I’ve been carrying a lute I found in a cave for weeks now, still haven’t found out who it belongs to, or to what quest. I refuse to look it up though, I’ll search the entire Skyrim, if that’s what it takes.
I suppose I still do it in some sense. If I have a lot of muscle tension built up or am otherwise starting to get a headache/migraine. I just lie down in bed, and focus on breathing until my body enters that sleep state where it completely relaxes and doesn’t respond to my commands. Like a nice nap, but without actually falling asleep (much faster, no grogginess). Or like sleep paralysis, but without the demons. ;D
I also tried meditation to focus on the subconscious stream of thoughts, which was extremely fascinating. But I had to stop after a week or so since I started to become aware of it even when not meditating, which felt like someone constantly whispering in my ears and it was quite maddening. I would still recommend giving it a try though. Becoming aware of some subconscious thought chains/loops, especially the negative ones, and learning to cut them short had a huge impact on my mental well-being.
2h after sunset, eh? In summer when the sun doesn’t set, all my negative thoughts shall be valid! Woooo! (that’s actually some good advice you’re giving though)
One cool thing about remembering dreams you’ve had is that some stories might turn into storylines. For the past few years there has been a dream story going on in my sleep. Every now and then randomly there’s another dream that either continues or relates to that story. It’s pretty fun, like following an interesting TV show and waiting for new episodes!
I have dreams every single night, and remember at least one of them once I wake up. Always have. Only exceptions are when I’m extremely tired or when I drink chamomile tea before bed. Found out about the latter last summer, and it admittedly kind of freaked me out; not having/remembering dreams is just… weird.
In recent years I’ve run some experiments on what works for me and what doesn’t. ‘6h for work - 9h for rest - 9h for whatever’ division seems to work wonders for me, with one day off in a week.
Trying to sleep less than 9h just messes everything up, unless I divide the sleep into two sections. Funny how that works. Extra 1.5h of being awake, especially during the productive night hours, was quite nice. But I hate waking up, and doing that twice a day is just simply too much!