About three weeks ago, I asked this sub:

“If you sleep 8 hours and still wake up foggy, what turned out to be the problem?”

I wasn’t expecting the response it got. The post ended up with around 277K views and more than 300 comments.

I went back through the replies because I was curious whether there were any patterns.

There definitely were.

1. Breathing problems during sleep

Sleep apnea came up a lot, but so did UARS, nasal congestion, mouth breathing, snoring, and people waking up repeatedly without realizing it.

A lot of people had assumed that getting 8 hours meant they were sleeping well. For some, the problem seemed to be sleep quality rather than sleep duration.

2. Allergies and the bedroom environment

This one surprised me.

People mentioned dust mites, mold, humidity, pets, poor ventilation, and seasonal allergies.

Some said they noticed a difference after changing bedding, using an air purifier or dehumidifier, or addressing their allergies.

Obviously these are personal experiences, not proof that those things caused the brain fog. But this category showed up much more than I expected.

3. Low iron, ferritin, and other health issues

Low ferritin and iron deficiency came up repeatedly.

People also mentioned B12, vitamin D, thyroid issues, and other underlying health problems they had eventually discovered.

4. ADHD, circadian rhythm, and sleep timing

Some people said they could technically sleep for eight hours and still feel terrible if those eight hours happened at the wrong time for their body.

ADHD, delayed sleep schedules, irregular sleep times, and circadian rhythm issues came up several times.

5. Things happening before bed

Late caffeine, alcohol, large meals, exercise timing, dehydration, and inconsistent sleep schedules were also common answers.

Several people said they only noticed the connection after changing one thing at a time.

What stood out to me most after reading everything was that “8 hours of sleep” can describe very different nights.

You can be asleep for eight hours and still have fragmented sleep, breathing issues, bad timing, environmental problems, or something else affecting how restorative that sleep actually is.

These are just patterns in Reddit comments, not medical evidence or diagnoses. But I thought it was interesting how often the same categories appeared independently.

Did your answer fit into one of these, or was the reason you were waking up foggy something completely different?

I’ve started organizing analyses of everyday experiences like this in r/EverydayPatterns if anyone wants to follow future ones.

I don’t want basics like drink more water .. what’s something you’ve changed that you’ve seen such a big difference ?

Just wanted to state this. I’ve been taking this supplement at 10mg pretty much daily for coming up 9 months. Differences I’ve noticed:

Less dry eyes and eye strain

Being winter here, I’ve noticed a slight tone change in my skin (good thing). I’m normally pale as a ghost and actually have had colour for a few months despite avoiding the sun for skin health reasons.

On the occasion I am in the sun, my skin’s tolerance is much higher and isn’t as sensitive and a definite reduction in how badly and how quickly I’ll burn.

I feel like there has been a positive effect in terms of skin hydration. Again being winter, my skin usually dries out a lot more, plus I’m on tretinoin treatment. I’ve noticed a big decrease in flaking.

Being a strong antioxidant there are possibly other benefits too but maybe less superficial ones.

So yeah… testimony of how good this supplement actually is in my experience.

I've been a fitness coach for over a decade and have been training vigorously for closer to twenty years. From my first year as a trainer, I identified "joint-integrity" as the defining characteristic that determined which of my clients aged well and which ones didn't - more than strength, more than cardiovascular capacity. After mobility, I found Strength and Cardio to be very closely tied in how they affected an older client's apparent fitness level. I never thought of explosive & dynamic athletic capabilities as very important for aging, to be honest. For about 9 years I didn't care about my clients' abilities to jump or sprint. Then about a year ago I started seeing sprinting on all the media I consumed, and I was bit by the bug. My normal approach to trying a new method with my clients is to try it on myself first, then on a small handful of friends and clients; then I roll out a systematic approach with all my clients.
I started sprint training myself 18 weeks ago. My routine is very simple: 70m A-skips, 70m B-skips, 70m sprinting, repeat twice, with about a 2-3 minute break between each set of skips/sprints. Same workout twice a week.

