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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

#181

Post by justsomeuser »

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…

I always seem to need between 12 and 15 hours sleep, which makes life difficult as I do not fit into the normal 9-5 schedule.

I do not understand how people can live off 7 hours of sleep each night. It seems a big advantage though - they have 5 hours more per day.

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

#182

Post by stevewodil »

dorkwood wrote: post #127
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…

This is similar to my "drink when you're thirsty" method for remaining hydrated. There's a whole industry built on the premise that we're unable to regulate our own water intake without the help of apps and special water bottles. I've not found that to be the case myself.

Yeah, the body has a mechanism to tell us when it needs water. You don't pee when you don't feel the urge to, so I don't drink water when I don't feel the urge to in most cases.

I drink some when I first wake up just so I don't forget to drink some, and if I'm exercising I drink a lot

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

#183

Post by rubicon33 »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #132
random3 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you measuring "improved cognition, better health and overall feeling"?

It's just an overall sense of being able to remember things, think several consecutive thoughts through, clarity when programming, ability to stay attentive and on track, social ability, and so on. Also, I used to be very depressed all the time, and now it rarely happens. I've experienced many different layers of both cognitive health and cognitive impairment, and I also practice mindfulness, so I am able to assess t…

And to what do you attribute these changes?

It sounds like changing your sleep was THE factor?

Or were there other things? I know people who have dramatically changed their diet, and espoused similar life changing revelations... Almost word for word, to what you're describing.

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

#184

Post by rubicon33 »

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…

I have a completely different problem - I almost never dream. If I do, they're very short, and very difficult to remember.

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

#185

Post by baby »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #173
Rivosa wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 adv…

I think it’s good to recognize that medicine, like any field, is approximative and imperfect. Lots of people wing it or have different opinions. Doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t see a doctor if something happens to you, but indeed most medicine is reactive, and most preventive medicine you’ll receive automatically.

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

#186

Post by baby »

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…

Yeah I have specific food needs when I get sick as well. Personally I used to be sick all the time until I met my SO. Having someone that makes you mentally stable is a huge change imo.

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

#187

Post by graeme »

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…

> 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 physically resting, and not fall asleep.

Do you mean in the day you rest, and you sleep at night? Or you mean you might sleep four hours in the day and four at night?

Not sure if the first line means rest in the sense of cat sleep, or actual sleep.

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

#188

Post by benlumen »

Main thing for me has been quitting caffeine after lunchtime. For most of my life I just drank caffeine as if it were synomynous with hydration - coffee in the morning, diet sodas in the afternoon, teas in the evenings. And for years, I wondered why I couldn't sleep...

Withdrawal was surprising. On the first day, I fell asleep at 6pm until the next morning. The next day, 8pm until morning. Felt ill for a week. Ached all over. The waistband on my pyjamas was uncomfortable... felt like I had the flu, until my one allowed morning coffee, which made it all go away.

Never went full cold turkey, but compared to routine intake, it was close enough. I still have my coffee in the morning, but in the evening, I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. For the first time since I was a kid.

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

#189

Post by eru »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #160
vestrigi wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I use the same method. For a year or so, I forced myself to drink an additional liter of water per day and I didn’t feel any difference from it, except that I had to go to the toilet all the time. The only problem that arises now is that I tend to forget that I’m a bit thirsty because of the ubiquitous distractions in our lives.

hyper-optimized distractions are one of our new challenges we face today as attentional beings. hyper-mindfulness and hyper-awareness is one of the best tools I've found to overcome them.

Though compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocus

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

#190

Post by forgotmypw17 »

graeme wrote: post #187
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…

> 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 physically resting, and not fall asleep. Do you mean in the day you rest, and you sleep at night? Or you mean you might sleep four hours in the day and four at night? Not sure if the first line means rest in the sense of cat sleep, or actual sleep.

I think every time of day has its beauty and advantage, so I generally don't follow a strict sleeping schedule.

Recently, thanks to my living circumstances, I generally stay up working through the night until sunrise, then sleep until about noon or a couple hours past, get up and start my day, do a couple hours of work, take a break for a walk, do some housework and socializing, and then around midnight, plus or minus midnight, start getting into working.

Throughout the day, I may feel tired, and that's when I take a break and lay down, sometimes cat-napping, sometimes dog-sleeping, and sometimes taking a legit nap.

Other times I may follow a "neo-traditional" schedule of getting up early in the morning and going to bed early-ish at night, maybe with a nap or two thrown in.

I may go to bed at dusk and then get up for a couple hours in the night, as people used to do commonly before artificial lighting.

If I am camping, it depends on the weather. In colder weather, there's a major advantage to sleeping during the day in that the sun keeps you warm. It's easier to stay warm through the night's cold awake and alert than tired and asleep.

If the weather is nice around the clock and there's plenty to do, I may only sleep a couple hours a night, the excitement of new experiences carrying me. Rainy or gray weather typically means sleeping more.

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