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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

#221
post #162
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always suspected I have a problem like this but couldn't ever get a doctor to help. Prior to treatment, did your sinuses open up completely during hard aerobic exercise and then feel like they slam shut as soon as you were done?

I'm interested as well. Despite the fact that I take similar allergy medications, I find that as soon as my head hits the pillow my nasal passages close. It's really frustrating.

Are you allergic to dust mites? My nighttime stuffy nose lessened when I was tested for dust mite allergy and my doctor instructed me to put allergy barriers on my mattress and pillows and launder all of my bedding (blankets included) once a week with hot water.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET6INY

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0BJKU

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

#222
post #81
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 alt…

I had almost the same experience, except I was moderate sleep apnea rather than severe. I remember being disappointed after the first night with my CPAP because I didn't have the "holy cow, I slept so good and I feel amazing and refreshed now" experience that a lot of other CPAP users were reporting.

Luckily I stuck with it, and after a few months I had to sleep without the machine for about a week and noticed a massive difference - I felt like hot garbage. The whole week without it I was so tired, had headaches every day, constant brain fog, and it was just hard to sleep in general. Now I'm a big believer in the CPAP machine and happily wear it every night.

Bonus: my wife no longer wakes me up every night for snoring ;)

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

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This lifestyle sounds unbelievably dreary and sad.

In what possible way? Biking or walking to work is "dreary and sad"? Spending less time cooking so you can spend more time doing exciting and fun activities is "dreary and sad"? Pooping at the office is "dreary and sad"? What kind of life do you lead where being stuck in traffic, daily meal preparation, and shitting on your own toilet is a constant thrill ride?

My commute to work is 10 minutes. I poop and shower at home, in my own lovely bathroom. I cook elaborate meals at home and serve them to people I love.

I guess I'm just surprised when people don't share the same joy of cooking. Or, for that matter, taking an excellent bowel movement in one's own toilet.

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

#224
post #199
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you all the way! I hear people talk about optimizing one's day to be more productive and "get more done in your day" so often...but honestly, between work, family responsibilities, working out a little in the gym, getting involved in side projects (either "working on the car", or working on side dev project), maybe some civic community involvement, social visits (the occasional beer with a buddy), etc...it j…

Bear in mind that we segment our activity more in "modern" society. For example, in agrarian societies you didn't need to carve out time for exercise. Work was exercise. You also didn't need to carve out time for child care, because children worked alongside adults much of the time. And commuting wasn't really an issue when workplaces and residences were in the same community with minimal geographic separation. It's…

Once they got old enough, sure. Until then, women typically took care of them. Good luck working alongside an 18 month old.

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

#225
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had so much shit that just sucked in my life the first 21 years of it. I always had sinus infections, I would constantly have what my friends and I call "poo-brain," where you just have slug thoughts and can't get your shit in order and your speech might even slur. Depression. Etc. Then I started taking fexofenadine (allegra) and fluticasone (nasonex) every day. After 2 weeks, nearly every problem I had vanished. N…

I actually had the same issue for the first 21 years of my life as well. Doctors gave me all of those those things, fluticasone, zyrtec, etc. I cut gluten out of my life, and basically everything changed. I no longer get 10 sinus infections a year, I don't have to take any allergy medicines, my depression went away, and I can sleep less. All of my doctors told me to take drugs to solve it, but it turns out I am glute…

I'd like to second the gluten thing, as an unexpected behavioral change that changed my life immeasurably.

I was told to cut wheat down to 10% max of my diet, under very strange circumstances (not going to go into it here; it was weird and made no sense, also, this person wasn't a doctor or anything and didn't tell me how it might affect me to change my diet this way).

I tried it for two weeks. I went to the store, got gluten-free equivalents of regular foods, and this was long before gluten-free was a fad so it was hard to find stuff.

Within two days, literally, I felt 10 years younger. My digestion went from kinda bad, always feeling bloated, often unpleasant times in the bathroom, to, well, a really good experience. My skin went from being kind of sallow and puffy to healthy and glowing.

I used to strain my back and neck regularly, and for no reason. I'd spend maybe a month's worth of days limping around with back/neck strain. That ended, entirely.

My mood improved to an amazing degree, which was also really surprising.

And last, I used to get sick 4-5 times a year, and without fail if I didn't get enough sleep, even two nights in a row. Now, I get sick maybe once a year, much more in line with what I see in other people.

I think I too had a low-grade gluten intolerance (probably not celiac, though I've never been tested); getting rid of it was probably the best health decision I've ever made, for impact on quality of life.

Anyway, just wanted to share my story. :)

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

#226
post #199
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you all the way! I hear people talk about optimizing one's day to be more productive and "get more done in your day" so often...but honestly, between work, family responsibilities, working out a little in the gym, getting involved in side projects (either "working on the car", or working on side dev project), maybe some civic community involvement, social visits (the occasional beer with a buddy), etc...it j…

Bear in mind that we segment our activity more in "modern" society. For example, in agrarian societies you didn't need to carve out time for exercise. Work was exercise. You also didn't need to carve out time for child care, because children worked alongside adults much of the time. And commuting wasn't really an issue when workplaces and residences were in the same community with minimal geographic separation. It's…

I'm also struck by cities that commute heavily by bike (such as Amsterdam). Your commute is your exercise. That is not how most Americans live, however.

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

#227
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bear in mind that we segment our activity more in "modern" society. For example, in agrarian societies you didn't need to carve out time for exercise. Work was exercise. You also didn't need to carve out time for child care, because children worked alongside adults much of the time. And commuting wasn't really an issue when workplaces and residences were in the same community with minimal geographic separation. It's…

I'm also struck by cities that commute heavily by bike (such as Amsterdam). Your commute is your exercise. That is not how most Americans live, however.

[deleted]

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

#228
post #157
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait till you have kids, then you realize how much time you had to just have a life...

So then why would I have kids?

So you have somebody to pay for a nice nursing home when you're old.

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

#229
post #202
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving kids less than 2 miles to school is a schedule issue, but not the kind of time sink described. It's also reasonable if a parrent happens to dive by school on the way to work etc. I simply object to the idea that having kids ride the bus is somehow an issue.

Our elementary school has no bus and the trip there is about two miles, mostly down a street with fast traffic and poor walkability. The drop off process is at least 30 minutes each morning on average in my experience, even longer if there are multiple kids and they don't go to the same school. The school isn't built like a sports arena, so traffic flow around it is fine throughout the rest of the day, but morning dr…

That sounds unusually bad. I don't know in your specific case, but I see parents dropping young kids off as the same block as the school. Or even across the street if there are regular crossing guards which provides even more surface area.

I can only suggest this is the kind of thing that's generally fixable by a local community.

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

#230
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The commute and school dropoffs are the real lifestyle killer I think. Imagine having an extra 5-15h a week to hang out and do things. Imagine having that much more sleep (if you happen to be burning the midnight oil a lot). I used to remember my parents letting me walk to the school bus stop (near our apartment) and then walking to work or taking the bus themselves. Nowadays we pack the kids into the car drop them o…

> Imagine having an extra 5-15h a week to hang out and do things. I guess it's mostly car owners that waste their time commuting. To me, public transportation user, commuting is actually the time I spend on things like personal mail, HN, little googling and whatnot, so I cannot say it's a total waste of my X hours per week. Sure you're still limited in what you can do, and it's a different story in the US where car i…

There are some things I pretty much only get done during my commute, like reading more challenging literature. Fun books are great when I'm falling asleep in bed, but deeper books require me to set aside time when I'm not tired—which rarely happens except on trains.
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