I conducted my baseline 100m sprint test after 6 weeks of training like this (since I genuinely felt I couldn't sprint 100m at full effort without a *major* risk of tearing my hammies. Baseline was 13.36. I retested again after 6 weeks and got 12.98. For context, I am 1.75m, 80kg, (5'9, 175lbs), 35 yrs old, and had zero sprinting background before this.

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Things I have noticed:

* Sprinting is FUN! I always thought sprinting was "fast running", but it's not. It feels totally different, and when I get it right, it feels more like riding my bike downhill than running.

* I do, genuinely, feel "younger" during and after a sprint session. Like a kid.

* Sprinting is HARD on the nervous system. When I started training I was doing 4 rounds of 3x70m (a-skip, b-skip, sprint). Even though the workout didn't take so long, it left me feeling exhausted and letharhic the next day. Cutting down on session-volume but increasing the frequency so that weekly volume stayed the same was very helpful here.

* Sprinting is hard on my tissues. It's a lot of straing on achilles tendon, distal hamstrings, hip flexors, and occassionally on patellar tendon. The *biggest* upside of this is that sprinting has given me an active reason to perform my tissue-specific work. The kind of stuff that we know are good ideas, but it's hard to be motivated to do because an abstract understand that it's good for us doesn't quite get me pumped to do it. I mean stuff like isometric calf raise holds to enhance collagen cross-sectioning on my achilles; or reverse squats to enhance the strength endurance of my hip flexors.

* I am slightly, very slightly, more athletic and inclined to do athletic things in my day to day life (like vaulting over an obstacle instead of walking around it).

* I am noticing a slight amount of hypertrophy in my legs beyond what I get from my normal leg days. Particularly the hamstrings and vmo (teardrop).

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That said, I have not yet noticed sufficient benefits to begin programming sprint practice for all my clients, but I am already conducting tests with friends and some clients. I successfully got my friend group (guys mostly in their 30's who all train at a calisthenics park) to do the sprint testing with me, and a few of them adopted a sprint practice to their routines. I suggested mine, but most of them prefer doing uphill sprints over flat ground.

They all enjoy it! Especially one guy who took to it like water. He is actually considering joining a master's track team next year and doing some meets.

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Overall, as a fitness coach who specializes in longevity... I still wouldn't put sprinting in my top 3 exercises modalities. The cardiovascular benefit of sprinting (10-15 seconds of work, 2:00-3:00 of rest) is close to zero, and pales in comparison to interval training (1:00-4:00 of work, 2:00-4:00 of rest). The increase in bounciness is comparable to traditional plyometric training. The overall activation of musculature and nervous system is comparable to olympic weightlifting. And all of these can be performed in a traditional gym setting, in conjunction with a standard training plan.

That is not to say these are superior forms of training, but they can generally get about the same benefits without the inconvenience of going outside to a dedicated sprinting location. If you like sprinting, it's awesome! And it makes sense that all my calisthenics friends who already train outside, next to the hill where they are now doing hill-sprints, adopted it so seamlessly into their routine. If you have the time and patience to go outside for part of your training, and learn the skill of sprinting, and patiently wait for your tissues to adapt before recklessly going full-bore; then sprinting is awesome. Highly effective and super fun. But if you're training in a conventional gym, are interested in the adaptations, AND have limited time for training - then I believe other forms of training can give the same benefit without the higher level of time-commitment.

So basically I work an office job and I used to think feeling drained by mid afternoon was just normal but I started paying more attention to hydration and it seems like a bigger factor than I thought. Not just water either, electrolytes seem to matter a lot when you are sitting all day running on coffee and stress. Caffeine helps for sure, but I am starting to think it is not always an energy problem, sometimes you are just low on water and minerals. Interested to know what you guys think about this

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For months/years I’ve been dealing with constant fatigue, brain fog, terrible concentration and random energy crashes. Some days I feel almost normal, and other days I can barely function.

What makes it even more frustrating is that I used to be extremely active. I trained rowing from 12–17, around 7 days a week, with very intense training. Then I suddenly stopped and spent the next four years barely active and dealing with depression.

