301–310 of 324 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know how that feels, with camping as well. But I cannot shake the thought that most of our life is simply about survival. And society is a better alternative than hunting/farming on your own.
Sure, but is it a better alternative than hunting/farming in groups? I'm not convinced.
We live longer though. Could we sustain that if we'd be hunters, or as farmers? (in the long-term)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This describes me as well. Bipolar and ADHD. If I'm engaged in something I obsess over it and work 10+ hours until it's done. It takes every other feeling away and not until I stop do other things come back (sleep fatigue, hunger, etc)
Yes, just that. I struggle a lot with getting engaged. Especially if I'm uncertain how to proceed. Or if whatever seems too difficult. Too big to imagine. But once I do get engaged, especially if I understand (or at least, think I do) how to proceed, I won't stop until it's done.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Benzos are extremely helpful for providing relief from anxiety and stopping panic attacks, and everyone should have some and know how to use them responsibly. The level of utility of being able to turn off anxiety and fear is incredible. I take xanax before I go to the dentist, because it's just not happening any other way, and it absolutely squashes the flight response and lets me act like a normal human. It shouldn…
Everything you said is spot on except for benzos feeling the “best of all drugs”. You mustn’t have been around the block if you can say that with a straight face. There’s far more euphoric drugs out there.
But I haven't been able to find quaaludes anywhere, so maybe I am missing something ;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have just such a 2 page bullet point list here: https://til.secretgeek.net/sleep/Getting_to_sleep_and_stayin... Also recommend Meditation, PMR (progressive muscle relaxation) and listening to binaural beats (via Spotify). And wish you well :)
5 and 6 clash. 10 is wrong. Binaurals foster dependency, do not use. Add focused breathing.
“ Finish workouts at least 2 to 3 hours before sleep. (Exercise generally will improve sleep. Good sleep will powerfully improve exercise)”
How is this “wrong” ?
My source is “Why We Sleep” by Dr Matt Walker. I’m happy to read other sources.
> Push yourself longer than a few days without sleep, and the effects can be lethal. The above statement in the article links to a story on Reuters about one case of an intern who stayed up for 72 hours and died for unknown reasons. Hardly proof. This is so overblow. Many people have stayed awake for more than 72 hours and not died. In fact, there is no evidence that sleep deprivation causes death in humans. If you d…
Actually sleep deprivation results in death and is one of the reasons it is used as a torture method. Some neurological conditions which degrade sleep significantly result in death. Among the failures observed are things like loss of thermoregulation. Guinness book of records stopped recognizing sleep deprivation records because of the dangers of going too long without sleep. Sleep deprivation has been more extensive…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure. It might be quite long if I really explained in detail, though. I really need to write the book of that eventually. Here's the very incomplete gist of it. The idea of an intelligence switch is basically a set of methods, a system, to train and foster the use of some "meta" forms of intelligence so to speak, whose primary purpose is to improve / enable / train intelligence itself. It's very much not a hack (effo…
I'd love to read a blog post/book explaining this in more detail. I'm also interested in hearing more about the 'happiness switch', and how you trained yourself in your 20s to work for 12~16 hours a day.
Basically, working your day thing (studies, work, obligations) then spending all your free time nerding on something. It progressively morphed from goofing around to learning with a professional mindset, building stuff.
It's important to pace yourself; it's a marathon on a daily basis. However in the long run, over the weeks, it's more like an agile sprint: you work a lot for some weeks or a few months at most, then relax, rinse and repeat.
____
The happiness switch
I've found there are fundamental functions in human beings that pretty much describe us entirely. It's a model, deduced from reality, which in turn helps me 'mold' my reality (i.e. aspects of my personality, how I choose to experience things).
This set of skills can be trained; it seems to be 'working' with anyone, but there are 'prerequisites'; exactly which is unclear (for now).
One of the by-products of this is a happiness switch: your emotions inevitably vary, but you are able to maintain your desired "global state" nonetheless. So you do feel sad sometimes, or angry etc.; but at the same time, it's only one aspect of you, one function, namely emotions are the "language of the body", it's just information. They shouldn't drive you, but inform your decisions, your choices. That's one thing you can train. This is where Shakespeare's famous quote takes its full meaning imho: “nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
Emotions are energy though: all our functions produce some 'effect', which may be usable, alone or in combination with others — for instance, cognitively we know that emotions act as a catalyst for memory, to break out of 'RAM' into long-term knowledge. This is a bridge (a powerful one, it's called 'passion' in some cases, 'impression' in other contexts...) between emotions and thinking.
The main sources are Stoicism and/or comparable schools of thought (Zen notably, and a cross-slice of many religions, myths), some critically validated modern 'self-development', cognitive studies (psychology, neurology, etc., e.g. the "hexaco" model), and books/authors/ideas in-between that demonstrate the empirical/statistical 'truth' of some principles (those that endure the test of time, with success). Also a bunch of business/consulting literature that strongly validates ideas, if only empirically — plus autobiographies etc. The spirit of the general enterprise is to validate sources by who speaks — e.g. only take advice from those who succeeded at what you seek, preferably the greatest, including people you don't like — and validate ideas themselves by experience, by real-world application.
So while the endeavor might seem quite intellectual, it's only the tip of the iceberg, the small gate of knowledge — immediately after lies practice, lifelong mantras. That's actual philosophy, what the word meant until the turn of the 20th century: practical advice and repipes for a good living.
Sleep is very very important, and I've learned this the hard way. Sleeping well has been a challenge, and I am glad I'm not alone. Articles like this one and books like Why We Sleep however make me very anxious, since all they seem to do is point out how bad it is if one doesn't get enough sleep. I know that. How can I fix it? I had CBT based sleep therapy last year, and things have since improved, but not much. Then…
The two years running a startup destroyed my sleep. I’ve spent the last 1.5 years trying to fix it.
I’ve had an Oura ring for almost a year and I rarely get more than 6 hours of total sleep per night. 5 hours is frequent. 7 hours is the most rare treat.
I don’t have anxiety. I don’t feel overly stressed. I love the work I’m doing. Life is pretty good. Yet most nights, I’m up at 2am and it takes an hour to go back to sleep. Then I’m up around 6am and that’s that. I never set an alarm; I could sleep until 7 or 8 if I wanted to.
Blue light glasses. No food after 4:30pm. Workouts every day in the morning.
Phenibut is the only guarantee that I’ll get decent sleep (6.5 hours). This doesn’t knock you out and my Oura data shows I’m getting all sleep stages. I wake up feeling good to great. But I limit that 2-3 times per week.
Meditation does help a bit.
I’m going to go in for a sleep study. I am determined to fix this because it really decreases quality of life. Plus, as you said, the research shows what a huge long term impact this has. I am very dedicated and focused on my health and longevity, it’s annoying how much I am failing at one of the most important parts.
Sleep is very very important, and I've learned this the hard way. Sleeping well has been a challenge, and I am glad I'm not alone. Articles like this one and books like Why We Sleep however make me very anxious, since all they seem to do is point out how bad it is if one doesn't get enough sleep. I know that. How can I fix it? I had CBT based sleep therapy last year, and things have since improved, but not much. Then…
You sound exactly like how I felt before seeing a doctor about my insomnia. If you haven't already, I'd suggest just seeing a doctor, and asking for something that will help you sleep. I was given 50mg Trazodone, and I feel like it's saved my life. It's not a controlled substance, so doctors and nurse practitioners hand it out like candy. Now I get 8 hours of sleep a night, and most of the research I've dug up indica…