Sleep (quantity, quality), work on sth you like, work out, eat good food, and sharing and receiving love. It is not only about sleep but sleep indeed is fundamental.
I remember one night tossing and turning unable to sleep. I was severely behind on project. I eventually said "f sleep" woke up and made quick working prototype. Various other emotional disturbance prevents regular sleep schedule
OTOH, I remember handful of nights severely stuck on something, fighting sleep at 2 am trying to fix something, eventually saying "f work" and going to sleep.
Next morning, while in the shower, a possible solution had popped in my head out of thin air. By lunch I had solved it.
I now try the "sleep over it" approach before losing sleep over it.
Intermediate solution is to write down any ideas and then go back to sleep. That gets the ideas out of my head which for me is enough to calm down and go to sleep.
That’s what I used to do when I had my first issues with insomnia. Would go several days without sleep, and it was productive but then I would crash hard.
Sadly, it doesn’t work anymore. Still trying to find a solution. Days after days of no sleep is terrible
Reading a very boring yet interesting enough book has allowed me to fall asleep. It keeps your brain on the pages for long enough that the brain gets off of the hamster wheel.
I'm doing much better on the falling asleep part and doing it early and consistently. But now have the challenge of being awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night and not getting a full 2nd cycle.
My boss is like this. Very unpredictable person and I don’t think it is healthy for anyone. Generally speaking I will know this is a massive red flag for future jobs.