Live data from Hacker News

How to rest well

psyche.co

31–40 of 116 posts

Re: How to rest well

#31
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The actionable advice for me was just "you have permission to sleep 8 hours, it isn't a waste of your life. No animal escapes the need to sleep, and thinking you can 'game the system' by robbing yourself of sleep night after night is the height of arrogance."

I never had any problem sleeping, I just wouldn't let myself do it enough.

Re: How to rest well

#32
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

It was about decaf

Re: How to rest well

#34
post #6

I've been doing "shallow rest" (think your typical mindless binge on anything) for whole my life and it has been difficult to convince myself or even find resources to become involved in resting, making it "deep rest" as mentioned in the article. Anyone has a good personal perspective on how to learn to do it?

Go to the sauna, get a massage, or float in a warm salt water tank for an hour.

Is that why Finland is happiest country in the world?

Re: How to rest well

#35
post #29

> 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.

20 minutes is too long. You can get similar benefits by performing a few minutes of depth jumps to shock the central nervous system.

Re: How to rest well

#37
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

I've done the same thing, started remembering a lot more dreams, not sure if that's an indicator of better sleep though.

Re: How to rest well

#38
post #10
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

Pedantic HN style comment: doesn't half-life of 6 hours always imply "quarter-life" of 12 hours? :) (though I wouldn't have realized that without your comment, so thanks for that)

Even if it was as simple as any physical system, it is still something one might not realize for never making the correct question.

Technically those two phrases mean the same, but people will draw very different conclusions from them.

Re: How to rest well

#39
post #35
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

20 minutes is too long. You can get similar benefits by performing a few minutes of depth jumps to shock the central nervous system.

I agree - don't talk a walk, it's an unnecessary hit on your productivity. But, depth jumps require you to get up, which again seems unnecessary to me if you can just taser the CNS directly to wake it up.

Re: How to rest well

#40
post #35
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

20 minutes is too long. You can get similar benefits by performing a few minutes of depth jumps to shock the central nervous system.

It’s not just about that. You get time to process things in that 20 minutes.
Post reply on HN