Methods, systems, and devices are described for improving discontinuous reception (DRX) periods using enhanced physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) decoding. A user equipment (UE) may determine that an uplink (UL) retransmission (ReTx) is unnecessary based on the content of the original UL transmission. For example, the transmission may include media access control (MAC) layer padding rather than relevant application layer data. The UE may then identify a DRX sleep period that includes the subframe where the ReTx would take place. In some cases, the DRX sleep period may include a subframe where the UE would otherwise receive an acknowledgement message (AM) from a base station. The UE may then enter a DRX sleep state. In another example, the DRX sleep period is based on the content of a received AM. If the UE receives an ACK, the UL ReTx may be unnecessary.