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Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

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Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#261

Post by zeroonetwothree »

shiftingleft wrote: post #95
petilon wrote: post #82

Magnesium supplementation solved my sleep issues. I have seen many doctors, including sleep specialists, regarding insomnia. They all pointed to one source as the reason for the sleep issues: stress. And they all wanted to put me on prescription sleeping pills. I said no to that. Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. As a software developer, I am used…

> Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. I found gwern's take on Melatonin interesting: https://gwern.net/melatonin A small excerpt: > One might object that they do not wish to tamper with their natural sleep, even if melatonin is a normally-secreted hormone. > Sad to say, I would point out to such readers that they are already profoundly tampering with…

Not sure why I would trust the opinions of this random person?

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#262

Post by zeroonetwothree »

svachalek wrote: post #224
corysama wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very important paragraph from quern's article > There are few to no side-effects to melatonin use in adults (there is uncertainty about the risks & benefits in children & adolescents28), and it is not addictive or habit-forming like caffeine is. The usual dose for a night is 0.5-3 mg and I take 1.5mg [29]; my dose is highly likely to be too high. High doses may well be responsible for why some people try me…

From your description it may be acting as a placebo -- the act of putting the pill into your mouth is what tells your subconscious to activate a sleep cycle.

Placebos are actually very effective for improving sleep

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#263

Post by Gluber »

Aurornis wrote: post #173
shiftingleft wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. I found gwern's take on Melatonin interesting: https://gwern.net/melatonin A small excerpt: > One might object that they do not wish to tamper with their natural sleep, even if melatonin is a normally-secreted hormone. > Sad to say, I would point out to such readers that they are already profoundly tampering with…

The comment above just said “sleeping pills” which is ambiguous. Melatonin is an OTC supplement. True “sleeping pills” are usually controlled substances and few doctors would prescribe them as first-line options for a patient who shows up with first time complaints of sleep problems. They won’t be prescribed long-term either. The part of the post that says doctors (plural) tried to prescribe the pills makes me think…

In Austria a lot of times as second line ( after melatonin etc ) quetiapine is prescribed for its off label effects.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#264

Post by zeroonetwothree »

small_model wrote: post #225
quietbritishjim wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you think our ancestors slept exactly 8 hours a night from 10pm to 6am? Yeah I pretty much do expect that (but more like 6 or 7). They were awake a few hours after sunset by fire light, then get up fairly early. I certainly don't imagine them napping during the day, when they could be working together to get food, unless it's a climate where it's too hot to do anything in the middle of the day. Studies of modern…

Watch male lions they sleep when they want, laze about all day until they need to eat. Or you can be a deer caught in the corporate wage slave, alarm clock prisoner headlights.

What about female lions?

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#265

Post by scrollop »

_zachs wrote: post #253
petilon wrote: post #82

Magnesium supplementation solved my sleep issues. I have seen many doctors, including sleep specialists, regarding insomnia. They all pointed to one source as the reason for the sleep issues: stress. And they all wanted to put me on prescription sleeping pills. I said no to that. Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. As a software developer, I am used…

Do you mind sharing which type you take (brand as well)? I tried magnesium glycinate supplements for two nights in a row and they kept me wide awake.

In some people they can do ths.

Most magnesium doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, such as the one you tried.

Try magnesium threonate, which does.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#266

Post by zeroonetwothree »

thesuitonym wrote: post #189
quietbritishjim wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you think our ancestors slept exactly 8 hours a night from 10pm to 6am? Yeah I pretty much do expect that (but more like 6 or 7). They were awake a few hours after sunset by fire light, then get up fairly early. I certainly don't imagine them napping during the day, when they could be working together to get food, unless it's a climate where it's too hot to do anything in the middle of the day. Studies of modern…

Nearly all predators spend large portions of their day sleeping, why would humans have been different?

Bears sleep about 7-8 hours/day, similar to humans.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#267

Post by LinuxAmbulance »

adamsmark wrote: post #256

Something that has worked surprisingly well for me is journaling via voice recording on my phone. It's been so effective that I've mapped it to my phone's physical shortcut button. I have struggled with on-and-off sleep issues for a while, and I'll admit I don't always follow perfect sleep hygiene. But there is something about dumping my thoughts out loud that completely shuts down the repetitive, circular thinking t…

Is there a particular structure to it, or just whatever is at the top of your mind?

