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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)

#321

Post by mordae »

sajithdilshan wrote: post #89

My problem is that I'm always sleepy throughout the day and when I have to go to bed at nigh, then I feel so active and energetic, as if my body tries its best to avoid sleeping.

Chance is you are not breathing in your sleep. You have Apnea or UARS and are slowly suffocating. Easy tells: you look like shit in the morning and it takes hours for you to normalize, you sometimes wake up all sweaty, you tend to open window ASAP in the morning "to get rid of the stuffy air", you are confused and/or have headache in the morning.

If you want to make sure, get a sleep study done.

Why do you think you are avoiding the bed as if you were afraid of dying in there. Exactly! You literally are.

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

#322

Post by mordae »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #51

This makes sense to me as a correlation. Mental health disorders alone seem like they’d contribute significantly. ADHD, for example, is correlated with both sleep cycle issues and worse outcomes in life (including higher rates of crime and participation in risky activities).

Sleep apnea symptoms are initially similar to ADHD. Apparently a ton of kids gets mis-diagnosed with ADHD while they are slowly suffocating because they have UARS. Stimulants mask it.

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

#323

Post by ragall »

bityard wrote: post #293
munksbeer wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gener…

My family doctor in Italy strongly recommended taking 0.3-0.5mg of melatonin maximum saying that more won't have a good effect and risks having bad effects such as drowsiness the whole day after waking up. And yes, in Italy most melatonin you'll find in pharmacies is <=1mg.

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

#324

Post by Insanity »

nottorp wrote: post #237

I wonder how many of these "surprising" results are markers of other life style decisions. Regular sleeping hours as a marker for a less stressful life? Also ran across this: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5105607/ I doubt it's the actual reading. Maybe having a calmer life where you take the time to relax with a book.

Also, reading lowers stress. Which in turn improves sleep an overall mental / physical health. I always read before going to bed for at least 30 minutes, and anecdotally I have a much easier time to fall asleep that way.

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

#325

Post by ragall »

Aurornis wrote: post #215
xp84 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes - I saw a very interesting video the other day that educated me a lot on Benadryl - apparently it has a lot of side effects, can cause dementia, and is probably best avoided.

Occasional Benadryl is fine. The dementia risk is from correlations found in other medicines that share some of the same properties, when taken for many years. It’s not a good idea to take Benadryl for many years, but occasional use or even for months while going through a difficult period isn’t going to cause dementia.

The dementia risk is from disrupting the circadian rhythm and suppressing the REM phases.

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

#326

Post by AaronAPU »

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #90
AaronAPU wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had that my entire life, and then one day started having the strangest medical condition where it is literally impossible to sleep past ~6:30am. It sounds unbelievable but you’d have to experience it to understand. But the end result is it “fixed” the delayed sleep issue. I’d give just about anything to be able to just sleep and keep sleeping, but on the up side now I’m an early bird with extreme regularity and qui…

> having the strangest medical condition where it is literally impossible to sleep past ~6:30am. It's it really? What if you go to bed at 6am? Will you really still wake up 30 mins later?

Yes.

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

#327

Post by pedalpete »

We wrote about the "why" on our blog a few months ago [1], but the short version

Sleep is a complex interplay of multiple systems within the body. A consistent/regular schedule means the brain/body is not guessing what you are asking of it. It knows when to reduce cortisol, drop body temperature, etc. etc.

A simple example: When you force yourself to stay awake longer, your body attempts to compensate by increasing cortisol, then when you try to go to bed later, it can't just switch off the cortisol. It needs to clear it in your system. Then the next domino falls of when does your brain/body expect you to wake up? What are you asking of it?

[1]https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/the-hidden-work-of-sleep-...

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

#328

Post by lII1lIlI11ll »

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…

> 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.

Modern orexin antagonist sleep medications are not addictive and can be taken long-term.

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

#329

Post by ZeWaka »

bitexploder wrote: post #91
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…

Magnesium is a great supplement in general. You can definitely have too much in your system and that is undesirable, but a bit before bed time along with 1-3mcg of melatonin work well for me. It is nice after workouts. I use magnesium glycinate in powder form, which is more bioavailable than some forms as well. I also find sauna before bed is good. I have a bed chiller so I can crank up the sauna before bed and not s…

Sauna and then a lukewarm shower to cool down is also great.

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

#330

Post by eric__cartman »

throwaway0123_5 wrote: post #223
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…

> As a software developer, I am used to finding and fixing the underlying problem instead of relying on the quick fixes these doctors were offering me. I'm skeptical that avoidance of "relying on the quick fixes" generalizes to software developers as a whole :)

To be fair I care way more about the long term sustainability of my body than all the software I write regardless of how business critical or interesting it is. Or hardware for that matter, the "temporarily" zip tied CPU cooler fan says hi lol
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