I sometimes can't sleep at night. Perhaps my brain's "CMOS Chip" battery ran out and my circadian rhythm defaulted to my "factory settings" of Beijing Time (UTC +8), which would explain my insomnia.

I feel like for a lot of us, the 24 hour day does not align with our natural rhythm. Since working from home for a few years, I found that a 26-hour day fits better for me. I'd fit in great on DS9.

But seriously tho, it's just depression, can't sleep, hence this showerthought

Well... maybe. You've accidentally come up with something that actually exists, called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. And about half of people with DSPD have depression. 😬 (Also common in ADHDers.)

The circadian rhythms of people with DSPD are offset compared to people without it, so it is a bit like time zones in that respect. And if you try to "fight" it, by getting up early and holding down a 9-5 job, the effects are often compared to jet lag.

I have sufferef from bad insomnia my whole life. On a good night, I would lay in bed for a couple hours with my eyes closed trying to fall asleep. On a bad night, I'd lay like that until my alarm went off in the morning, and then I'd get up, shower, and go to work. That (not sleeping at all) would happen at least once a week for years.

I tried a lot of things. I tried prescription meds. They didn't work. I tried booze. No luck.

On Reddit about 10 years ago I came across a post about a podcast. The Sleep With Me Poscast.

It doesn't work for everyone, but it was like a miracle for me. The guy running the podcast is so incredibly boring and the episodes are so unbelievably meaningless that I could actually feel myself falling asleep while trying to follow his meandering stories.

When I first started listening, I'd play one episode, but then when the episode ended, I'd wake up. Then I started setting it to play all episodes without stopping, but then I'd sleep through my alarm. I finally had to set a sleep timer to stop the podcast a minute or two before my alarm.

Well you can try shoving a battery up your ass and see if you can sleep better.

I was the same way for a few years. I don't know exactly was the "fix", but this is what I've stated doing to help me go to bed:

• Podcast: I found listening to a podcast made a huge difference for me. It has to be one that's interesting enough to pay attention to, but not one that is too interesting you have to listen to every second of it. That way I can lay in bed and not be bored, but also not care if I miss anything. My go-to is the LTT podcast; Dungeons & Daddies is also good, but I want to pay attention more so it doesn't work as well. Also use an app with a configurable sleep timer. Eventually you'll figure out approx how long it takes for you to fall asleep based on if you miss anything vs getting up to restart the timer.
• Bedtime Routine: A routine helps tell your body it's time for bed. Bedtime tea, washroom, brush teeth, shower, then climb into bed.
• No Games before Bed: When it's close to bedtime, I stop playing games and switch to watching videos. Less brain effort.
• Dim Lights at Night: Might be a bit too much effort, but I've setup all my lights to dim starting at 11pm. Bedroom dims all the way down to min brightness.
• Caffeine: No coffee after 5, ideally not after 3
• Cool Temps at Night: If you can, lower your house temps by a few degrees before bed and overnight too
• Happy Lamp: It's basically a bright light you point at your face during the day. Where I live, the sun rises pretty late, sets pretty early, and I have a work-from-home job so I don't get a lot of actual sunlight. My SO said that my mood has definitely improved since starting to use it, and it helps with your circadian rhythm.

I hope this helps!

Timezones, not even once.

Cut the lights in the evening. Use dimmer, warmer ones. No screens. Give yourself 30 minutes of darkness before going to bed. Buy good curtains/blinds. As a last resort, take melatonin.