all this is good and doable if you don't have kids or have a job (or are just retired) where you set your own schedule
Good sleep, good learning, good life
91–100 of 125 posts
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#92If the site is down for anyone else, I found a version that has split the chapters into separate pages here:
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#93This has been one of my favourite articles for years, on the reading list, but never had the time to fully read such a behemoth. Some stuff I got out of this: 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. 2. Biphasic is recommended. Homeostatic is how easy it is to initiate sleep, circadian is how easy it is to maintain it. Circadian cycle is usually nightly, homeostatic peaks wit…
I remember reading the article a few years ago (unfortunately down right now) and being struck at both how erudite and impractical it is. These days I find it even more of the later. My biggest pet peeve is that it ignores the role technology (in the form of artificial light and comfortable indoor space) completely subverts our natural sleep cycle. It's a lost battle. Better to accept that we're in an artificial stat…
I very much disagree that it's a lost battle. It's not hard to put blue light filters on screen when it gets dark, and limit bright screen usage before bed. But I do agree that melatonin and magnesium is a great idea as part of a strategy to counteract artifical light messing with our natural melatonin production.
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#94I did not read the article (what did you expect, we are on HN ;) Anyway, my experience has been a little bit different. I would summarize it as "good life, good sleep, good learning". And yes, order matters. The fact is that recently I was completely in my midlife crisis and was at probably 50% of my mental stamina (memory loss, lack of interest, poor focus, and insomnia ). I was ok with the fact that I was getting o…
Wait, so I am not the only one who almost never read articles, but spend 30 minutes on reading their comments?
To be fair this is an ebook. If everyone read it then there would be no comments for a day and this post would die
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#95This has been one of my favourite articles for years, on the reading list, but never had the time to fully read such a behemoth. Some stuff I got out of this: 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. 2. Biphasic is recommended. Homeostatic is how easy it is to initiate sleep, circadian is how easy it is to maintain it. Circadian cycle is usually nightly, homeostatic peaks wit…
I committed to living without an alarm clock in college, 20+ years ago. I fought long battles with my snooze button, and realized I was spending hours each morning hitting the snooze button. I realized if I just didn't set an alarm I'd probably get up later than I usually set my alarm for, but earlier than I typically got out of bed. It worked; I started waking up refreshed, and happy to get out of bed in the morning…
I tried doing this in college too but it broke down immediately. The way coursework and exams are conducted almost forces you to burn the midnight oil and sacrifice sleep for forcing another three or four things to memorize into your head.
That’s what it felt like, like I had very limited time to shove x amount of things into my brain which only processes at y rate, so if I had too many things to shove in at a time due to taking a full courseload, that meant staying up since I cant change the rate my brain digests information without abusing stimulants like some of my friends.
So then you end up with a few nights of 5 hour sleep which you pay for by sleeping for 13 hours on the weekend. Not healthy, but it became a matter of necessity due to also having to make time for a part time job.
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#96This has been one of my favourite articles for years, on the reading list, but never had the time to fully read such a behemoth. Some stuff I got out of this: 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. 2. Biphasic is recommended. Homeostatic is how easy it is to initiate sleep, circadian is how easy it is to maintain it. Circadian cycle is usually nightly, homeostatic peaks wit…
> 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm.
I interpreted this in summary as "sleep when tired and don't sleep when not tired". Which seems like common sense. That's akin to my favourite feeding pattern, which can be summarized as: "eat when hungry, do not eat when not hungry".
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#97This article is full of pie in the sky things that are impossible for normal people needing to earn a living. > do not wake up kids for school; if they cannot wake up in time, let them skip a class or two, or consider homeschooling This, for instance, is entirely illegal (at least in my country, The Netherlands).
I think that's one of the things I find most appealing about his writings in general. Most people don't go to global optima solutions because there are various constraints while Woz just does not bother. These suggestions cannot be taken to their conclusions in many cases but I think they are still good inspiration to try.
It'd be a lot better if the article wasn't filled with ad nauseam scaremongering about how poor sleep causes every form of human suffering if not outright death.
Many of his suggestions are simply not actionable to many people in the strongest sense of the term. Letting children sleep longer is simply not legal in (I assume) most jurisdictions. He mentions off-hand that co-sleeping is not recommended by most pediatricians but fails to mention that the risk associated with co-sleeping is death. Free sleeping is simply not possible for those who need to be at work in the mornings.
This article essentially amounts to a fire-and-brimstone sermon full of questionable statements, things that run directly contrary to established science, and poor argumentation and use of sources; it is also an order of magnitude too long for even the most patient reader.
Truly a shame, because I think there's actually a lot of useful ideas and information there, but they are very hard to separate from the scaremongering and pseudoscience.
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I committed to living without an alarm clock in college, 20+ years ago. I fought long battles with my snooze button, and realized I was spending hours each morning hitting the snooze button. I realized if I just didn't set an alarm I'd probably get up later than I usually set my alarm for, but earlier than I typically got out of bed. It worked; I started waking up refreshed, and happy to get out of bed in the morning…
I tried doing this in college too but it broke down immediately. The way coursework and exams are conducted almost forces you to burn the midnight oil and sacrifice sleep for forcing another three or four things to memorize into your head. That’s what it felt like, like I had very limited time to shove x amount of things into my brain which only processes at y rate, so if I had too many things to shove in at a time d…
You learn better when sleeping enough, consecutive 5 hour sleep nights were pretty much guatanteeing less learning.
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#99This has been one of my favourite articles for years, on the reading list, but never had the time to fully read such a behemoth. Some stuff I got out of this: 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. 2. Biphasic is recommended. Homeostatic is how easy it is to initiate sleep, circadian is how easy it is to maintain it. Circadian cycle is usually nightly, homeostatic peaks wit…
> 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. I interpreted this in summary as "sleep when tired and don't sleep when not tired". Which seems like common sense. That's akin to my favourite feeding pattern, which can be summarized as: "eat when hungry, do not eat when not hungry".
The waking up part is more important than the sleep part.
Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life
#100This has been one of my favourite articles for years, on the reading list, but never had the time to fully read such a behemoth. Some stuff I got out of this: 1. The ideal sleep pattern is sleeping when tired and walking up without an alarm. 2. Biphasic is recommended. Homeostatic is how easy it is to initiate sleep, circadian is how easy it is to maintain it. Circadian cycle is usually nightly, homeostatic peaks wit…
This is good advice but doesn't work for people with sleep apnea.
When I had sleep apnea I could fall asleep at any time of day, no matter how much sleep I got (or thought I was getting) each night. The alarm was necessary because I never felt well rested and couldn't get up without it.
Then I went for a sleep study and was told that during a night of 6-7 hours of what I thought was continuous sleep, I actually woke up 120 times. Eek! Of course everyone normally wakes up at least a few times and doesn't remember it the next day, but most people don't choke and stop breathing 120 times a night. I rarely got any real deep sleep.
I had sleep apnea surgery, which changed my life. Almost right away I got better sleep and was more alert during the day. It was like getting an extra 2-3 hours a day, every day.
Now I get up without an alarm every day and never need caffeine. It's a great way to live.