Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

chicagotribune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 309 posts

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

#81

Post by lojack »

epc wrote: post #24

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…

I used to sleep until noon on the weekends and could easily spend 10+ hours sleeping a night if I let myself. After a year of my wife kicking me out of bed because of snoring too loud, I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a severe apnea. I'm average weight, never had a problem waking up, and didn't feel that tired throughout the day like a lot of sufferers feel. Using the CPAP machine wasn't a life altering experience that immediately changed how I felt.

Fast forward 6 months or so... I have serious difficulty sleeping more than 8 hours, can hardly sleep past when the sun comes up. Don't need an alarm to wake up, and feel well rested after 7 hours of sleep. I'm also so much more productive at work, actually feel awake and can focus on things. Prior to the CPAP machine I don't think I ever actually understood what it was like to not feel tired, it was just my normal state so I was actually tired without even realizing it. It was a life altering change that didn't happen overnight. I've tried a couple times to sleep without the CPAP machine, and it just doesn't happen. I imagine its the same as sleeping before, I just notice how I'm unable to sleep now.

This might not be true for everyone, but if you're told you snore really bad, and don't feel exhausted all the time, but can sleep constantly... you may have sleep apnea and are just dealing with the symptoms without even realizing. It was absolutely worth getting checked out for me.

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

#82

Post by lojack »

nikkwong wrote: post #40
epc wrote: post #24

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…

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea this week after it wreaked havoc on my personal and professional life for the last 6. I couldn't work, couldn't engage in anything. Now I'm pretty much terrified to go to sleep every night as I know I'm probably not going to get any rest and wake up zombified. I heard the surgery was a hit or miss. Would you recommend?

Absolutely 100% get the CPAP machine and give it a few months. I didn't immediately feel better after using the machine, but I'm about one year in at this point and it was life changing for me.

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

#83

Post by wtetzner »

I'm productive on six hours of sleep in the sense that I get something done. However, I am quite noticeably less productive than if I get more sleep.

Even if I don't feel tired, I notice that my thoughts are more muddled and it's hard to concentrate. If I get 6 hours or less of sleep one night, it's usually not a problem. But if the lack of sleep is over multiple days (like it usually is), then it becomes much worse.

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

#84

Post by jasonmp85 »

smallnamespace wrote: post #65
wmil wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, but the 40h/week ignores commutes. For some people that's an additional 15h/week. Also hunger-gatherers lived right beside the people they knew. They just had to step outside to meet up with friends to socialize.

> with friends to socialize Or, sometimes, rival tribes to fight with and kill -- not everything is (necessarily) hunky-dory in every tribal society.

I have little knowledge about the truth here but I'd heard that this sort of warring stuff only ramped up after agriculture became common, no? Why kill other tribes' members unless they have a hoard of food? I suppose "to reduce competition" is one answer, but if everyone can hunt/gather for enough food, the motivation seems reduced.

OTOH if I can ignore preparation for winter and just raid your village for grain stores, the calculus changes.

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

#85

Post by dragonwriter »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #84
smallnamespace wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with friends to socialize Or, sometimes, rival tribes to fight with and kill -- not everything is (necessarily) hunky-dory in every tribal society.

I have little knowledge about the truth here but I'd heard that this sort of warring stuff only ramped up after agriculture became common, no? Why kill other tribes' members unless they have a hoard of food? I suppose "to reduce competition" is one answer, but if everyone can hunt/gather for enough food, the motivation seems reduced. OTOH if I can ignore preparation for winter and just raid your village for grain sto…

> Why kill other tribes' members unless they have a hoard of food? I suppose "to reduce competition" is one answer

Yes, and not just for food and similar non-human resources. Reducing competition for mates is a common reason; even well past hunter-gatherer society, killing the men to take the women as mates remained a thing.

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

#86

Post by nlowell »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #84
smallnamespace wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with friends to socialize Or, sometimes, rival tribes to fight with and kill -- not everything is (necessarily) hunky-dory in every tribal society.

I have little knowledge about the truth here but I'd heard that this sort of warring stuff only ramped up after agriculture became common, no? Why kill other tribes' members unless they have a hoard of food? I suppose "to reduce competition" is one answer, but if everyone can hunt/gather for enough food, the motivation seems reduced. OTOH if I can ignore preparation for winter and just raid your village for grain sto…

Tribal warring is common even in apes. Territorialism is especially strong. There are also plenty of things to war over besides food, such as space, shelter, mates, glory, gods, historical feuds, etc. Remember if we don't sacrifice one human before nightfall, the sun won't rise tomorrow.

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

#87

Post by avn2109 »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #84
smallnamespace wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with friends to socialize Or, sometimes, rival tribes to fight with and kill -- not everything is (necessarily) hunky-dory in every tribal society.

I have little knowledge about the truth here but I'd heard that this sort of warring stuff only ramped up after agriculture became common, no? Why kill other tribes' members unless they have a hoard of food? I suppose "to reduce competition" is one answer, but if everyone can hunt/gather for enough food, the motivation seems reduced. OTOH if I can ignore preparation for winter and just raid your village for grain sto…

The usual tribal conflict pattern is to seize territory as a hunting ground. Note that for nomadic tribes, there is no village and therefore no fixed location to raid.

E.g. the Comanches had a longstanding war* with the Apaches not because they wanted to seize each other's grain stores, but rather because they wanted control of the best buffalo hunting grounds.

* Not a war in the sense that we'd call it today. There were e.g. no organized charges, battle lines etc. Maybe "long slow series of irregular cavalry skirmishes" is more accurate than "war."

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

#89

Post by rthomas6 »

Ygg2 wrote: post #79
Danihan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, I'm better rested now than I was before I went bi-phasic. I personally believe sleep is simply a cleaning cycle for the brain, waiting 16 hours between cleaning cycles may be deleterious.

I wasn't speaking about better rested vs less rested. You can totally lose symptoms of tiredness, only to wind up with dementia at later point in life.

Is this just speculation or is there evidence for this?

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

#90

Post by 0xJRS »

nikkwong wrote: post #40
epc wrote: post #24

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…

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea this week after it wreaked havoc on my personal and professional life for the last 6. I couldn't work, couldn't engage in anything. Now I'm pretty much terrified to go to sleep every night as I know I'm probably not going to get any rest and wake up zombified. I heard the surgery was a hit or miss. Would you recommend?

I know someone who slept like that for over 10 years before I convinced them to get the mask and now they thank me and cant sleep without it
Post reply on HN