leaving them in the bedrooms for a few days, we found that leaving an outside window slightly open + the bedroom door open, kept the CO2 levels below 600PPM at night.
We're 1000ft/300m away from a motorway, but fortunately the noise pollution isn't bad. So ventilating (even as it's getting cold) turned out to be a simple fix. I hadn't thought of collecting sleep data from our devices, but maybe I'll get an AI to do that, so I can correlate our sleep quality with the environment.
by nevi-me - Everyone gets unhealthy CO2 levels if the bedroom doesn't have air extraction inside or you don't leave the door opened.
Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things tho ? I have a captor at home, even when I leave the door opened and CO2 remains low, I don't notice anything different at wakeup.
- plants plants plants. Most of these are dummy easy to care for, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study#List_of_p...by Eric_WVGG
- yeah... the problem is that his vibecoded dashboard or sensor readings are buggy
- I was a bit surprised at the level of those readings.
Anecdotally, we have an air monitor gadget and the highest I've ever seen (small home office, fairly well-sealed, winter, me working there all day with no ventilation) was around 1100-1200 PPM. I get that two people in a small sealed bedroom could push it higher, but 3350 PPM?!
by mft_ - I also agree co2 levels are super important, but I’m wondering: in your situation isn’t air pollution from the motorway a concern? Not sure how to balance that oneby jdsnape