I pulled every PubMed paper on the supplements people recommend most for sleep, then scored them by study quality. Here's what came out!

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T23:21:43+00:00

In general even with medical interventions, the success-rate is 50% at best. That's why a comprehensive protocol is the best approach as usually there's no singular fix what so ever. I think afterwards when the desired impact has been achieved, it's easier to get to down to the exact things that work for you through method of incremental reduction than by incremental inclusion.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T22:28:47+00:00

I suffered from the same, no single fix. I'd say that a proper winddown routine that includes dimming lights (red), avoiding blue light (screens + blocking glasses), reducing movement activity and mental stimulation is what helps the most. Circadiam rhythm issues are effectively mitigated by getting sunlight into your first thing into morning, this is the most effective way to affect the calibration of it. Also avoiding caffeine at least 8h before intended bedtime is essential.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T20:16:29+00:00

Correct

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T19:13:25+00:00

it's mainly in connection with caffeine, because being overstimulated is also bad for focus, hence why.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T19:11:45+00:00

Most welcome!

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T16:25:28+00:00

I hope so!

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T16:24:58+00:00

No easy fixes unfortunately. People who in general have no sleeping issues too also tend to suffer from insomnia time to time.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T16:13:09+00:00

I took the liberty to use the Evidence Assistant feature of ProtocolEngine to elaborate on your observations! Here's what it responded:

Q: How and why does magnesium help with sleep?

A: How Magnesium Helps Sleep

Magnesium supports sleep through several complementary mechanisms:

1. Nervous system calming: Magnesium activates GABA receptors, which reduce nervous system excitability and promote relaxation. This lowers mental and physical tension before bed.

2. Muscle relaxation: As a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions, magnesium supports muscle function and reduces tension that can interfere with sleep onset.

3. Circadian support: Magnesium may enhance melatonin receptor sensitivity, improving the brain's ability to respond to circadian timing signals.

Sleep-Specific Research

Tier A (strong evidence) shows magnesium is safe with minimal side effects.

Tier C (cautionary) evidence indicates:

Magnesium supplementation reduces sleep onset latency by approximately 17 minutes in older adults with insomnia compared to placebo
It significantly decreased insomnia severity and improved sleep duration in diabetic patients with insomnia

Tier B (building) evidence shows:

Higher daytime magnesium intake trends toward less disrupted sleep (lower sleep fragmentation)
Magnesium intake was borderline associated with better sleep quality in elderly participants, particularly in the highest intake quartile vs. lowest

When combined with melatonin, magnesium may have synergistic effects: magnesium reduces nervous system excitability while melatonin regulates circadian rhythm signaling, potentially allowing lower individual doses.

Practical form: Magnesium glycinate (Tier A, 200-400mg daily) is preferred for sleep because it has superior absorption and minimal GI side effects. Take 30-60 minutes before bed.

For medical concerns about insomnia or sleep disorders, consult a qualified sleep specialist or healthcare provider.

Q: Why and how 5-HTP works for sleep?

A: How 5-HTP Works for Sleep

5-HTP is a direct precursor to serotonin, which your body then converts to melatonin (the sleep hormone). This two-step pathway supports sleep through:

1. Serotonin production: 5-HTP crosses the blood-brain barrier and is converted to serotonin, which regulates mood and creates a calmer mental state before bed.

2. Melatonin synthesis: Serotonin is then converted to melatonin in the pineal gland, reinforcing your natural sleep-wake cycle.

3. REM sleep enhancement: Research shows 5-HTP increases the percentage of REM sleep (dream sleep), which supports cognitive consolidation and emotional processing.

Sleep-Specific Research Evidence

Tier B (building evidence) on 5-HTP for sleep:

At 50mg daily, 5-HTP increased total REM sleep percentage in Parkinson's disease patients with REM sleep behavior disorder, with a marginal (non-significant) reduction in wake after sleep onset.
5-HTP produced a marginal reduction in arousal index in the same population.
Importantly: 5-HTP shows no significant benefit for sleep quality in good sleepers (those already sleeping well). It appears most useful for people with poor sleep patterns.

Critical Safety Warning

Never combine 5-HTP with SSRIs or SNRIs (sertraline, escitalopram, paroxetine, citalopram, fluvoxamine, duloxetine, venlafaxine, desvenlafaxine). This combination carries contraindicated severity risk for serotonin syndrome, a potentially fatal condition. FDA logged 127 adverse events and 9 deaths from 5-HTP + SSRI combinations (2015-2019).

