How to rest well • Hacker News Board

Re: How to rest well

#21

Post by sdevonoes » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:28 PM UTC

> A 20-minute nap provides an energy boost comparable with a cup of strong coffee (without the later crash).

This is not true for me. If I get a 20-minute nap in the middle of the day, I wake up wasted. It takes around another 20 minutes for me to get really awaken.

Re: How to rest well

#22

Post by wfn » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:30 PM UTC

dkeidowb wrote: post #16

christophilus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on if it’s linear or a curve, right?

Are there any examples of this? If its half-life is 6 hours, then after six hours half of the caffeine is still there, and we know caffeine has a half life of 6 hours. I don't know of any molecules with a non-linear half-life but I might be completely wrong

There's a whole area for this - pharmacokinetics. See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_half-life#Rate_equa... for examples of e.g. first order models (exponential elimination rate, etc.) It has to do with protein binding dynamics among other factors I have no idea about. Remember that you are dealing with biological systems.

Some of these processes to do with elimination and clearance are very much non-linear and are modelled with diff equations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiologically_based_pharmaco...

Re: How to rest well

#23

Post by i_love_limes » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:36 PM UTC

MrJagil wrote: post #20

Good timing, I’ve been meaing to ask HN: what’s the best book on “sleep”?

This is a very popular and quite detailed pop science book on sleep written by a prof of neuroscience: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep

Re: How to rest well

#24

Post by nojs » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:41 PM UTC

i_love_limes wrote: post #23

MrJagil wrote: post #20

Good timing, I’ve been meaing to ask HN: what’s the best book on “sleep”?

This is a very popular and quite detailed pop science book on sleep written by a prof of neuroscience: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep

Note that this book tells you all about why we sleep, and gives you a lot of scary stats, but almost nothing practical about how to sleep better. If you already know sleep is important and want actionable advice, this book won’t help.

Re: How to rest well

#25

Post by throwawaywrench » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:58 PM UTC

speeder wrote: post #19

jasfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only have decaff, rarely though, and only before 9AM as well. Otherwise I have green tea, and not after 1pm.

I wonder why for coffee you have it decaff but you are happy with tea, that has more caffeine than coffee.

Tea of any kind doesn't have more caffeine than Coffee. And green tea has less caffeine than black tea.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...

Re: How to rest well

#26

Post by shmel » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:58 PM UTC

dkeidowb wrote: post #16

christophilus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on if it’s linear or a curve, right?

Are there any examples of this? If its half-life is 6 hours, then after six hours half of the caffeine is still there, and we know caffeine has a half life of 6 hours. I don't know of any molecules with a non-linear half-life but I might be completely wrong

There aren't many with zero-order pharmacokinetics (linear curve decay). The only notable exception is alcohol though.

Re: How to rest well

#27

Post by Juliate » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 12:59 PM UTC

sdevonoes wrote: post #21

> A 20-minute nap provides an energy boost comparable with a cup of strong coffee (without the later crash). This is not true for me. If I get a 20-minute nap in the middle of the day, I wake up wasted. It takes around another 20 minutes for me to get really awaken.

Been there.

If you haven't do so already, perhaps you could try to experiment within +/- 5/10 minutes, to see where you sleep cycle hits better. It can make a whole lot of a difference.

Re: How to rest well

#28

Post by hvgk » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

oedmarap wrote: post #9

One of the strategies that changed my sleep quality for the better is to stop taking coffee after 9 AM; after learning that caffeine has a half-life of around 6-7 hours[0], but a quarter-life of around 12 hours. If you have a cup of coffee at noon, a quarter of that caffeine can still be circulating around your brain at midnight. [0] https://youtu.be/k5BMGmf1ai0

This. One cup a day here at 07:30 and that’s it. Was actually life changing.

Re: How to rest well

#29

Post by hvgk » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

sdevonoes wrote: post #21

> A 20-minute nap provides an energy boost comparable with a cup of strong coffee (without the later crash). This is not true for me. If I get a 20-minute nap in the middle of the day, I wake up wasted. It takes around another 20 minutes for me to get really awaken.

Same trouble here. I find it’s better to get up and go for a 20 minute walk instead. That pulls all the right strings in my brain.

Re: How to rest well

#30

Post by 600frogs » Fri, Dec 03, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

i_love_limes wrote: post #23

MrJagil wrote: post #20

Good timing, I’ve been meaing to ask HN: what’s the best book on “sleep”?

This is a very popular and quite detailed pop science book on sleep written by a prof of neuroscience: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep

This book actually gets quite a lot of hate on HN as parts of it have been debunked (or are at least heavily argued about): https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/