When I can't sleep, I turn around and sleep "upside down" - moving my pillows to where my feet were beforehand, and my feet to where my head was beforehand - and I stick with that for a week or so. It gives me a week or so without insomnia and then wears off, so I have to turn myself back around for the next 7-12 day period.

Admittedly this could just be a me thing, but let's put our faith in this method and let the power of placebo effect take hold. Boom, minor bouts of sleeplessness are cured.

What are your own examples of this?

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[+] 93 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (35 children)
  • [–] 19 points 8 months ago (18 children)

    Man, I still eat like shit, but when I switched to drinking only water (instead of mainly soda/juice), I was easily able to lose the excess weight that had been building up.

    No other changes. Just drink water. Only water. Water is good.

    I keep a pitcher of cold, filtered water in the mini-fridge by my desk. That shit is delicious. And I don't even miss anything. If you're struggling with the switch to water, get yourself some good water.

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    [–] 72 points 8 months ago (15 children)

    If you can't find a comfortable temperature when you're sleeping under blankets, just stick one foot, and maybe part of your lower leg, out from under of the blankets. It acts like a radiator, and will release much of your excess heat.

    A kid showed this to me at a childhood slumber party, and it's been a useful tip ever since.

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  • [–] 76 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not taking advice from an obvious night monster.

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    [–] 58 points 8 months ago (31 children)
  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    One weird trick! Terminal still scares me as well as installing from GitHub, but I have win11 required at work and mint at home and the speed and ease of use are like night and day

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    [–] 44 points 8 months ago* (5 children)

    If you can't sleep. Get up. Get out of your bed for a while.

    Staying awake while laying in bed often changes the association of sleep with the bed. Removing sleep conditioning effects.

    Also as someone who has had insomnia since I was a child. I can tell you if I lay in bed. Unable to sleep. And Stay there. Rolling around. I won't ever fall asleep.

    But if I force myself to get up. Maybe have something to drink. Walk around a bit. Stare out the window for a bit. Then go back , I'm more likely to fall asleep.

    And if I'm having really bad insomnia. I go for a walk. At this point I'm my life I can tell if it's going to require a walk or just getting up and moving around the apartment/house for a bit.

    Even a 15-20 min walk can do wonders. But I typically do 30 to 1 hour walk. It depends on how I'm feeling.

    You would think exercising in the middle of the night would wake you up more. But nope.

    9/10 times I go for a short walk. I get back and fall to sleep almost immediately.

    It's hard to force yourself to get up when you are exhausted and just want to sleep. But it's do the walk or not sleep at all.

    Also. Going out at 2 or 3 am on a week day is kinda of an interesting experience. Depending where you live, you might be the only person around.

    It's eirie and surreal. Subliminal spaces.

    I quite like it. That also helps motivate me to do the insomnia walk. (Sometimes I ride my bike instead which is really nice as there are minimum cars. -make sure you are in light clothes and have lights and reflectors on your bike).

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  • [–] 41 points 8 months ago (8 children)

    In a financial negotiation, avoid saying a number first, even if it seems like you're being rude, just say stuff like "what's your budget" instead. This trick sounds really stupid but somehow it is extremely effective.

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    [+] 39 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (16 children)
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    [+] 36 points 8 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 34 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Don't be a cunt.

    Simple advice that works. More people should try it.

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    [–] 31 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    When you sprain your ankle, DON'T MOVE. I used to try and walk it off because that's what everyone does and even coaches recommend it, but that's when the actual damage is done.

    Spraining is usually just your tendons/ligaments going into emergency mode (getting very short/tight). So if you try to walk while they are still tight, they will actually tear, doing damage that takes weeks to heal. If you instead just keep that ankle perfectly still for like 30 seconds to 2 min, the ankle will be completely fine.

    Trick is, you have to overcome the social pressure to hurry it along (i.e. on a hike at work, or on a sport field).

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    [–] 28 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    Here’s how I quit smoking about 15 years ago.

    Step one: for about a month, every time I smoked I told myself I’m ready to quit. Every cigarette, every time.

    Step two: the next month, every cigarette, every time, I told myself they stink and taste like shit.

    Took about 3 weeks into the second month and I never picked up another. Oh and I can be around other smokers and don’t crave them. They still fucking stink.

    YMMV

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    [–] 23 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    cook bacon in water. 

    don't drown it, but add just enough to render out the fat without the bacon being in direct contact with the pan, preventing sticking and burning. then once the water steams out the bacon is left to fry in its own juice, giving perfectly crispy bacon every time. 

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    [–] 23 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    If you have a song stuck in your head, and it's driving you a bit mad: listen to it. Something about your mind trying to fill things in (it's been many years since I've read this bit of advice, and unsure entirely on why).

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    [–] 22 points 8 months ago* (3 children)

    This is cooking advice.

    If you struggle with cooking or find that you mess up often, try preparing all of the individual ingredients before you start cooking. Eg. measure, wash, cut every ingredient. Apparently this practice is called mise en place.

    If you ever watch a cooking video and it looks so effortless this is probably why. It was a game changer back when I was learning to cook. Suddenly it felt like I could make every recipe with ease.

    This practice has drawbacks as it could dirty more dishes and increase cook times but it allows you to tackle most dishes at your own pace. I definitely recommend it whenever you make something new for the first time.

