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Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

cnn.com

31–40 of 173 posts

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#31
post #7

Unless it's an emergency, I've ALWAYS prioritized sleep. It's just too important for health regardless of these latest findings. I'd call in to work if I didn't get a full nights rest in the past, it's not worth feeling like shit for the rest of the day. The culture of glamorizing working longer and harder till early hours of the mornings on zero sleep, has always been nonsense. Musk is notorious for bragging about t…

I think Elon Musk looks his age, and looks pretty ok for a 49 year old. Granted he has money, and he's had hair transplants, but I've seen many late 40s early 50s people in much worse shape.

He's approaching the Brimley/Cocoon Line.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#32
post #7

Unless it's an emergency, I've ALWAYS prioritized sleep. It's just too important for health regardless of these latest findings. I'd call in to work if I didn't get a full nights rest in the past, it's not worth feeling like shit for the rest of the day. The culture of glamorizing working longer and harder till early hours of the mornings on zero sleep, has always been nonsense. Musk is notorious for bragging about t…

Some people are willing to trade health for fortune and fame. There's been interviews with Musk where he describes being unable to turn his brain off. He's probably just leaning hard into the cards that life dealt him - a wildly productive brain that wants to go go go. I don't blame him for taking what he was dealt, and running with it.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#33
~6 hours or just above it in general seems to be the sweetspot. Most negative effects (especially broad ones like all-cause mortality) only really start showing up under 6 (or over 7 hours)[0].

Too bad the majority of reporting exaggerates and starts scaring people for going under 8 (and sometimes 9!) when yet again it seems like 6-7 is likely best, with very little 'loss' between 7 and 6. Just don't go much lower than that for long unless you need exceptionally less.

0. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/apnm-2020-0034

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#35
post #7

Unless it's an emergency, I've ALWAYS prioritized sleep. It's just too important for health regardless of these latest findings. I'd call in to work if I didn't get a full nights rest in the past, it's not worth feeling like shit for the rest of the day. The culture of glamorizing working longer and harder till early hours of the mornings on zero sleep, has always been nonsense. Musk is notorious for bragging about t…

I think Elon Musk looks his age, and looks pretty ok for a 49 year old. Granted he has money, and he's had hair transplants, but I've seen many late 40s early 50s people in much worse shape.

He's had a lot of cosmetic...improvements. Plus he can afford personal chefs, trainers, doctors, stylists, etc.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#36
post #7

Unless it's an emergency, I've ALWAYS prioritized sleep. It's just too important for health regardless of these latest findings. I'd call in to work if I didn't get a full nights rest in the past, it's not worth feeling like shit for the rest of the day. The culture of glamorizing working longer and harder till early hours of the mornings on zero sleep, has always been nonsense. Musk is notorious for bragging about t…

I think Elon Musk looks his age, and looks pretty ok for a 49 year old. Granted he has money, and he's had hair transplants, but I've seen many late 40s early 50s people in much worse shape.

IME, the biggest predictor for people looking younger than their age is exercising and avoiding alcohol. I'm sure sleep is in there since people who do the other 2 normally also sleep ok.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#37
post #14

So, anyone with kids is probably going to have dementia?

Usually parents can't sleep well only for a year at most, even 6 months old children are sleeping whole nights.

My coffee addiction says otherwise :).

YMMV but kids have their hangups and it's often not possible to negotiate rationally. They also regress (this past year has been terrible, with no school for extended periods, staying at grandma's every couple of weeks so parents can get work done...), and you're back to square one.

Ours are 2 and 5, and I haven't slept in on a Saturday morning since 2015.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#38

So, anyone with kids is probably going to have dementia?

Not doubting anyone's personal experience, but to add another anecdotal data point:

Kids weren't as disruptive to sleep as I expected after reading horror stories online. The way the internet talks about child raising sometimes makes it feel like martyrdom, but the internet tends to focus on worst-case stories and people venting about uniquely bad situations. It's almost taboo to share positive stories when other parents are sharing their struggles, so most conversations veer toward discussions from parents who are struggling the most while other parents keep quiet. I've found it helpful to identify parents who are doing well and specifically ask them what they're doing, because most parents are too polite to tell others how to raise their kids.

There are always edge cases and every child is different, so of course we should all be considerate of other parents and cut them slack and/or provide assistance when they are struggling.

However, I and most of my friends have had good results with combinations of sleep training and adjusting our own sleep schedules for additional buffer. The key for me was to go to bed an hour earlier than normal. If I get interrupted in the middle of the night, I use that extra hour to sleep in. If I don't get interrupted (most common case) I simply wake up an hour earlier than normal. It doesn't cover every night and every situation, but it fits most nights.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#39
post #33

~6 hours or just above it in general seems to be the sweetspot. Most negative effects (especially broad ones like all-cause mortality) only really start showing up under 6 (or over 7 hours)[0]. Too bad the majority of reporting exaggerates and starts scaring people for going under 8 (and sometimes 9!) when yet again it seems like 6-7 is likely best, with very little 'loss' between 7 and 6. Just don't go much lower th…

Yeah, I naturally sleep around 7 hours. If I get Another thing that my wife hates (ie, is jealous of), is my head hits the pillow and I'm out. Also, during that 6 hour sweet spot, I can sleep through almost anything.

Re: Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

#40
post #33

~6 hours or just above it in general seems to be the sweetspot. Most negative effects (especially broad ones like all-cause mortality) only really start showing up under 6 (or over 7 hours)[0]. Too bad the majority of reporting exaggerates and starts scaring people for going under 8 (and sometimes 9!) when yet again it seems like 6-7 is likely best, with very little 'loss' between 7 and 6. Just don't go much lower th…

That's not what your source says though. The consensus is less than 7 hours has adverse health outcomes and more than 9 hours has an unknown effect for most people and is beneficial for certain groups of people.
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