I'd typically fall asleep at my desk around 3pm, or be fighting micro-sleep episodes. In any case, sitting there felt like torture. Never mind the effect on coding and debugging. Been doing that for decades. Tried ADHD remedies, etc. etc.
I started using a machine on a Friday, and noticed that although I was still a bit tired, I didn't take my usual 2-hour afternoon naps on the weekend. With the initial settings, I would still get a bit tired by mid-afternoon on a work-day, but it was an improvement.
After a second sleep-study and further calibration, I don't get tired at all in the afternoon. This is going to bed at 11:30 to 12:00 and waking up at 6:30 to 7:30.
It's hard to describe the practical effects of sleep-deprivation on programming effectiveness. It's like every programming problem just got a bit easier, and every tool just works a bit better. The difference between being slightly too dumb to do the job well, and being a monster is a small one.
Unanticipated benefits are that colds are not really tiring, and my alcohol tolerance is back to University levels (not sure if that's a win). On the flip side, I'm less inclined to drink alcohol, because I don't want to mess with my new mental powers.
Not saying this is a cure-all for everyone, but it's a good first thing to try:
My dad was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He was tired during the day and got bad migraines. They recommended a fancy apparatus but he instead sewed a golf ball into a small pocket on the back of his pjs. Like most folks, he only snored and suffocated himself when asleep on his back. So this way when he rolled from his side onto his back he woke up slightly and went back to his side. 100% cured him, no migraines since.
I did basically the same thing, but took three tennis balls, put them in a tube sock, and safety-pinned it to the back of a T-shirt. I found loose T-shirts didn't work quite as well as one that's a little tight.
The message I've been getting from my ENT is that he'd only advocate surgery if the patient wasn't tolerating the CPAP. I.e. at higher pressure settings it might be uncomfortable, and reshaping the airways could help with that.
For me, I just pretend I'm Prometheus in an interstellar cold-sleep casket. I love the mask -- badass!
The other crazy thing is that his face now looks very different than it did when I was a kid. Old pictures don't look like the same person, doesn't fit my memory, &c. Perhaps he died and was replaced with a deep-cover Soviet spy?
I'd typically fall asleep at my desk around 3pm, or be fighting micro-sleep episodes. In any case, sitting there felt like torture. Never mind the effect on coding and debugging. Been doing that for decades. Tried ADHD remedies, etc. etc.
I started using a machine on a Friday, and noticed that although I was still a bit tired, I didn't take my usual 2-hour afternoon naps on the weekend. With the initial settings, I would still get a bit tired by mid-afternoon on a work-day, but it was an improvement.
After a second sleep-study and further calibration, I don't get tired at all in the afternoon. This is going to bed at 11:30 to 12:00 and waking up at 6:30 to 7:30.
It's hard to describe the practical effects of sleep-deprivation on programming effectiveness. It's like every programming problem just got a bit easier, and every tool just works a bit better. The difference between being slightly too dumb to do the job well, and being a monster is a small one.
Unanticipated benefits are that colds are not really tiring, and my alcohol tolerance is back to University levels (not sure if that's a win). On the flip side, I'm less inclined to drink alcohol, because I don't want to mess with my new mental powers.