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#268

Post by ljf »

tcoff91 wrote: post #254
ljf wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find magnesium great - but I also like 5-HTP which I find also helps me sleep if I take it with a little food about 30 mins before bed. I find I feel a lot calmer when taking it - and it helps my ADHD - though I don't take it for too long, as I never like to take anything for too long.

Never taking a supplement for too long is great advice. Always cycle things in and out to avoid some potential for accumulating too much in the body. There are some horrifying case studies where people took like too much zinc, or copper, or some other thing for years and got really really messed up.

The only thing I did take for a long time was Fenugreek seed extract, but recently read long term us is potentially toxic, so stopped that, but I really liked how that made me feel.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#269

Post by bityard »

shiftingleft wrote: post #95
petilon wrote: post #82

Magnesium supplementation solved my sleep issues. I have seen many doctors, including sleep specialists, regarding insomnia. They all pointed to one source as the reason for the sleep issues: stress. And they all wanted to put me on prescription sleeping pills. I said no to that. Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. As a software developer, I am used…

> Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. I found gwern's take on Melatonin interesting: https://gwern.net/melatonin A small excerpt: > One might object that they do not wish to tamper with their natural sleep, even if melatonin is a normally-secreted hormone. > Sad to say, I would point out to such readers that they are already profoundly tampering with…

Everyone is different so I'm not suggesting this as a general cure-all, however I'd like to relate my own personal anecdotal experience.

I've always had insomnia since I was a kid and I just chalked it up to "being a night owl." As a teenager, I mostly solved this by living in a permanent fog during the week and "catching up" by sleeping in on the weekend. As an adult, I was suffering greatly from chronic sleep deprivation because adults (mostly) don't have much control over when they can wake up to start the day.

Around 10 years ago, I started taking 5mg melatonin. It's going to sound like I'm overselling it, but it changed my life. It _very reliably_ makes me sleepy 1-2 hours after I take it. If I forget to take it, I am fully awake until the wee hours of the morning. Is it important to note that (for me), after I take it, I have to engage in some passive activity like (calm, non-shouty) YouTube repair videos or reading. Also, the "window of sleepiness" is at most about 30 minutes and if I decide to power through it, I will come out the other side fully awake again. Melatonin does not "force" me to sleep, only highly encourages it.

I was skeptical of melatonin for the longest time. Generally, I rarely see much if any positive effect from supplements. But (for me!) this stuff really works. If anyone reading this is on the fence, I highly recommend giving it a try. (With the acknowledgement that it takes about a week to get into a solid sleep schedule if yours is currently disorganized.)

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)

#270

Post by munksbeer »

bityard wrote: post #269
shiftingleft wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. I found gwern's take on Melatonin interesting: https://gwern.net/melatonin A small excerpt: > One might object that they do not wish to tamper with their natural sleep, even if melatonin is a normally-secreted hormone. > Sad to say, I would point out to such readers that they are already profoundly tampering with…

Everyone is different so I'm not suggesting this as a general cure-all, however I'd like to relate my own personal anecdotal experience. I've always had insomnia since I was a kid and I just chalked it up to "being a night owl." As a teenager, I mostly solved this by living in a permanent fog during the week and "catching up" by sleeping in on the weekend. As an adult, I was suffering greatly from chronic sleep depri…

Melatonin works well to help me get to sleep, but it doesn't keep me asleep. My issue is waking multiple times in the night, mostly because I'm just uncomfortable, but my brain will immediately be thinking of some work or personal task and spinning. I solve this by putting on an audiobook each time, and that focuses my attention, and I'm asleep again in 5 minutes. So, I have developed "solutions" to my sleep problems, but they don't really fix the underlying issues.

Also, I don't take melatonin often, only when I seem to need to reset my sleep cycle, and I only take about 200-300 micrograms.

Why do you take so much? 5mg is a lot, according to the studies.

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