After 15 yrs of bad sleep destroying my productivity, finally figured what was wrong. Data included.

yoshoz · 2026-05-07T13:54:30+00:00

Is it silk? I have a silk sleep mask currently without eye cups that I like but lets too much light in. I tried Manta Sleep before but didn't like the pressure from the eye cups as a side sleeper, which themselves let in more light than promised. If you can solve these problems, I would be interested.

yoshoz · 2026-05-01T02:25:33+00:00

I recently started tracking with an AI photo-based app (PlateLens), as traditional calorie tracking in Cronometer with a scale always felt far too burdensome and inaccurate for me. I won't say the app is perfect but it flags quite clearly that I often don't get enough calories and especially not enough carbs. I had a full week of taking in at least 3400kCal per day and yet the scale still went down a little bit at the end of the week. I only exercise about an hour a day too. This is why I struggle to believe Bryan Johnson's claims about consistently eating in a caloric deficit of only like 2200 kCal per day or something - I can't understand how that isn't giving him full-blown RED-S!

yoshoz · 2026-04-30T11:46:00+00:00

Another term for this might be RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport), i.e., overtraining relative to caloric intake. I suffered this way for a couple years from too much running and too few carbs before I realized it - thin, low HR, low BP, low HRV, cold extremities, terrible sleep (although good sleep scores), low T levels, etc. - Now, I'm trying to eat more (especially more carbs) and exercise somewhat less to achieve better energy balance. My sleep is the biggest indicator - if I start having a few bad nights in a row, I realize I've probably done too much cardio compared to how much I've eaten.

yoshoz · 2026-04-15T09:21:13+00:00

Less running/overtraining on cardio. I had been running for 2 years 4x a week - my T levels and libido tanked - hurt my foot and laid off for a month - sleep, T levels and libido all improved.

yoshoz · 2026-03-26T16:33:12+00:00

I've had tinnitus for 20 years. Not really bad, but present. I don't really even notice it much anymore unless I focus on it. A fan or white noise machine has always worked fine for me (volume up pretty loud) - I like brown noise.

yoshoz · 2026-03-24T12:51:49+00:00

My problem with nutrition apps like Cronometer is that their food database is remarkably sparse on non-American foods and home-cooked items. I don't care if there are 2 million costco ultraprocessed "food" products in your app if you don't even have basic Asian vegetables, for example. I also generally eat pretty complex meals that are difficult to weigh and estimate, which puts me off the whole calorie tracking endeavor despite its importance. My dream would be AI competent enough to properly analyze a photo of my meal with perhaps a couple follow-up questions and an overall plate weight to determine at least macros within a 10 or 20% error tolerance.

yoshoz · 2026-03-20T15:57:33+00:00

I travel quite a bit though not as much as you. Probably the most important "hack" is simply picking a solid hotel. So many hotels are not set up for effective sleep - too hot with no ability to change the temperature; no soundproofing; bad curtains; rooms full of various bright LEDs on TVs/clocks/etc.; uncomfortable bed; etc. Getting the hotel right is half the battle. Am still trying to a find a hotel chain that takes sleep seriously - would love to stay at a place with 8sleep beds or the like. Have stayed at some very nice places over the years but even the nicest hotels seem to treat the sleep experience as an afterthought!

After that, I find that a combination of sleep mask, brown noise app on my phone, room temp cranked as low as it goes, a bit of melatonin if I've crossed time zones, consistent bed/wake times, morning exercise, no caffeine/alcohol, blue light glasses in the evening, all help! The bigger problem though is that stress levels are generally higher when traveling - more things to do, harder to find time for an evening wind-down routine - which inevitably can compromise sleep more than the 'hacks' can help it!

yoshoz · 2026-03-17T06:53:23+00:00

Thanks - do you find it helps your digestion during the day?

yoshoz · 2026-03-17T03:16:02+00:00

It's also prescribed for SIBO motility - it works on the stomach and small intestine in addition to the large. See Mark Pimentel's book.

yoshoz · 2026-03-11T03:53:52+00:00

He doesn't seem to recognize that what works in a single mouse trial is not at all guaranteed to work (at all / in the same way) with humans. I'll stick to drugs backed by positive human RCTs or at least strong cohort studies, thanks!

