Hi Friend,
Greeting from Newark.
For a long time, I’ve had a very messy daily routine. My erratic sleep pattern was a major contributor to that. Fixing my sleep seemed like a good start on my quest to develop a good routine.
Two things contributing to the mess were: my phone, my window blinds.
Lying in bed with a phone in hand is the worst way to prepare for sleep. Doom scrolling till my eyes got heavy and falling asleep out of exhaustion was my way of going to sleep every night. What seemed like 5 minutes on the phone was easily 2 hours. What seemed 11pm was quickly 1 am. No wonder I woke up tired everyday.
The blue light from the screen added with the dopamine from the doom scroll is the perfect recipe for making it difficult to fall asleep.
When listening to a Tim Ferris podcast on the topic of sleep I learned that exposure to light while you’re sleeping affects the quality of deep sleep.
Despite your eyelids being closed, [light] can still penetrate and provide a signal into the brain that will decrease the amount of deep sleep.
The blinds in my bedroom window are the original ones that come with a rental apartment. They spewed light from the street lamp outside my window making my bedroom bright. I didn’t realize how bright my bedroom was until I installed blackout curtains on my bedroom window. The difference is of night and day.
To avoid reaching for my phone in bed, I keep a few physical books lying around the bed. I read a chapter every night and that usually invites sleep on my eyes. Coupled with the blackout curtains, I am gone within minutes.
Improving my sleeping patterns has cascaded down on the rest of my daily routine. I feel better when I wake up, have more energy to come home and cook daily instead of the takeout option. I don’t need a nap when I get home, that gives me bonus time to get my Duolingo and Python learning sessions in.
It seems obvious that fixing your sleep will improve your routine. But it is one thing to know something and completely other to follow it. We often overlook things that are right under our nose. So go get good some good quality sleep.
🦾 On Becoming a Bomb Engineer.
This Week: Finding patterns to solve problems.
As an entry level mechanical engineer, it can be difficult to find patterns and solutions to problems.
The best way to find patterns is to start by breaking down the problem into smaller, more manageable parts. By looking at each part individually, we can identify any relationships or connections between them that might not be immediately obvious. We can also look for similarities and differences between the parts, which can help us identify patterns that may not be immediately apparent.
For example, when I was tasked with solving a bearing scrap issue on one of our assembly machines. I realized that it wasn’t happening at every cycle, it would happen only when the bearing is presented at the assembly station in a particular way. I was able to identify the root cause and eliminated the factor of the bearing positioning. What seemed a random occurrence at first was actually a pattern.
Once we have identified the patterns, we can use them as a starting point for finding solutions. By understanding how the parts of the problem interact with each other, we can come up with creative solutions that are tailored to our specific problem.
It's important to remember that finding patterns takes time and patience and we may need to go through multiple iterations before we arrive at a solution.
⛺️ Content I’m Digging
🎙️ The Tim Ferriss Show: Dr. Matthew Walker on All Things Sleep
Studies have found that those who sleep six hours or less have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Sleep deprivation can cause an increase in beta amyloid and tau protein in the brain. These are sticky, toxic proteins that builds up in the brain. Our brain has a cleansing system that is activated during deep non-REM sleep, which helps to remove these toxins. So try to get more then 6 hours of quality sleep every day.
Your sleep controls you. You do not control your sleep.
Quote of the week
Derek Siver on Change
Don’t accept anything as-is
Everything you encounter must change
Preservation is your enemy
Only dead fish go with the flow
Thank you for reading.
I really appreciate your attention.
Your Friend,
Shubham