better to sleep at night, you never actually catch up on sleep you miss

I won't argue with being better to sleep at night but I gotta take it when it shows up these days. I went through a lonnng stretch of insomnia issues so it feels great to sleep any time I can. Being sleep deprived is a lot different than being thirsty as the recovery from insomnia takes several times longer than the duration of sleep issues.

Ever see a motorcycle parked in front of a psychiatrists office?

Me neither.

Flying R/C planes. The concentration puts you in the zone which tends to clear accumulated stress. Getting into R/C took me off blood pressure medication. Then discovered autocrossing. Being in "the zone" is more intense and the once a month application works wonders.

If you want to see what being in the zone is like watch Driven with Sylvester Stallone. Pay attention when and why he starts humming.

Very true - although to use an expression from my flying days, “it’s hours and hours of blissful boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror”.

Ride safely!

I come here. I am serious

I do logic puzzles.( https://www.logic-puzzles.org ) I still have my old calculus book and I work a few problems out of it now and then for a change. I find focusing my mind deeply on something pushes everything else out of my brain and calms me down. I can still think when doing physical exercise - that doesn't help me.
Coming here to PPOT helps too. It's the most social interaction I get since I retired.

Honestly?

Whiskey.

The annoying thing is I'm totally relaxed during the day. Cool as a cucumber. Then 3:00am, fairly much on the dot, I'm having anxiety attacks. By the time it's 6:00am I'm so shattered I'm ready to sleep but it's time to get up. Yep,stress. I try meditation (at 3:00am) but usually it doesn't work.

I also find beta blockers, like propranolol, excellent for situations/days when I am facing a mentally stressful position. Not least for people like me that are pretty anti-social.
Combined with a little whiskey its the perfect social party mixture without risking getting hammered.

I’ve found it useful to understand what exactly is stressing me. Once defined, it seems to lose a lot of its influence/power. Also, I came to realize that we typically stress about the things we care about. So, changing my approach and lense through which I view the stressors is helpful. Otherwise, time alone works for me.

Did the Doc say anything about age lowering one's ability or will to manage stress?

Seems to me that when I was younger I was willing to carry much greater stress levels for longer periods of time, and now I just don't care to.

Maybe the old grumpy man syndrome?

From the responses, one does not tackle stress head on, one attempts to out run or out bicycle it and totally embrace the flee instincts.

Staying ahead of stress, and not letting it overtake you.

This is so "prey and predator".

Maybe that boxing time let's you be the predator?

A year ago this week I almost paid the ultimate price for letting work stress get the better of me.

I find hard manual labour is very good at reducing my stress, sweating too much to think and after I sleep like a log

I found if I did a 8:00pm power walk with the dogs on the beach. Just 20 minutes or so, gave me a good night's sleep. Maybe it burnt of some of that nervous adrenaline from the blood stream.