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

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

academic.oup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 427 posts

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

#291

Post by k8si »

corysama wrote: post #194
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…

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…

fyi, Whole Foods sells liquid melatonin. bottle says 30 drops contains 3mg so I only take a couple drops at night and it does the trick for me.

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

#292

Post by kbigdelysh »

corysama wrote: post #194
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…

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…

Long-term use of high dosage (5-10 mg) of melatonin gave me painful stiff neck and shoulders and muscle spasm.

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

#293

Post by bityard »

munksbeer wrote: post #270
bityard wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I honestly didn't know you could buy less than 1mg.

I started with 5mg arbitrarily because that seemed to be the most common dosage sold at the time. I think about lowering the dosage sometimes but at the end of the day, I know 5mg works well for me. I don't notice any side effects, and it's not any cheaper.

I also started with the special "slow release" formulas but couldn't tell any difference from the normal generic stuff.

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

#294

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#295

Post by htek »

munksbeer wrote: post #270
bityard wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Have you been checked for sleep apnea? If you keep waking up throughout the night, it's a good idea to get checked.

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

#297

Post by anoojb »

corysama wrote: post #194
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…

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…

Go get children's melatonin gummies and cut it in half. Problem solved.

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

#298

Post by keeda »

Somewhat related, I once met the author of a book about sleep [1] and asked about my specific case. At that time I was splitting half my time across two continents 10 time zones apart but working largely in the same timezone, about 2 - 3 months at a time. That is, every 2 - 3 months I switched from a 1st shift sleep schedule to a "2.5th shift" one. So I asked him how bad that was for my health.

He said that as long as people are mostly regular in their sleep hours, the actual timings don't matter much. However, extended periods of irregular sleep schedules are actually (his words) "classified as a type of carcinogen."

I briefly looked into the evidence at the time but did not find it very concerning. TFA does make a more compelling case by linking it to all-cause mortality.

[1] I believe it was The Sleep Solution by M. Chris Winter, though I may be wrong. I can only remember it had a blue cover, but turns out pretty much ALL books about sleep have a blue cover. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

#299

Post by anticorporate »

DrammBA wrote: post #208
wetpaste wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

7 is enough for a lot of adults. especially 7 hours of quality sleep. After seeing a sleep doctor I realized that stressing out about not getting exactly 8 hours each night was part of my problem! I did a lot of experimentation to find my optimal hours and it was not quite 8. Trying to force extra hours doesn't really work.

AFAIK 7-9 hours is the commonly used range, anything less than 7 hours or anything more than 9 can have detrimental effects on how well rested you feel after waking up. Where did you get the notion that adults need exactly 8 hours on the dot?

It really is variable. My number is closer to 9, so even nights I get my "good 8 hours" I still end up with a sleep deficit by the end of the week.

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

#300

Post by petilon »

jorblumesea wrote: post #136
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…

It's funny you talk about treating the root cause, and take magnesium, instead of addressing the workplace stress factor.

You are absolutely right about that. It is important to reduce stress. Insomnia is only one of the ways excessive stress shows up.
Post reply on HN