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Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#91

Post by NineStarPoint »

Baeocystin wrote: post #82
pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #5

I have a very weird problem/issue, maybe someone can help. In my school days I used to maintain a dream diary, where I would note down every dream I had after waking up. I stopped doing that when I got into college, but dreams never stopped and I never stopped analysing and trying to remember the dreams. Fast forward to present time (10 years from school), whenever I want to wake up i.e. after 6-7 hours of sleep I ca…

You need more sleep. That's it. That's the story. There's nothing wrong with you. Trying to set additional alarms, or worrying about how you used to record your dreams... Not relevant. Your body isn't done resting. Stop interrupting it before its done, and you'll find that 8ish hours of uninterrupted sleep is more restful than the quasi-sleep you're getting now.

Sounded to me like they already get 8 hours generally and it pushes up to 10-11.

That said, it’s important to realize that not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep. Some people are blessed to only need 6, some people are cursed to need 10 or 11 hours. Some people have extreme generic quirks that can go from only needing 4 to needing more than 12 (of course you should talk to a doctor if that’s you). 8 is definitely by far the most common, but it’s not a hard rule.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#92

Post by jcynix »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #5

I have a very weird problem/issue, maybe someone can help. In my school days I used to maintain a dream diary, where I would note down every dream I had after waking up. I stopped doing that when I got into college, but dreams never stopped and I never stopped analysing and trying to remember the dreams. Fast forward to present time (10 years from school), whenever I want to wake up i.e. after 6-7 hours of sleep I ca…

First, as someone already mentioned, you might need more sleep. What's your sleep duration if you sleep until you wake up by yourself? I'd test that on a quiet long weekend, not during a busy day.

Second, while I now use a lamp which ramps up the light before it starts to chime, I used music (instrumental and not to hectic) to wake me up. Music might get you something else to concentrate on while finally waking up.

BTW, both ramping up lights and playing music at "alarm time" looks like a nice side project for a Raspi. Does somebody know about such a solution?

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#93

Post by jooize »

bigwavedave wrote: post #32
um_ya wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try splashing cold water in your face. Slap your self a few times. Turn on something that makes noise, like music. I would avoid recording your dreams, because it seems to be what got you stuck in the loop in the first place.

The only thing that gets me out of bed is the day/night cycle bulbs my snake needs. I know I can automate turning off the night light and turning on the day bulb, but if I don't automate then I know she's depending on me when my alarm goes off so I have to physically get up, walk to the other room, and flip a couple switches. On my way back, it's very easy for me to sit down at the counter and eat the sandwich I made…

Have you tried switching places with the snake? You may want to set up automation first as you could find the snake not pushing the light button reliably every morning.

Gradually dimming the bedroom light with a warm color temperature helps me get tired in the evening, and fading it in to a cold color temperature in the morning helps me wake up.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#94

Post by vram22 »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #21
budoso wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have this strange experience where I only remember my dreams if I am woken up from sleep unnaturally. When it happens it feels as if my mind knows that in the future I'll be woken up by something. Obviously this isn't how the brain chemistry works, but I can't help but feel this way when it happens.

Yeah I totally get what you are saying. I have also noticed that my dreams adapt to outside sounds/lighting changes in realtime. What's more spooky is that the entire dream preserves it cohesion and nothing feels out of place, even when the events outside (in the real world) are completely random. Like sound of the door closing or someone walking by the bed, all of that integrates seamlessly into the dream.

> I have also noticed that my dreams adapt to outside sounds/lighting changes in realtime.

Yes, that happens. I have both read about and experienced it. For example if you are thirsty or hungry (in real life), that can be reflected in your dream, in a related but possibly also weird way (sometimes). Like if you have real hunger, you may dream that you are eating something. I either read or think that the brain/mind does this as a compensating/adjusting mechanism, so that sleep can continue. Same for needing to take a leak, although of course that cannot go on for long. And for the weird part, you may dream that you are eating something impossible to eat, like rocks, to take a wild example. After all, not all events in dreams are logical or follow physical laws of real life.

