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Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

nature.com

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Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#81

Post by waterhouse »

shit_stabber wrote: post #3

Relevant to this, people with a genetic mutation that adversely affects sleep end up developing dementia and dying early: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25001-fatal-f...

If you look carefully, what happens there is prions screwing up your brain, and insomnia seems like more of a consequence than a cause.

> The cause of death for people diagnosed with fatal familial insomnia is damage to the brain and nervous system. This damage, caused by prion proteins accumulating in the thalamus, creates symptoms of insomnia and mental deterioration.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#82

Post by esafak »

sparsely wrote: post #41
esafak wrote: post #25

So you can concentrate your energy on maintenance tasks, like memory consolidation and physical restoration, during the down time during which it is cold and dark -- when you can't effectively hunt and stay warm. If you did not do that, you would have to constantly allocate some energy towards these tasks, at the expense of more urgent ones. And the higher up you are in the food chain, the less risky it is to rest.

Which maintenance tasks, why does it require us to be unconscious, why can't we apply constant energy towards them? Lots of interesting questions to answer

Like memory consolidation and physical restoration. My lay understanding is that we are unconscious because we turn our sensors off during deep sleep, and direct energy away from the prefrontal cortex, where reasoning and consciousness reside, to the limbic system, which processes memories and feelings, so that learning can take place.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#83

Post by waterhouse »

netrap wrote: post #47
john61 wrote: post #15

I have just read this book and found it very interesting and helpful: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-We-Sleep/Matthew-...

I've seen this book talked about a lot. However, I also have heard that there is some big holes in the research. Take a look online.

The citation is "Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors": https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#84

Post by mter »

proee wrote: post #79

Running improved my sleep quality dramatically. Now the problem is, that if I take a day off running, my sleeping suffers. Curious if people that do weight lifting (which I'm considering) get great sleeps? Maybe I can alternate between cardio and weight lifting each day?

Any physically tiring activity makes me sleep better. From lifting to running to walking long distances.

You should alternate cardio and weight lifting for general health, not just for sleep. The weight training helps with muscle/bone loss as you age

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#85

Post by 0xEF »

genter wrote: post #52
EncomLab wrote: post #20

The generations in my family are full of people who had dementia/Alzheimer's/auto-immune disorders. They all had anxiety, and they all had sleep disorders - I'm certain there is a connection among it all. I joined a Stanford study and had a spinal tap sample submitted for testing - in theory I am "unlikely" to develop anything for the next 20 years - but that only gets me to my late 60's :(

Same, except we also have digestive issues. I'm really hoping a paleo diet and good probiotics will save me. It's already helped me a lot. I'll let you know in 40 years if it prevents me from getting Alzheimer's.

[x] Anxiety

[x] Sleep apnea

[x] Digestive issues

[x] Former psychonaut

[x] Highly stressed pretty much always due to work

I can only hope that whatever brand of dementia I end up with is something akin to Mr Toad's Wild Ride, or whatever. I'd be happy just to go out either laughing or well-rested.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#86

Post by jwilber »

proee wrote: post #79

Running improved my sleep quality dramatically. Now the problem is, that if I take a day off running, my sleeping suffers. Curious if people that do weight lifting (which I'm considering) get great sleeps? Maybe I can alternate between cardio and weight lifting each day?

Anecdotally, I get dramatically better sleep after good cardio. Weightlifting doesn’t seem to have much of an effect.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#87

Post by randomopining »

bkandel wrote: post #50
jader201 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to get by fine with 5-6 hours, too, until I started getting 7-8 and realized how much better I feel.

I think this is pretty common! More sleep makes everything better -- attention, immune system (getting colds less often), mood, etc.

I feel like a different person sometimes. And going to bed even 1hr earlier makes it generally much higher quality.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#89

Post by roman_soldier »

api wrote: post #18
shit_stabber wrote: post #3

Relevant to this, people with a genetic mutation that adversely affects sleep end up developing dementia and dying early: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25001-fatal-f...

I've wondered if anyone's ever looked at inducing long periods of sleep as an early dementia mitigation.

I already do that, I need 8 hours of sleep a day..and 10 at night.

Re: Sleep is essential – researchers are trying to work out why

#90

Post by NoTeslaThrow »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #69
NoTeslaThrow wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are no known health problems caused by this syndrome Presumably they mean there's no evidence of this syndrome causing health issues (presumably the "known" part is redundant). Trying to position a causal hypothesis as a matter-of-fact-finding is crazy. EDIT: that article is insanely poorly written and even worse cited. How are these websites giving super-sketchy medical advice even legal. There's no author t…

I don't understand what you are objecting to. What would the causal hypothesis be, "this syndrome causes no diseases"? It's just an ordinary claim that if the syndrome is harmful, it's not as immediately apparent as something like sniffing glue. It's saying "this is harmless" can't be ruled out.

> There are no known health problems caused by this syndrome

This is a causal hypothesis framed as a statement. The rhetorics indicate an authoritative statement of fact regarding what the syndrome does cause, which is fundamentally an impossible conclusion to draw empirically.

The only hedge in the sentence is "known", which is tautological.

Of course, it's impossible to eliminate all variables, making authoritative claims about lack of causal relation impossible. But at least they could make the effort to frame this uncertainty in reasonable terms.

> What would the causal hypothesis be, "this syndrome causes no diseases"?

EDIT: but c'mon, just read the article. It's extremely bold in its claims with no evidence. "If you have short sleeper syndrome, you don’t need as much sleep as others. You can expect this to continue throughout your life." "Natural short sleepers don’t experience the same health risks as people who don’t get enough sleep." etc. I don't see any semantic difference between this and "this syndrome causes no known diseases". (or "SSS doesn’t pose any known health risks." as the actual quotation states.)

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