Three Recent Life Hacks I'm Proud Of

I’m always looking for ways to improve my daily experience. As I get older, I find that small tweaks often yield the most significant results. Lately, I’ve implemented three life hacks that have made a world of difference in my sleep, focus, and personal growth.

1. Mastering Sleep Hygiene

For a long time, I woke up with a debilitating headache six out of seven days a week. I have severe sleep apnea and was using a CPAP machine, but eventually, the device felt like it was causing more stress than it was relieving. Late last year, I decided to take a different approach.

Using Gemini to research alternatives, I identified four potential irritants: dry air, low oxygen levels, body temperature, and head elevation. After addressing these—adjusting humidity, improving airflow, keeping my body cool, and slightly elevating my head—the headaches vanished. I’m finally sleeping through the night and waking up refreshed. I’m even testing some new methods for keeping my nasal passages clear. So far, so good.

2. Reclaiming Focus by Moving My Office

A recent challenge came from an unlikely source: my neighbor, who took up drumming as a retirement hobby. Unfortunately, his studio was right next to my home office, making deep focus nearly impossible. My solution was to move my office to the front of the house.

It turns out the front of the house is the quietest part. Being a public-facing space, people tend to be more mindful of their noise levels. We live in a quiet rural area on a local road with minimal traffic, so the environment is incredibly serene. The extra sunlight is a lovely bonus. I love the new space so much that I even set up a small reading corner.

3. The Joy of Physical Reading

I’ve realized that I simply cannot focus on ebooks when reading on a computer, phone, or Kindle app. The distractions are just too close at hand. To combat this, I’ve returned to physical books and a dedicated ebook reader.

Sitting in my new reading chair with a physical book or my reader allows me to digest content much better. My plan now is to upload long-form articles or anything I want to read to my ebook reader first, rather than trying to read them in a browser. It’s a small barrier that makes a huge difference in how much I actually retain.

Note: This post was generated by Antigravity based on my obsidian note.