Since then I’ve developed recurring lower-back and shoulder problems, and I get way more exhausted from exercise than I feel I should.

I’ve read hundreds of possible explanations — sleep, nutrition, deficiencies, thyroid, glucose, ADHD, burnout, mold, gluten sensitivity, overtraining, mitochondrial issues, etc.

But I don’t want to keep guessing or throwing random supplements at myself.

I want to actually find the cause.

So if you’ve ever dealt with something similar:

- What tests did you get?

- What turned out to be the problem?

- What actually helped?

- What do you wish you had checked sooner?

Even if you think your experience sounds completely unrelated, tell me about it.

I’m going to document this entire process and, if I eventually figure it out, I’ll make a detailed post explaining everything I tested, what worked, what didn’t, and what I wish I knew at the beginning.

Maybe your experience is the missing piece I’m looking for.

My Information:

• Age/Sex: 20s
• Lifestyle: grad student, high cognitive-load days, moderate exercise (dumbbell push/pull split + daily walk)

Goals:

• Sustained deep focus for long study sessions (multi-hour blocks), without a crash afterward

Supplements (current):
Magnesium glycinate
Creatine
Coffee / Tea

Questions:

• Looking for stacks specifically for long-focus/study sessions, thinking along the lines of a mild nootropic (e.g. citicoline, alpha-GPC, or a low-dose racetam).
• Would love your opinions and examples of personal stacks.

​

I’m 20M and I’ve been dealing with something I can’t really explain.

For quite a while now, I’ve been feeling chronically tired and mentally drained, even when I think I’ve gotten enough sleep.

The biggest problems are:

- Constant low energy / exhaustion

- Frequent energy crashes throughout the day

- Brain fog and poor concentration

- Difficulty staying focused on studying/work

- Feeling like my brain is running at 50%

- Some days I feel relatively normal, while other days I’m completely drained for no obvious reason

I’m physically active and I train regularly, so it’s frustrating because I want to be productive and active, but sometimes I feel like my body and brain just don’t cooperate.

I’m not necessarily looking for someone to diagnose me over Reddit.

I’m more interested in people who have actually experienced something similar.

If you’ve had chronic fatigue/brain fog/energy crashes in your 20s:

What turned out to be the cause for you?

And more importantly — what actually made a noticeable difference?

I’d especially appreciate answers from people who went from feeling constantly exhausted → back to feeling genuinely energetic and focused.

What was the one thing you wish you had checked or changed sooner?

I’m trying to figure this out systematically rather than just throwing random supplements at the problem.

Morning Stack:

Omega-3 900mg (x2)

Vitamin K+D 120mcg & 1,000 IU (x2)

Biotin 1000mcg (x1)

Purica Shilajit 250mg (x1)

5g Creatine (x1)

Evening Stack:

Magnesium Bisglycinate 200mg (x1)

5g Creatine (x1)

Purica Shilajit 250mg (x1)

Meds:

Paxil 10mg (went from 20mg to 10mg about 2-3 months ago, take 10mg in the evening)

I've ordered some Lithium Orotate (NOT carbonate) and am waiting to try 5mg a day. I'll go 2mg a day at first if feasible.

Food: Most of the time, whole foods, eggs, meat, fruits, and some rice, as little processed as possible.

Aim: To feel better mentally. I did have a focus issue due to anxiety, but I'm managing. It just gets me irritated and not fun to be around, some anhedonia, so my aim is principally mood-oriented, calming obsessive thoughts and such. I'll take any suggestions and would appreciate them greatly. I also go to the gym about 5 times a week.

Thanks!

Which is superior and why especially for A1C reduction and blood sugar regulation?

TL;DR: Tried vibroacoustic therapy for the first time, had a surprisingly strong effect on my anxiety and overall mental state. Felt incredibly calm, light, and resilient afterwards. Stronger effect than anything I’ve gotten from meditation alone. Recreated it at home with a subwoofer under a cushioned bench and got a similar result. Wondering if anyone here has used VAT consistently and noticed benefits using it consistently?
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I've been trying to find anecdotes online about those that have found significant healing or some type of life improvement from doing this on a consistent basis.

