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The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

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Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#131
post #6

I've always mused that we could somehow recover some of the "wasted" time of sleeping. 8 hours every night - a third of a human's lifespan - is just so much time. Sadly, I've never found any positive research that there's any way to do it safely. When I was younger I found schedules like the Uberman[0] and was amazed by the claim: only 2 hours of sleep a day required, as long as you stuck to a pretty rigid schedule a…

> I've always mused that we could somehow recover some of the "wasted" time of sleeping. 8 hours every night - a third of a human's lifespan - is just so much time 8 hours - I wish! Since starting freelancing full time I've been lucky enough to not need to get up at any particular time and ditched the alarm clock - but unlucky enough to find out that it takes me around 9-10 hours of sleep to wake up naturally. Unfort…

Do you just sleep in a dark room until you wake up? I too want to ditch my normal alarm clock and I've been looking into light alarm clocks. These slowly grow brighter over time to try to wake you like natural light would, rather than using sound. I have not gotten one yet because unfortunately many of them seem overpriced or require using a mobile app with them, but I think the idea still stands.

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#132

I discovered that about 1/3 of people can be sleep deprived without any ill effects, which is the bucket I fall in. Another 1/3 will be disgruntled but can function at a lower level, but for the last 1/3, it's catastrophic and can't function at all. That's my wife, and what exemplified this the most was after having kids. She was almost immediately a wreck but I was able to hold together with the lack of sleep and sp…

Almost exactly the same experience here with me Vs my wife with children. She needs at least one or two significant maps and an early bedtime or she simply just cannot function, but I seem to be able to handle it a bit better.

I wonder if it is a gender thing, or a coincidence?

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#133

Was his assessment basically just playing video games? I've noticed that's an activity I can do proficiently for an extended duration on very little sleep (along with things like "bulk" coding) but there are others I'm awful at unless I'm well rested (eg. complex planning, creative efforts like songwriting) and I've found my communication skills start to become impaired when I'm really sleep deprived. I'd be curious…

I believe learning requires good sleep. TFA's experiment did not measure learning capacity.

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#134

> It seems that there’s very high variation in how people respond to sleep deprivation. There you go. It's the tyranny of averages: when variation between humans is greater than the effect of the intervention. This reminds me of reading The How of Happiness and learning that happiness is basically 50% genetics, 10% circumstances and 40% behavior. The author frames that 40% as a really big number, but I thought about…

> I suppose the world of health research is plagued by this erroneous assumption that humans are more or less the same. In some ways sure, but in many ways we are profoundly different.

Sidenote: I came to the conclusion, that this is the crux of all generalizations when it comes to humans. Not all policies will be good for all people. The ideal country might be very different for you and me. Also our diets, the way we build relationships, how we should train our bodies or what constitutes moral lives.

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#136

Since a few years ago (when I read Why We Sleep [0]) I’ve made it my priority above all else to allow myself 8 hours of sleep, even if I don’t ‘use’ all of it. With more sleep, an innumerable amount of things are better (as read in the book), but subjectively I noticed the following after about a month straight of good sleep: * Pain was far more manageable (IBS, MMA injuries) * Sleep was more restorative when I woke…

>> or carnivore with a focus on ketosis Following a "carnivore" diet is a really terrible idea. Unless you're an Inuit living in the frozen north, you should eat some greens.

[deleted]

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've always mused that we could somehow recover some of the "wasted" time of sleeping. 8 hours every night - a third of a human's lifespan - is just so much time 8 hours - I wish! Since starting freelancing full time I've been lucky enough to not need to get up at any particular time and ditched the alarm clock - but unlucky enough to find out that it takes me around 9-10 hours of sleep to wake up naturally. Unfort…

Do you just sleep in a dark room until you wake up? I too want to ditch my normal alarm clock and I've been looking into light alarm clocks. These slowly grow brighter over time to try to wake you like natural light would, rather than using sound. I have not gotten one yet because unfortunately many of them seem overpriced or require using a mobile app with them, but I think the idea still stands.

> Do you just sleep in a dark room until you wake up?

Yes. Although I have no trouble sleeping even if the room isn't dark. Falling asleep is usually a little harder if it's not dark, but once I'm asleep the light doesn't wake me up, unless it's really bright (like sun shining directly through the fully open window).

Maybe light alarm would awake me, not sure how bright they are.

Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days

#140

Since a few years ago (when I read Why We Sleep [0]) I’ve made it my priority above all else to allow myself 8 hours of sleep, even if I don’t ‘use’ all of it. With more sleep, an innumerable amount of things are better (as read in the book), but subjectively I noticed the following after about a month straight of good sleep: * Pain was far more manageable (IBS, MMA injuries) * Sleep was more restorative when I woke…

Just recently since I've been working from home all the time, I realized I don't actually need an alarm to get up, since I don't need to leave the house at a predetermined time to beat traffic and get to the office at a reasonable time. Getting up at the same time in the morning was just habit. Instead now I have an alarm to go bed, and I get up when I feel rested.

I set an alarm for 9am so I don't oversleep but usually get up well before that.
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