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

The myth of the eight-hour sleep

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 168 posts

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#41

Post by joering2 »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #24

Just get rid of your alarm clock, and wake up when your body tells you to.

hm, sorry to ask, but: are you employed?

most folks I know, including me, have serious problems with sleep. it seems like we tap into each corner of human body and understand less or more how it works, but yet there is no real science behind how sleep works and how much of it we need. Heck, afaik scientists still argue why we need sleep at all and whats the main reasoning behind it. But not to brag too much: sometimes it happens to me that I sleep less hours and am more refreshed than sleeping longer, or even legit 7 or 8. I guess I just hit the right spot at the right time and REM phases worked out. If someone comes up with a device that can help you sleep not too long not to short so you always wake up fresh, I think he/she will nail a billion dollar idea!

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#42

Post by VonLipwig »

I am really into 'do what works for you'. You may find that that sleeping in two 4 hour blocks changes your life. You feel alive!

Alternatively you may find yourself more tired. Personally I like sleeping 8-9 hours a night. I find myself fairly alert a few minutes after I wake up and I can start my day. It certainly doesn't feel 'unnatural' to me.

I am also a big fan of sleeping when other people sleep so I can enjoy time with friends and family. Unusual sleep patterns typically mean missing out on some of this time.

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#43

Post by JeremyBanks »

hessenwolf wrote: post #30
Xurinos wrote: post #29

There is only one study in this article, and it involves how a group of people adapted to a 14-hour sleep pattern. Other than that, there are no studies of importance here, nothing that confirms concretely that this kind of segmented sleep is effective for humans. It is based on historical hearsay but cannot make a prescriptive judgment. The evidence purely anecdotal. Please be careful in reading things like this tha…

Also, don't Spanish people and sailors sleep in segmented blocks? Not exactly newsworthy, then.

I don't see how your post could be "also" to the parent post: It's saying to be skeptical of the claims due to lack of evidence, while your post contrarily implies that this is already established knowledge.

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#44

Post by [deleted] »

hessenwolf wrote: post #30
Xurinos wrote: post #29

There is only one study in this article, and it involves how a group of people adapted to a 14-hour sleep pattern. Other than that, there are no studies of importance here, nothing that confirms concretely that this kind of segmented sleep is effective for humans. It is based on historical hearsay but cannot make a prescriptive judgment. The evidence purely anecdotal. Please be careful in reading things like this tha…

Also, don't Spanish people and sailors sleep in segmented blocks? Not exactly newsworthy, then.

[deleted]

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#45

Post by pavelkaroukin »

agentultra wrote: post #28

Sleep is weird. If I wake up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep... I feel like ass the next day. If I get less than eight hours I'm pretty tired the next day. But science says that shouldn't happen!? Not enough evidence to suggest that there's any kind of regularity to how humans "should" sleep yet.

It is even more weird than that. From my and some friend's experience: if you sleep more then 9 hours straight, instead of usual 6-8 (this happens on weekends usually), I feel really terrible in the morning - not being able to get out of bed, but in the same time not being able to sleep. Finally when I get out of bed - I feel really trashed for next several hours.

So it is not just less than 8 hours makes things worse, same applies to more then 8 hours. So it is either I have to sleep 6-8 hours only, or I have adapted to this schedule so well, that anything else makes me feel terrible.

On the other hand, I have handful examples of me traveling with few flight changes, timezones changes, more than 30 hours in flights/airports, and after getting to my destination I spent full 16 hours day working or meeting with friends just fine. May be a little dizzy. And after consequent 8 hours sleep night - feel great next day.

This suggest, that it (8 hours sleep requirement) is more than just a something "hardwired" in to human's body...

Yes, sleep is weird.

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#46

Post by japhyr »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #24

Just get rid of your alarm clock, and wake up when your body tells you to.

I tried this for one semester in college, and never went back to an alarm clock. I decided to face the risk of missing classes, exams, meetings, etc. The result? I got up 1-2 hours earlier most days than I did with an alarm clock. I have been living without an alarm clock for 20 years now; in that time I have overslept maybe 5 times, and on those occasions it was pretty clear that my body was fighting off sickness and really needed the sleep. The only time I use an alarm is if I need to get up at 3:45 am to catch a 6am flight.

Alarm clocks are a terrible habit. They wake us up with no regard to where we are in our sleep cycles. When I used an alarm, I used to wake up and go back to sleep until the alarm went off. Then I would hit the snooze button forever. With no alarm, I just get up the first time I wake up in the morning. I almost always wake up at the end of a good sleep cycle.

Getting rid of my alarm clock decreased my overall amount of sleep but greatly increased the quality of my sleep.

Re: The myth of the eight-hour sleep

#49

Post by hencq »

JeremyBanks wrote: post #43
hessenwolf wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, don't Spanish people and sailors sleep in segmented blocks? Not exactly newsworthy, then.

I don't see how your post could be "also" to the parent post: It's saying to be skeptical of the claims due to lack of evidence, while your post contrarily implies that this is already established knowledge.

I think he's saying that the conclusion from the historical study (people used to have bi-modal sleep patterns) isn't exactly revolutionary either. So it's in line with the parent post in that there's not really anything noteworthy in the article.
Post reply on HN