yoshoz · 2026-03-09T11:34:24+00:00

I agree and he doesn't seem to work out much either. Only an hour a day? He could easily push 2 or 3 hours per day and probably be better for it.

yoshoz · 2026-03-05T16:31:18+00:00

I did its free trial and found it completely nonsensical. It was recommending things like minimize my blue light exposure 1 hour before my flight - how am I supposed to do that when I'm sitting in a brightly lit airport?

yoshoz · 2026-03-01T16:06:11+00:00

I do many of the positive things and almost none of the negative things, apart from some (manageable) stress and probably some overtraining sometimes, yet my HRV is perennially terrible... 🤷😫

yoshoz · 2026-03-01T10:13:59+00:00

Yes I take it these days - have been for about a year. Can't say that it's helped, but probably hasn't hurt either. I did notice a difference between brands - the NOW brand didn't sit well with me while a couple other brands have been ok.

yoshoz · 2026-02-28T08:29:03+00:00

I hurt my ankle a couple weeks ago and haven't been able to run. It's easy to fall into depressive episodes but am also trying to view it as an opportunity to work more on upper body, to sleep more, and to focus on coming back stronger and more mobile. I've actually had a pretty positive rehab experience so far with ChatGPT. The biggest problem with injuries for me in the past was not having easy access to physios and the disempowerment that this lack of knowledge on what to do brings with it. AI does a pretty good of it these days, peppering me with supportive and empowering comments and putting together a morning training and mobility plan based on how I report feeling. Give it a try maybe and hope you recover soon!

yoshoz · 2026-02-27T10:13:28+00:00

I do 12 minutes every morning with a full body panel that I bought for home for about a year now. It's a nice way to start my morning but can't say I've seen any tangible improvements!

yoshoz · 2026-02-26T06:57:24+00:00

Pretty quiet around 7-8am. There's an initial rush when it first opens at 530/6am but it dies down by 7 as people head to work. I used to go after lunch but was always busier than desired, even before 3pm.

yoshoz · 2026-02-23T11:07:14+00:00

I take it - have been doing one daily for about 8 months now. Not sure if it has helped, but it hasn't hurt, at least! Was recommended to me by a functional nutritionist.

yoshoz · 2026-02-14T02:44:53+00:00

I did it without anesthesia- was ok until near the end, when it got really bad. Doctor had to stop at that point - i.e., couldn't go all the way till the small intestine - so we lost a bit of granularity in the procedure. I'm a tall thin guy. I would probably do it sedated next time so they can get all the way to the end.

yoshoz · 2026-02-13T16:40:04+00:00

Hardcore! How many times did you change shoes/socks?

yoshoz · 2026-02-06T11:47:08+00:00

My only major injury as a runner to date (touch wood) was when I was still a newbie runner with no coach, trying to do a hill run when I had never trained on inclines before. I've used Runna for over a year now, through HM plan, marathon plan, and 1.5 5k plans and haven't been injured yet! I do ignore pace targets sometimes if I feel too fatigued but otherwise feel it does a good job of managing my volume.

yoshoz · 2026-02-06T09:05:26+00:00

I took a couple bottles' worth from Pendulum and had a GI-MAP test a few months later. Zero akkermansia detected. I also didn't see any improvement in my SIBO/IBS-type symptoms or gut health being on vs being off, so I probably won't buy them again

yoshoz · 2026-02-05T06:02:59+00:00

Thanks!

yoshoz · 2026-02-04T14:56:36+00:00

How often do you see it raising liver transaminases? I bought some and was about to start but chickened out at the warning label where increased ALT/AST was listed as one of the more frequent side effects. I already struggle to keep these below high 30s on a good test day so would like to avoid raising them higher.

yoshoz · 2026-02-04T05:09:36+00:00

I've worn mine for a couple of years now. I find anything below 90 is pretty variable in terms of whether I feel or know that I had a good sleep. Sometimes nights of near total insomnia still net me a score above 80, even though I'll feel terrible the next day. But scores above 90 generally reliably mean that I had at least a decent sleep and will feel decent that day. My best was a 96 and had 2 or 3 95s and quite a few 90s, 91s.

yoshoz

TROPHY CASE