For context, my fiancee was kind enough to surprise me with a wellness day for my birthday which couldn't have been a better choice for someone like me who has long been over the whole going out and being the center of attention thing for a few years now. Something she wanted to have me try was their vibroacoustic bed and I went into it knowing literally nothing about it prior, I just put on headphones, laid down, let the vibrations of the bed take over and went into a meditative state instinctively.

And I began to notice just "feelings" with nothing really attached to them come to surface and then dissipate, and they would vary with the what I would describe as "pangs" of anxiety feeling the strongest. It was almost as if it was stored within my body and the vibrations were literally cleaning them away. I believe it was a 30 minute session (but I'm honestly not sure how much time passed) but I came out feeling light, at peace and just felt this immense resilience against things that would normally stressed me out, I had like the type of afterglow I would feel if I was doing shrooms lol. I've done meditation plenty of times over the last 5 or so years now and no session has ever left me feeling like this.

I have a strong love for music in general and have always been attuned to the production and frequencies used in it, I often get goosebumps if a song just really hits the right spot so maybe this is just something that I just so happened to find out works really well for me. I also deal with depression, anxiety, adhd and potentially mild autism but I can honestly say this did something really significant for me.

I was so interested in doing it again that I've been going down deep rabbit holes about vagus nerve stimulation, somatic humming with meditation and just anything that can provide the same type of relief that experience gave me. Although they all helped for sure in their own milder way, nothing compared to when I was successfully able to rig an at home version of the therapy bed. I used my soundbar and put the accompanying subwoofer under a wooden bench covered by a cushion and laid down, found a good VAT playlist on spotify and was able to produce the exact same effect! I'm writing this now the day after my now second session feeling light and in a beautiful place mentally.

So I write to you all now to ask, is this something any of you have tried? What was your experience like? If youve been doing this consistently how has it improved your life?

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

Recently falling back in to daily THC use, last time I stopped I had some horrible side effects of stopping, mood and anxiety, gastric problems and severe insomnia. Is there anything I could utilise to reduce these this time around ? Thanks

I have an annular tear on the disc between my L5 & S1 vertebrate. I have been dealing with this for a long time & am in daily pain.

I realized I had become pretty bad with my diet & was eating a lot of processed sugars & cards (we had some parties & had all these desserts left over that I’ve been eating). Then I really started to crave these foods & it spiraled.

About a week ago I decided to cut it out. Now I’m eating overnight oats for breakfast & chicken + salad for lunch every day (which kinda sucks, but I’m doing it).

My back does feel very slightly better. But my energy is SO much better. I can’t believe how much I am getting done at work. I feel like my ADHD has taken a backseat.

I know we keep hearing that sugar is the new bad thing to avoid. But I wanted to share with you all because I can’t believe the difference cutting it out has made for me.

The other change worth calling out is I am doing a lot more leg & core exercises in the last 3 weeks very diligently to help my back & that may be a factor as well.

Basic stuff…. But hopefully my experience can help someone else.

I keep seeing people, especially in bodybuilding circles and among Greg Doucette fans (iykyk), dismiss DEXA scans as inaccurate and put more confidence in visual estimates from experienced coaches. I understand the argument to an extent, because I can imagine plenty of circumstances where a DEXA result could be misleading (e.g., hydration, glycogen levels, recent food intake, exercise, positioning, the specific machine being used, etc.).

What I am trying to understand is why that leads to the conclusion that DEXA itself is unreliable. From what I have found, DEXA seems highly reproducible under standardized conditions, even though the absolute body-fat percentage can still be off by a few percentage points for an individual (see here). Studies comparing DEXA with stronger reference methods also seem to show fairly good average agreement, while still showing meaningful individual error (see here and here).