>What's more spooky is that the entire dream preserves it cohesion and nothing feels out of place, even when the events outside (in the real world) are completely random. Like sound of the door closing or someone walking by the bed, all of that integrates seamlessly into the dream.

Yes, that too happens, and is because any crazy/impossible event can happen in a dream, and in the dream it seems normal - i.e. what I said about physical laws above, and also because our physical senses still operate somewhat in dreams, and those sensations can show up as events in the dream.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#95

Post by eloff »

stingraycharles wrote: post #85
k__ wrote: post #52

A few years ago, I stopped setting an alarm clock on a regular basis. Now, I just sleep as long as I need, which is usually 8-9h a day. I struggled with sleep for years, but now I sleep good.

If I don’t set an alarm I always wake up much earlier, and grab my phone in fear that it’s too late. Setting an alarm at a very reasonable tim (ie >8h after going to bed) helps me sleep calmly, knowing that I will not oversleep. It’s interesting how different minds work. :)

I have the opposite problem. I have to sleep with a watch. Otherwise if I wake up and can't check how much time I have left to sleep, I get anxious that the alarm is about to go off and I can't get back to sleep.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#96

Post by amasad »

radu_floricica wrote: post #80
01100011 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately my body seems to be waking me up after around 4.5 hours of sleep. I'm alert and well rested, but if I wake up I'll be tired in an hour or two. If I push myself to sleep more, I wake up around 7-8 hours feeling more tired, and I can easily sleep to 10 hours at that point. It's really frustrating, because there doesn't seem to be a perfect amount of sleep for me anymore. I'm 45, Bipolar type II. Ever since tryin…

Try taking melatonin when you wake up too early (0.3 mg, from NootropicsDepot). Taken in the morning it pushes your wakeup time later. Won't make you fall asleep, but in a few days it shoulx be noticeable. I'm managing the same insomnia with very low dose of mirtazepine (1mg per evening) and the occasional ambien when I wake up.

How does taking melatonin in the morning help?

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#97

Post by Kosirich »

I fall asleep quite easy but I notice a correlation between dreaming or at least ability to remember the dream with how well rested I feel. Also, it seems that I have periods when I dream a lot, essentially every single day and periods like now when I don't. I suspect connection with screen time as the period I had dreams was when I was reading a physical book before sleep while for the last 2 months I've been reading from Kindle.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#98

Post by amasad »

01100011 wrote: post #68
okareaman wrote: post #35

I'm bipolar so I've gone through periods where I sleep 18 hours a day and periods where I sleep 2 hours a night if at all. Caffeine intake doesn't seem to matter. Medication and good mental hygiene helps a lot with this issue.

Lately my body seems to be waking me up after around 4.5 hours of sleep. I'm alert and well rested, but if I wake up I'll be tired in an hour or two. If I push myself to sleep more, I wake up around 7-8 hours feeling more tired, and I can easily sleep to 10 hours at that point. It's really frustrating, because there doesn't seem to be a perfect amount of sleep for me anymore. I'm 45, Bipolar type II. Ever since tryin…

Try cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. The overly simplified summary: restrict your sleep -- just wake up when you wake up -- and don't take naps and go to the bad when you're really really tired. Keep repeating and you'll fall into a natural rhythm of sleep.

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#99

Post by zmmmmm »

> The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) is a self‐report questionnaire that assesses sleep quality and duration during the previous month

I wonder why in this day and age where sleep monitoring tech is so widely available and routine, they still rely entirely on self-reporting?

Re: Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

#100

Post by icelancer »

georgewsinger wrote: post #3

Oversleep can also be bad along some dimensions: > For cognition only, associations shift to a negative association of sleep duration and cognition for participants sleeping more than 8 hr a day. Though looking at the charts from the study I can say that Nassim Taleb would not be pleased with how weak the correlations seem to be: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/545fd00f-8924-4047...

I get extreme headaches if I sleep > 9.5 hours. They're brutally bad. Sweet spot for me is > 6 but Quantity, at least for me.

I average 7 hours of sleep per night and do quite well on it. Used to do 5-6 hours/night and it eventually caught up to me in my 30s, but improving quality via ear plugs + mask + mattress went a lot further than an extra hour of sleep.

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