If you find a good sleep med it can be life changing. I found a natural supplement called muscimol that's a silver bullet for me. Gets me to sleep in 20 minutes every time, gives me great sleep, and isn't habit forming. It can be hard to find because people like to try to take huge doses to trip, even though it's an awful delirious experience(never tried it but read stories).

At low doses though it works by mimicking GABA in the brain, so it actually increases REM sleep time. A lot of sedatives will get you to sleep but give you worse sleep because it's working in a very unnatural way. It totally eliminates the issue of taking a long time to fall asleep.

Now you still have to be able to get yourself to bed in the first place, but that's half the battle already won. My life is so much better using it as I've always had a hard time falling asleep. Hopefully we'll have similar medication available to everyone soon as I really think it can solve a lot of suffering people experience

>… but he won’t get young men to sleep in at 8pm

i've never had a problem with staying or even falling asleep, instead my issue is *wanting* to go to bed and getting myself there. adhd, executive dysfunctoning/akrasia, screens, chores i procrastinated all evening, etc, all give me too many things to do at night instead of tucking myself into bed. i basically don't feel tired at all until i lay down. i don't notice i'm mentally wiped until i start bottomfragging in a video game at 2 am.

i've taken melatonin (and magnesium) for a long time, but only in the past few months i started taking it like 3 hours before bed, after reading scott alexander's psychiatry website, instead of right beforehand.

i also happen to have been recently RXd a drug called guanfacine which dampens sympathetic activity (think fight-or-flight) and when i take it with the above pills, i finally *feel* tired at 10 pm. my body is heavy and slow and my brain starts craving being turned off. it's remarkable. there's something about *feeling* tired that is humbling and makes me feel human. weird!

BJ et all aren't joking when they say the biggest performance enhancer is sleep and especially regularity. i would rather sleep 6 hours and wake up at my normal time, than slide my schedule around and hit 8 and sleep in. but when i hit 8 on my usual schedule it's like i have superpowers. i don't make gains at the gym unless i sleep well. and it's such a funny thing to say out loud, but i don't need coffee when i'm rested. when i'm rested and take a coffee, it feels like i just drank 3 coffees and i'm ODing on top of my natural alertness.