I don't think he's right. You don't intend to have a stimulus for an activity right before bed time.
If you don't want to take a stimulant regularly you probably care more about side effects than about half-life.
One of the issues with caffeine is that it causes the body to produce more A1 receptors which you probably don't want given that your sleep is already screwed up.
Given what you wrote I would also look into non drug treatments. Especially something to reach a deep state of trance, be it meditation, hypnosis or a flotation tank.
Thanks for the advice. I think I see what you mean in this post about asking a more general question. Perhaps I'll post a discussion item about advice for rationalists with hypersomnia disorders, or post something to the next open thread. Most of the advice I've seen about sleep on here seems to apply only to normal people, or even just a subset of normal folks.
Yes, I'm not very interested in stimulants largely because of the side effects (on my mood, or sleep, or cardiovascular system, etc.), but they are the first line of treatment for whatever it is tha...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.