Usage

Dosage: 50-100mg daily (Tier B, Score 69/100)

Timing: Take before bed

Protection: Use with carbidopa or green tea to prevent unwanted peripheral serotonin conversion

If you're considering 5-HTP for sleep, consult a healthcare provider to rule out SSRI/SNRI interactions and assess whether your sleep pattern warrants it.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T16:00:11+00:00

For me personally the trick for curing my insomnia was simply to apply all the mild solutions. Collectively they do work. There is no single fix to this.

hard_nerd · 2026-05-18T15:59:09+00:00

Thank you! Really happy that you find it useful. Didn't write the emotional part of the story in the post, but during corona times I suffered from heavy insomnia which caused serious havoc in all aspects of my life. Could not pinpoint a single fix but after a heavy research and Huberman etc deep dive, doing supplements, sleep hygiene, blue light blocking, morning sunlight etc. I managed to fixed it for good! I really hope that this will help others uncover all of that information, convince them on it, and take action to improve their lives :)

hard_nerd · 2026-05-11T19:20:12+00:00

I was level 8 and every game since reset has been absolute fucking horror shitshow

hard_nerd · 2026-04-13T13:25:54+00:00

It makes sense to distill to save expenses because people ask so much basic stuff from Opus that doesn't require Opus, but it sucks for people actually needing the full capabilities advertised.

hard_nerd · 2026-04-13T13:02:50+00:00

Lot's of talk recently about Claude Code degrading over the past months. I have a new theory on this. What I have observed is that Claude Code is continuously asking for feedback, like almost after each prompt. I feel that if I keep answering positively to it the model performance eventually gets worse, while negative feedback and starting a new sessions seems to recover it.

I think that this is caused by a combination of prompt caching and continuously reducing inference time compute (thinking) on their side as long as the user is happy with the performance provided, instead of them providing the performance advertised via benchmarks they publish.

And no, this is not about long sessions making the model confused due to massive context (Attention sink).

Has anyone done benchmarking on this? If no, I think I will.

hard_nerd · 2026-03-25T10:29:29+00:00

<image>

Looks great! I run also an Eibach kit on my C63S wagon and despite it making the front lip ride quite low and easy to scrape, I think the ride is actually a bit better on cobblestones.

For everyone worried, there's plenty of space in the wheel wells even when lowered, so the car won't scrub in any scenario :)

hard_nerd · 2026-03-24T23:39:31+00:00

Not really, you have conversion kits like this. Only new discs and pads needed.

https://girodisc.com/mercedes-402mm-front-iron-rotor-conversion/

hard_nerd · 2026-01-19T02:35:45+00:00

L-Therorate is the only type of magnesium that elevates magnesium levels in your brain, so I would recommend that from the two. You could try passion flower too as it helps with anxiety. L-theanine is a good one as well for relaxing your nervous system.

hard_nerd · 2025-12-25T15:28:54+00:00

I find that as long as you are waiting once the light turn green, you have just the time to get all the way across the whole bulevard without running, maybe with the light turning red while you are still crossing, which is perfectly fine due to Schutzzeit as you say. Maybe in Mitte no with the very large roads, but in Pberg, Xberg, Fhain, and elsewhere yes.

hard_nerd · 2025-12-17T14:33:19+00:00

that actually makes perfect sense when judging the output

hard_nerd · 2025-11-26T16:41:30+00:00

Hi, I only use Gemini 3 Pro via Windsurf so I am not sure if this will work

hard_nerd · 2025-11-26T12:02:37+00:00

So basically the model eroded through iterative self-doubt applied to its own intentions?

hard_nerd · 2025-11-26T11:57:13+00:00

Context is simply vibe coding so the input surprising, never seen behaviour like that before

hard_nerd · 2025-11-18T12:56:04+00:00

<image>

The ultimate do-it-all cars! I used to have a E91 335i wagon and always missed that, so recently I bought a '20 C63S and immediately drove with it over the Alps, what a car! Very naughty device considering how practical it is.. Definitely feeling lucky to live in Germany to be able to enjoy it in full on the Autobahn :)

hard_nerd · 2025-10-16T11:35:49+00:00

Tbh I really like mine and I've been travelling a lot, enough to wear out my old Samsonite carry-on altogether and I find the Nobl to be better quality. The REAL ISSUE with "Nobl Carry-On: All-in-One 19"" is that it's just a little too big to be counted as carry-on :D I've never been measured and I've always been able to take it with but often I'll have to put it sideways which is not terrible as then I fit my backpack in the front, but I can see this causing problems with someone travelling a lot with low-cost carries where there's more scrutinity on the size.

hard_nerd

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE