sleep experiments update

quick recap: I've been trying to improve my sleep as it's become worse and worse over the past few months, especially since my wrist injury. primary issue: waking multiple times a night from overheating, joint pain, etc. originally I was having horrible insomnia as well and unable to fall asleep before 1-2am.

Original changes included finding a sleep mask that fits over the CPAP mask, 3g of glycine 30-60 minutes before bed, keeping the room as cold as possible, enforcing a bedtime between 10 and 11pm, and switching my 15lb weighted blanket for a 20lb "breathable" weighted blanket.

the new blanket is cooler than the original and will wick sweat away which is great, but the sheets would still get soaked and I'd wake up. I was sweating a -lot-. unsure of the cause - could be hormonal, related to the sleep apnea, indication my hematocrit has crept up, or some random new issue I've never dealt with before. switching my trt cycle from 2x/week to every other day wasn't really adjusting it which rules out hormonal to some degree. it might also just be that it's been nearly 100 out every day recently and very humid which makes everything miserable.

3 grams of glycine shortly before bed doesn't make me drowsy but it makes me ready for sleep. the understood mechanism is that it prompts the body to begin the sleep cycle by moving heat from the core to the limbs to cool you off, which is what happens during the early stages of sleep. it's surprisingly effective for me - by the time my head hits the pillow now I'm yawning hard. sleep lag has gone from hours to minutes. definitely recommend for anyone with insomnia.

I've re-established a daily meditation practice and incorporated a shakti mat for doing so. the combination of the accupressure overloading my senses and guided meditation or yoga nidra really seems to help me unwind. doing this in the early afternoon leaves me pretty relaxed into the evening and less resistant to trying to sleep.

the biggest improvement came last night - yesterday I acquried a chilipad cube. it's a bed cooling device that consists of a pump and heat exchanger and a mattress cover filled with tubes that it pumps the water through. very simple idea. I had it on the maximum cold setting last night. it was incredible. wasn't warm at all, did not overheat in the slightest. unfortunately slightly too cold for me so that kept waking me up, but I still slept much better than any night in the past month. definitely an improvement. I need to adjust the temperature slightly.

if anyone else is having issues with sleeping warm (or cold) check out the chilipad cube - they're being clearanced out for about half of their original price right now since the company just released a 2.0 version of their more upscale version (the Dock). the upside to getting the lower end, older model is that it has a remote and buttons on the unit itself. No app, no cloud nonsense, no AI "sleep assistant" bullshit. you pay less for bonus features in my opinion.