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Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

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Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#21

Post by ryanbrunner »

peterwwillis wrote: post #15

Sleep need is variable, work is variable, motivation is variable. It's more likely that sleep is a spectrum, hence the 8.34% variance in required minimum sleep for adults, or how general quality of health affects ability to maintain sleep. It's even possible that sleep has nothing to do with our health and productivity other than being an indicator of it, and not necessarily a cause for it. Thanks, pseudo-scientific…

This is all true, but I think it's worthwhile to be very skeptical about your assumption of how much sleep is healthy for you. Everyone in these threads assumes that they are one of the special few who does perfectly fine on 5 hours of sleep.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#22

Post by rightos »

But do I need to be more productive?

It's a tradeoff - I can go home and spend more social time, leisure time and put more personal time into my projects if I sleep less. The 2-3 hours of extra time I get by sleeping like crap allows me to do things I wouldn't otherwise get to do. Productivity couldn't improve these if there's no time left in the day to do them.

It costs me at work, I'm sure of it, but it hasn't gotten me fired or even significantly prevented me from doing my job, so why would I change it? There's no need to be obsessed with scraping every last ounce of productivity out of myself at work. I like my job, but feel no obligation for that.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#23

Post by oliveshell »

rightos wrote: post #22

But do I need to be more productive? It's a tradeoff - I can go home and spend more social time, leisure time and put more personal time into my projects if I sleep less. The 2-3 hours of extra time I get by sleeping like crap allows me to do things I wouldn't otherwise get to do. Productivity couldn't improve these if there's no time left in the day to do them. It costs me at work, I'm sure of it, but it hasn't gott…

Because you’re doing long-term damage to your brain?

Now, it’s possible that you’re not, and the brain can heal itself, but that’s why I try and get enough sleep. It disturbs me to think that the impossibly complex biomechanical machine in my head is slogging through excess waste products to try and crank out acceptable performance.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#24

Post by epc »

If you feel groggy in the morning or just not well–rested even after 7-8 hours sleep, get your sinuses & lungs checked.

Could be sleep apnea, but in my case I felt congested all the time. What I thought was allergies was actually the linings of my sinuses inflamed to the point of closing off air passages.

Unclear if the root cause in my case was acid-reflux into the sinus cavities or exposure to dust from ground zero.

The resulting surgery kind of sucked (free tip: don't have your sinuses roto-rootered in the winter) but ever since I've been able to sleep a solid 6-7 hours every night. I now wake up rested, don't feel groggy, typically without an alarm.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#25

Post by lutorm »

_qbjt wrote: post #17

This is one of the reasons I hate the eight-hour work day. Between that and all of the other shit you have to do in a day (commute, chores, eating, exercise etc.), it seems like there's little to no opportunity to just have a life. I know it sounds like first world problems (people used to work 100 hour weeks), but I think our culture needs to change before we can really put the onus on people to improve their sleepi…

Actually, studies have shown that hunter-gatherer societies spent much less than 40h/week "working" and had more leisure time than we do. It's just recent history that's an anomaly...

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#26

Post by Ygg2 »

Danihan wrote: post #14
pmoriarty wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long have you been sleeping like that?

About 1.5 years, give or take. I pretty much require 9 hours on a monophasic schedule to feel as sharp.

Yeah, I worry, this only gets rid of tiredeness but not fulfill the whole 8-9 hours of sleep.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#27

Post by ams6110 »

I feel like my natural body clock is a 28-hour day. If I have no reason to get up I'll sleep for about 10 hours, but then I'm not ready to sleep again for about 18 hours.

I'm guessing the 10 hours is just making up for sleep debt and that might taper off if I could sleep as much as I wanted every night. But the realities of life (kids in school, work, kid's activities, etc.) mean that I have to be awake by about 6:45am and being in bed and asleep before 10:00 just doesn't happen very often either.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#28

Post by ashark »

_qbjt wrote: post #17

This is one of the reasons I hate the eight-hour work day. Between that and all of the other shit you have to do in a day (commute, chores, eating, exercise etc.), it seems like there's little to no opportunity to just have a life. I know it sounds like first world problems (people used to work 100 hour weeks), but I think our culture needs to change before we can really put the onus on people to improve their sleepi…

Four sixes or three eights feels like about the right balance, to me. It'd be the point at which a working professional could plausibly and in a non-trying-to-make-a-point way respond with something other than their job to the question, "so, what do you do?" It also might be just enough time off to let a working couple also homeschool their kids (they'd still need a daycare or some kind of parent-free activity or something some of the time, though) without running themselves entirely ragged.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#29

Post by rightos »

oliveshell wrote: post #23
rightos wrote: post #22

But do I need to be more productive? It's a tradeoff - I can go home and spend more social time, leisure time and put more personal time into my projects if I sleep less. The 2-3 hours of extra time I get by sleeping like crap allows me to do things I wouldn't otherwise get to do. Productivity couldn't improve these if there's no time left in the day to do them. It costs me at work, I'm sure of it, but it hasn't gott…

Because you’re doing long-term damage to your brain? Now, it’s possible that you’re not, and the brain can heal itself, but that’s why I try and get enough sleep. It disturbs me to think that the impossibly complex biomechanical machine in my head is slogging through excess waste products to try and crank out acceptable performance.

Most of these studies tend to be focused on temporary effects, including this one. Most of that "damage" can be undone with a good nights sleep.

But even if some amount is permanent, so what? Does my brain need to be in mint condition? If the cost of getting more enjoyment out of life is a little brain damage, so be it. I hold no ego about my brain being perfect. Performance is only one aspect of life and not one I strive to prioritize significantly over enjoyment.

Re: Productive on six hours of sleep? You’re deluding yourself, expert says

#30

Post by jules »

rightos wrote: post #22

But do I need to be more productive? It's a tradeoff - I can go home and spend more social time, leisure time and put more personal time into my projects if I sleep less. The 2-3 hours of extra time I get by sleeping like crap allows me to do things I wouldn't otherwise get to do. Productivity couldn't improve these if there's no time left in the day to do them. It costs me at work, I'm sure of it, but it hasn't gott…

If you are X% less productive you will be able to charge X% less for your work, on average, so you would need to work longer hours for the same pay. You might also be shortening your life by not sleeping enough, perhaps by a larger amount than you're gaining by sleeping less. That is clearly the case in the limit of not sleeping at all -- you would shorten your life to a month at best, not to mention that the quality of life would go down.
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