Punctuality
I set multiple alarms on multiple devices (phone, physical alarm clock, pebble), spaced 10 - 20 minutes apart, starting maybe half an hour before the deadline when I need to get up. This way, if I fall back asleep, I’ll get kicked back up again - in a way that the snooze button doesn’t seem to do. Vibrating pebble seems to work well as one of the devices.
Think about backup plans: what if your car doesn’t start. How long will it take for the next bus or a taxi to arrive
For the bus, I got up at 6:20 one time, left immediately, just missed the first bus, and still needed to call a taxi at around 7.
I get a lot of mileage out of Google Calendar (for personal items) and Outlook Calendar (for work items), but I do often miss the notifications, which don’t mandate acnowledgement. My best strategy is to every few days copy to Android’s default Clock app and set an alarm with a label corresponding to the event. Can use multiple different alarm tones/vibration to denote different priorities. I always set two alarms, one 20 to 30 minutes early (so I can use the washroom, finish up what I’m working on)
My Pebble used to fulfill this function, with the ability to set 8 (unlabelled) with the advantages of always being on my person and not bothering co-workers, but it’s since died.
Waking up
I’ve always had a lot of trouble falling asleep, even from a very young age (though then my bedtime was quite different, of course). A good friend of mine who has a similar persuasion (similar set of hobbies, that is) has professed the same thing to me - unable to sleep because of thinking of projects that seem important (in fact, he lost his job as a result) and a few other acquaintances have reported the same problems.
Anxiety, ruminating thoughts.
Saskatoon can be dark in the winter when getting up.
A work colleague mentioned that he had once set up a lamp outside.
I bought a Hue bulb and set a turn-on schedule.
I ended up setting up this system:
300 watts of lighting on a Canadian tire light timer.
I had one progressive muscle relaxation audio CD which worked incredibly well for a few sessions at the time, which I’ve since lost - slowly tensing and releasing muscles . I’ve tried various ad - university mental health pages are good places to find free sleep audio tracks.
Can get into a vicious cycle if you need to get up early.
A sleep counselor I’ve been going to has recommended ACE, which has been pretty effective. The most effective technique I’ve come up with so far is:
- Complete a round of ACE, which finishes with the commitment: “Full attention to the task at hand”.
- Find a part of my head or face that’s tingling a little bit, and try to make that spread.
- If you get distracted and stay awake and then realize - don’t get mad at yourself or try to process that, just directly return to trying to fall asleep.
Brain
Something I’ve noticed with regard to mental health is that it’s easy to get wires crossed and misattribute why you are feeling a certain way.
Healthcare
Allergies
I’ve had issues with my nose running continuously in the fall to winter season.
I started with diphenhydramine, definitely worked but I would get nosebleeds and all sorts of negative symptoms, especially if I took it two days in a row. Tried out a few other options, Loratadine (Claritin) didn’t prevent the symptoms. I now take Ceterizine hydrochloride (Zyrtec or generic) 5 mg (half tablet) upon symptoms, full tablet (10 mg) if they persist after a half-hour or so. Happy with this. Claimed to be non-drowsy but it does mess with my brain a bit.
Misc
"Apply antiperspirant twice a day (in the morning and at night). Why? At night, you sweat at a slower rate, which allows more antiperspirant to sink down into your sweat ducts. "
Just learned about the difference between antiperspirant and deodorant. Especially if I’m trying to avoid driving to work, in the middle of summer, . Tried Old Spice pure sport combination antiperspirant. Worked well, dry all day, except it’s almost impossible to remove at the end of the day. Switched back to the deodorant-only Old Spice classic. Wearing an undershirt is sufficient to prevent stains, and this is what I’ll keep doing.
Gilbert’s syndrome
Eyes were yellow, bilirubin levels were high (25 vs typical 22), but doctor suggested Gilbert’s, other liver values were normal, not dangerous but if I get unwell those levels might spike
Important dates
Car insurance renewal Jan 30th.
Paying taxes
I use ufile. In 2022 I submitted the tax return on March 5th.
Use automatic import from CRA. Tried on March 1, 2023, T4 hadn’t been updated in CRA yet.