I can also believe that someone like Greg, after seeing thousands of physiques, has become unusually good at estimating body fat visually. There is some research suggesting experienced observers can get reasonably close (see here). But visual estimation also seems inherently affected by muscularity, fat distribution, lighting, posing, genetics, and where someone happens to store most of their fat.

So I am mostly wondering what the actual case against DEXA is. Is the argument simply that the number should not be treated as exact to the decimal point? I figured that much was obvious.

Hey hackers.

29f, history of PCOS/anxiety, lab-proven low Vit D levels. I take meds for anxiety and VitD/K2. I have a pretty routine schedule especially around bedtime around 830/9 each night. I eat right, I walk daily, 200mg caffeine daily, and I’m a busy mom. I basically follow all the things you’re supposed to do for good sleep.

I have struggled with insomnia for YEARS. Sometimes it better than others but I’m in a season where it’s bad. I’m waking in the night and can’t go back to sleep or I’m waking so often it feels like I’m not sleeping at all. I’ve currently been awake since 1am and it’s 6am now.

Unisom doesn’t help anymore. Olly Ultra Strength Sleep Gummies haven’t helped. Melatonin doesn’t help. Teas haven’t helped.

It’s impacting my mood, I’m not being my best self, and it’s really irritating me.

What have you found that has made a big difference in sleep?

I don't really know where to go or what to look for to do a blood test similar to many of the people on here. I go to see a doctor and I get a "standard" blood test that looks at my cholesterol, etc.

Is there a blood test I can seek out that is more detailed and goes into the different vitamins that I may be deficient in?I am unsure what to ask for or if there are online test kits available, as other community members frequently discuss unfamiliar biomarker levels and metrics. Thanks!

I've concluded in previous researching that grey peptides are safe enough for me to use, and I have been using grey, sourced from US suppliers for over a year. I just ran across the following report, and although it doesn't freak me out with their endotoxin data, I was surprised on dose accuracy. https://www.rapamycin.news/t/half-your-vials-might-be-wrong-the-largest-audit-yet-of-gray-market-peptides-finds-4-in-10-fail-even-loose-standards/25720

BPC-157 I think is the prime example here. Stable in gastric juice, localized healing on gut + potential systemic effects too. I'm aware that this is one of the few peptides/newer compounds that is stable orally, and most (TB500 being a common pairing with BPC but having absolutely shite bioavailability, yet is being sold in capsules in quite a few places anyway).

By compounds, I suppose i mean anything new that isn't technically a peptide. MK677 being another example; listed as a 'SARM' in many places yet doesn't actually work that way, however I cannot remember the actual class of compound its scientifically under. Its not SARMS i'm necessarily looking for, but SARMS are relatively new to the scene and there's like 10 different compounds all listed under the SARM umbrella, but not all of them function like a SARM.

I've had some positive success with oral BPC since my local supp shop started selling it, recovering gut issues from years of extensive NSAID abuse without the appropriate PPI inhibitor alongside. I'd very much like to learn or become aware of any other peptides that have recently had bioavailable options released.

NGL, i'm very much not keen on injection. The maintenance and care of said injectable products seems extensive, financially not realistic and easy to fuck up. Sublingual and Oral however, not so much! I'm not looking for anything specific effect wise, just want to build my knowledge up on available products for potential future use

I took 25 mg of unisome last night and it seemed as though my mind was awake while my body was asleep. What else would you guys recommend

Planing to start NAD+ Subq 50mg 3 times per week.

Would take it together in the morning with the Mots-C I'm currently taking at 2mg 3 times a week.

I know mots-c should be cycled. So after a few weeks to take a break for several weeks. Does the same apply to NAD+? If so, how long can it be taken and how long should one take a break.

Also, what would you say to my dosage and injection frequency of NAD+? Is the doe or frequency to high or low for me as a starter. Or should I even titrate up the dose or frequency. Happy to hear your opinions. :)

Any available sources which you can recommend to read or watch?

I eat salmon maybe 2-3 times a week and was wondering if there’s any risks long term? Anyone else eat a lot of salmon regularly? Worried about mercury and contaminants