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    [–] 21 points 8 months ago (18 children)

    If you get that feeling where you need to sneeze but it's not quite enough for a full sneeze, say the word grapefruit. 60% of the time it works every time

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    [–] 19 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    So if you ever get a random headache that is just a pinching pain in a random spot then try breathing there. I don't mean breathe deep or breathe into that spot but actually concentrate super hard into that spot and imagine this is where your lungs are. Concentrate when you breathe and think about how the air goes exactly into that spot directly from your mouth cause this is where your lungs are now, and how you breathe out from there. Keep concentrating and breathing there.

    I don't know why it doesn't work if I just take deep breaths but this is legit the only way I can stop the pulsating stabs until they are gone. Concentrate hard tho because once you stop the pain returns unless the attack is over.

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  • [–] 18 points 8 months ago* (3 children)

    Staying warm actually does ward off illness. Specifically, you need to keep your nose warm or else its local immune response becomes surprisingly ineffective.

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    [–] 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    These placebos are one hell of a drug.

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    [–] 16 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Rapid eye movement and looking at things, mentally noting them, acknowledge sounds and smells can help regulate moments of anxiety.

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    [–] 15 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

    Seeing a horizon can fix short-term balance issues, or temporarily relieve long-term issues like labyrinthitis/vertigo, because it feeds the secondary ocular-vestibulo brain bit and gets you back settled and leveled. Unless you're drunk or damaged, it's a neat trick.

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    [–] 15 points 8 months ago

    If you’re walking with an open container of liquid that’s filled so full it’ll spill, purposefully avert your gaze from the liquid sloshing as you’re walking.

    Getting nervous that you’ll spill, will cause you to spill.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago (10 children)

    For insomnia. Get up and start doing your morning routine sans coffee or food. It can work like a kick to the head, happily sending you right to sleep.

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  • [–] 18 points 8 months ago* (7 children)

    The "8 hours of continuous sleep" cycle is a modern invention. Even sleeping alone is a modern invention.

    Prehistoric people used to sleep in groups. There would be different cycles of sleeo. The young would be up late and sleep until late, while the old would tuck in early and get up early. You can probably imagine that that would be nothing like a silent, dark, soletary bedroom that people have today.

    Even before the industrial age and arteficial lighting, sleep cycles would be very different. People used to have "first sleep" and "second sleep". First sleep was often only a couple hours after sunset. In between sleeps was time for chores or prayer or even sex. This has even been documenten in old works like The Canterbury Tales were they mention things like "after my first sleep...." like it's the most normal thing to say.

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    [–] 13 points 8 months ago (10 children)

    If your clothes have an odor, you can spray a cheap vodka over them to neutralize the smell.

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  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    On a similar vein, quit using fabric softeners and dryer sheets.

    Fabric softeners use a mild acid to burn off loosening fibers which speeds up the wear of your clothes.

    Dryer sheets work by transferring wax from the sheet to your clothing. This smooths those fibers down and waxes them in place. Wax is incredibly good at holding odors, that's why we use it for candles and why dryer sheets leave a lasting smell. Unfortunately, it's not picky so any smell can get trapped in that wax and linger for ages.

    As it turns out, most modern textiles are made out of finely processed material, you're going to be hard pressed to find any clothes that actually need that kind of treatment. It's wholly pointless on synthetic fabrics.

    The worst offenders will begin to pill after a while, you simply shave the pills off with a razor or a depiller tool, which is fully affordable with the money you save on not buying dryer sheets.

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    [–] 13 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    If someone is about to sneeze, wait until they begin to inhale and say something unexpected to them and it will stop them from sneezing.

    I told this to my wife and she scoffed and didn't believe me. One day her allergies were kicking up and she started to sneeze. I waited for the right moment and said "GRAPEFRUIT" to her and... She didn't sneeze.

    The secret is timing it correctly.

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    [–] 13 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    In your head, change the name of a food you wish to avoid. I've done this with McD's.

    In my head, it's been called McDicks since high school. I, personally, don't enjoy eating dicks. So, when I see the sign, and I feel like a Big Mac would go down easy, I say to myself, "I don't eat dicks."

    It works.

    For those who enjoy eating dicks, well, you'll have to choose another association. Also, I didn't think the phrase "feel like a Big Mac would go down easy" would be so overtly sexual.

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    [–] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    If you're stuck on a creative project or out of ideas on how to approach a problem, and you feel a little fatigued mentally, have a cup of coffee or something with caffeine and lie down for a short nap.

    It'll take some time for the caffeine to kick in, so you might even drift off, and this way it seems to stimulate the mind in a way that produces insights and ideas more than just keeping you from feeling tired.

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    [–] 12 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    You can't make yourself calm down because our emotions control us, not the other way around - but you can control your breath and your breath can affect your emotions. Box breathing, 4-7-8, or even just deep "flower breaths". All work great at centering yourself when emotions are getting out of hand

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    [–] 12 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    If you have black coffee either because you're out of creamer or doing a non-diary thing, sprinkling a tiny bit of salt into the coffee will take the bitterness out of it without tasting salty.

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    [–] 12 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    If you're clumsy, do a grappling martial art like wrestling or Jiu-Jitsu. After 6 months even if you still suck at that martial art (e.g., me) your nerves and muscles will know how to move shockingly efficiently.

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    [–] 12 points 8 months ago* (1 child)

    On August 27 2031 make sure you turn left instead of right. You'll know when I mean.

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