Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sleep duration is associated with brain structure and cognitive performance

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 336 posts

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

#171

Post by forgotmypw17 »

srl wrote: post #168
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #115

I'd like to share my sleeping practice which I've developed after several years of focusing on it and trying to recreate the pre-industrial (and possibly pre-farming) sleep patterns my ancestors had for millions of years before the last few thousand. Whenever I feel tired, I lay down to rest. Whenever I am sleeping, I allow myself to sleep until I am "fully slept", meaning I can lay there for a while, still physicall…

> A couple of times I think I was coming down with something, I slept for more than 24 hours with only pee breaks. And I woke up feeling fresh as a cucumber, as they say. I don't really take sleeping that seriously in general, but I used to get sick pretty frequently (sick enough to not work, a couple times a year). Nowadays I have a routine, and it's not so different: if I feel a tiny bit sick, I go home, lie in bed…

Yes, I typically crave chicken broth. In fact, I know that if I find myself craving chicken, I'm probably coming down with something, and it's time to do what you describe above.

I'm grateful to the sacrifices of all the chickens I've consumed over the years. May their spirits feel my gratitude and find peace in helping me.

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

#172

Post by BjorksEgo »

jniedrauer wrote: post #148
kypro wrote: post #131

Around the age of 17 I used to regularly go to bed late so I could socialise, but I often had to be up at 8-9am for college / university / work. This meant I developed a fairly unhealthy sleep pattern and would often only get 6 hours of sleep a night. 10 years on and although I don't stay up to socialise anymore, I still really struggling to get enough sleep. No matter how tired I am throughout the day my mind seems…

I fixed this problem myself in my mid 20s by taking up early morning exercise. I started running and lifting at about 6 AM and slowly moved that back to 5 AM over the course of a year. It completely rewired my brain. I get sleepy around 9 PM now and fall asleep with no effort. If I don't set any alarms, I'm typically awake by 6-7 AM. The big downside is that on the occasions I do need to stay up until the early hours…

That sounds like a fairly typical transition into adulthood I would have thought. I know it was for me and my friends, when I was 21 staying up until 4-5am would have been fairly typical for myself, my brain was burning with energy during the night from my mid teens, by the time I was 24 my natural bedtime had shifted back about 4 hours to 12:30, where it's remained.

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

#173

Post by forgotmypw17 »

Rivosa wrote: post #167
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #115

I'd like to share my sleeping practice which I've developed after several years of focusing on it and trying to recreate the pre-industrial (and possibly pre-farming) sleep patterns my ancestors had for millions of years before the last few thousand. Whenever I feel tired, I lay down to rest. Whenever I am sleeping, I allow myself to sleep until I am "fully slept", meaning I can lay there for a while, still physicall…

> 24h sleep I advise anyone reading this and experiencing similar sleep pattern or fatigue to visit their doctor. This could be anything from diabetes, iron difeciency, Vitamin D difeciancy, and whole other things that could be wrong. Please don't use someone's else experience as the whole truth.

Edit: I want to preface this by saying that I'm not writing off modern medicine, nor post-modern medicine, nor saying that you should avoid doctors altogether. Just that it's a powerful and thus dangerous tool, and that you should ideally find a doctor you trust and then maintain contact with them, probably by visiting them regularly, now that I think about it, and maybe occasionally giving them a nice gift. :)

I advise the exact opposite, to visit doctors as little as possible, unless you experience pain which does not go away after a day or two.

In my experience, doctors will find something to do with you, and it will rarely work out to your advantage, unless it is emergency medicine.

My personal experiences: One doctor told me I need to get circumcised because I had minor irritation on my glans due to a scratch, which I told them about.

Another doctor insisted, without even looking at my X-rays, IIRC, that the cast on my broken hand was not sufficient, and that I needed him to take the cast off and perform surgery, or I would not be able to use my hand properly again.

If I had listened to these doctors instead of thinking for myself, I'd be without my precious foreskin and undergone unnecessary surgery, which would've delayed my getting better.

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

#174

Post by BirdieNZ »

wincy wrote: post #76
the-smug-one wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of sleep required depends on the person and their living situation. I normally feel best on 7-8 hours of sleep. When training hard I require 9 hours. There are genetic outliers who require less sleep (google it). Anecdotally: I have a friend who performs like anyone else, but only requires around 5-6 hours of sleep. I've known him for over a decade now, he seems to be doing fine.

I just watched Iron Lady last night and Margaret Thatcher slept 4 hours a night almost every night for her entire life, and lived well into her 80s.

She also got dementia. There is some evidence that lack of sleep contributes to the development of Alzheimer's and dementia.

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

#175

Post by treeman79 »

hndamien wrote: post #137
rajinikantham wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have children? If yes, how on earth is this doable?

Let them sleep when they are tired and wake when they want.

My kids are at 3am. School routine starts 6am. They absolutely will stay up late every night if given a choice.

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

#177

Post by aeyes »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #155
vbezhenar wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that our ancestors were able to drink when they wanted to. You need to travel to some drinking spot which takes time and probably required group effort. Though I don't think that we should just blindly recreate our ancient habits.

You are correct, though at some point we figured out how to carry it, stay close to it, and establish access. I've been told by a few wise people to wait to drink until I'm done trekking, by the way. I don't think we should blindly do anything, and abandonining millions of years of evolution and wisdom especially.

> I've been told by a few wise people to wait to drink until I'm done trekking, by the way.

I'm not sure what distance we are talking about but doing any kind of sport (even light exercise) you should start to drink after at most 1 hour.

If drinking wasn't necessary, long distance runners or athletes of other endurance sports wouldn't drink. You need to stay hydrated or you'll face fatigue, muscle problems and generally perform worse.

Trained athletes will be able to drink much less but that is because their bodies are more efficient, they still need to hydrate for maximum performance. The 1 hour rule isn't set in stone and you can go 3-4 hours without drinking but it has many drawbacks.

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

#178

Post by jakequade »

pedalpete wrote: post #111

Though the subjective measure of this study is better than nothing, in the coming years we'll be able to use sleep data for more concrete evidence. At https://soundmind.co , we're building a headband focused on improving Sleep Performance, by monitoring your sleep state and using sound to alter sleep state. There is amazing research around improving sleep quality, by improving sleep maintenance (aka reducing waking d…

I've signed up, because what you've said here sounds interesting - but good lord that website is hideous.

I would _never_ give a site like that my email. Consider at least showing your product/research/something that's not a stock image of... a Lion? A sunset? Waves on the beach?

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

#180

Post by rubicon33 »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #126
filleokus wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In principle this sounds pretty ideal. Sleeping, or resting, when you need and not force an arbitrary societal schedule on yourself. But, I'm guessing that you don't go into an office nor have a lot of meetings? Do you live alone or does it work with a family around the house?

My circumstances vary. If I'm sharing space with someone, I ask that they don't wake me up unless it's urgent, and that they don't talk to or engage me after I wake up, until I signal that I'm ready. No, I don't go into the office anymore. I live a pauper's existence compared to the past, when I lived like royalty, "earning" enough to pay rent on my own nice apartment in Manhattan, buying new clothes and things regul…

I'm interested in hearing more about you, your life, where you were, why you changed, and how it's affected you.

I'm guessing you were in a situation like many people I know (including myself). Well off, couldn't really reasonably ask for much more, yet still chasing happiness like a carrot on a stick. Tired, unmotivated, and forever looking for the next thing to feel better.

Diet, sleep, and exercise are all "in check". (Not micro managed by any means, but certainly not eating fast food, alcohol, and sleeping poor for example).

Post reply on HN