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Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

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Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#111

Post by hobolord »

jcims wrote: post #99
guiambros wrote: post #21

I've read a lot about sleep over the years (and wrote a bit [2]), but I just finished reading the book mentioned in the article ("Why We Sleep" [1]) and found it fascinating . The author presents a vast amount of scientific evidence amount pretty much every corner of why we sleep, from its evolutionary roots thousands of years ago, to the importance of dreams and REM sleep for your memory, reasons and impact of insom…

Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep, was on the Joe Rogan Experience recently. I've been in material cognitive decline over the past year or so and I'm nearly certain it's due to my abhorrent sleep patterns. This episode really helped me prioritize a fix over other things that would normally result in a night of 3-5 hrs in bed or on the floor (who knows how much actual sleep). It's a great episode: https://www…

that was the last podcast I listened to, and it was so informative. As I've grown older I've definitely been prioritising my sleep more. While in school I was getting maybe 6h on average for 4y, but now I aim for 8 or 9h of sleep.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#112

Post by gardnr »

Reason077 wrote: post #79
newacct500 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood how this could be the case, evolutionarily speaking. Even in the absence of electrical light, there is rarely complete darkness. Did our remote ancestors just sleep extremely poorly whenever there was a lot of moonlight?

Away from cities it gets very dark at night, unless there is a full moon. But near cities there is a lot of light pollution, so we're always in a state of near-twilight.

Celestial lights are quite bright when away from light pollution

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#113

Post by ta1234567890 »

For a few years I was sleeping about 4 hours a day on weekdays. I thought I was fine until I started sleeping 8 hours a day and realized I had been almost in a permanent bad mood for years due to bad sleep. My life completely changed.

Now even though I can still get through the exceptional sleepless night/day, the difference is so evident that my daily life is planned/scheduled to make sure I get plenty of sleep. Life feels a lot happier and fulfilling now.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#114

Post by jaequery »

Articles like this scares me greatly. About 2 years ago, I went about 3 weeks with maybe less than 3 hours of sleep. I am sure it is hard to believe, even I can't believe it myself, it was a crazy experience, where my mind was just passed the point of exhaustion that I could not feel tiredness at all. After that my sleeping have never been the same, went through almost a 2 years of waking up every 3 hours or so. It's just about a month ago where I was able to finally sleep without waking up every couple hours. I am so grateful these days but I still fear the day where I may just start waking up again in middle of the night, it was a living hell, no other way to describe it.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#115

Post by Terr_ »

baxtr wrote: post #91
coldtea wrote: post #3

> Sleep is not like the bank, so you can't accumulate a debt and then try and pay it off at a later point in time. And the reason is this: We know that if I were to deprive you of sleep for an entire night — take away eight hours — and then in the subsequent night I give you all of the sleep that you want, however much you wish to consume, you never get back all that you lost. You will sleep longer, but you will neve…

This seems to contradict recent study that I came across [1]: The mortality rate among participants with short sleep during weekdays, but long sleep during weekends, did not differ from the rate of the reference group. Among individuals ≥65 years old, no association between weekend sleep or weekday/weekend sleep durations and mortality was observed. In conclusion, short, but not long, weekend sleep was associated wit…

It may be important to distinguish between (A) long-term mortality versus (B) impaired cognition and mood on a daily basis.

To use an analogy, you might be able to maintain a car so that its lifetime mileage isn't reduced, but that doesn't mean that it can't suffer in terms of handling, speed, comfort, etc.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#116

Post by kokey »

Reason077 wrote: post #77

In the UK we have a fantastic service called Radio 4 which has remarkable sleep-inducing powers. Much better than any narcotic sleep aid, in my experience. Podcasts also work well, in my experience.

I'm not sure about that, it tends to be more interesting than anything else around. Well, except for The Archers, Thought of the Day or when they have a bunch of people talking about an artist or poet from over a century ago.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#119

Post by coldseattle »

Tharkun wrote: post #86

You can be in an "underslept state" even if you get 8 hrs a night. I usually am. I snore. Most of the time and very loudly. So do maybe a billion other people. It negatively impacts the quality and quantity of your sleep (and that of the people around you). It can greatly increase the risk of a whole slew of nasty diseases. And yet there is no cure and no effective treatment. As near as I can tell, no one is working…

Lose weight and most likely you will stop snoring. Most likely you are obese or overweight.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#120

Post by abootstrapper »

coldseattle wrote: post #118

I don’t doubt that hat the people don’t get enough sleep, but the biggest health problem in the western world is Obesity. It has huge health, environmental, and social costs.

Might obesity be related to lack of sleep?
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