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

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351–360 of 427 posts

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

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> They won’t be prescribed long-term either. Tramadol is routinely prescribed long term where I live. I know someone with a massive bottle good for something like 6 to 12 months of daily use. (I don't know if that's a good thing but it is certainly a thing.)

You sure you don’t mean trazodone?

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

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Placebos are actually very effective for improving sleep

If you call it a ritual instead of a placebo it suddenly sounds much more credible.

But a ritual sounds like something they practiced in the Middle Ages. Placebo sounds modern and scientific.

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

#353

Just my 2c Bryan Johnson says you should base your life around your sleep. He’s totally right … but he won’t get young men to sleep in at 8pm New sleep meds are creating a new lever here and serve a real empowering function in a way that culture hasn’t caught up to yet When we think of traditional sleep meds we think of sedatives and it has an identity connotation to it. The new meds coming out, not just in sleep eit…

Bryan Johnson is hardly someone you should aspire to follow or listen.

His entire adult life has been focused on the "live forever, stay young" culture, where he takes dozens if not hundreds of pills a day, avoids direct sunlight, takes blood plasma from his son, experimental longevity interventions such as injections derived from baby foreskins and whatever else he has tried over the years.

He's lived this insane "healthy" life and now he is suffering from yet another auto-immune disease, and in his own words "My stomach is eating itself."

Eating healthy, regular sleep schedules, and avoiding stress are all things we should do, there's no denying that. But it should NOT come at the detriment of living your life and living it well. Plus these recommendations are just basic things that everyone talks about, it doesn't take same health guru's advise.

I have a family member that just turned 104, all her children are dying or severely impaired, she's still there, still alive and looking like she'll easily turn 105. She drank, she smoked, she ate red meat, and she takes one pill a day to regulate her blood pressure which hasn't been a problem in over three or four years.

The biggest factor in people's health is genetic luck. Then your healthy habits, followed by medical help (medication, etc...) The last two you can control, the first is just that, luck of the draw.

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

#354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it just seems extremely obvious to me that people who live a predictable-enough life to sleep and wake at the same time every day are less likely to face mortality than people with schedules so chaotic they sleep at different times regularly. It’s still good science to do, but without a solid cause or two, I don’t think anything helpful is actually being revealed by this study, at least from a layman’s perspe…

Are you assuming that everyone prefers sleep regularity such that access is the only predictor?

Yep. I'm sure there are a few exceptions, but they'd be very rare overall.

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

#355
post #13
post #2

Well, I'm screwed...

Are you? Would be happy to die by 65-70 instead of struggling through 80s…

From what I understand, whether you will struggle depends a lot on whether you eat well, sleep well, drink, smoke, and exercise.

My dad played futsal until the end (~70 yo, car accident, be was perfectly healthy otherwise); I met one of his classmates from school, he looked 20 years older, no exaggeration. My dad looked like he was barely 50.

Note: how old someone looks is very biased by their "generation", as people tend to drink and smoke less these days.

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

#356

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.

Just stay awake, you're sleepy all the day anyway... Not meant as joke, but I've learned that trying to sleep when I'm not sleepy is senseless. When I really have a month where I get every day my 7h sleep, I need one night without sleep, otherwise I can't sleep at night anymore.

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

#357

As always with a lot of these: it's not saying causation. You might measure the speed of your car by putting your hand out of the window and notice that the wind force on your hand is strong when the car goes fast. Putting your hand out of the window and then blocking the wind with a book doesn't make the car slow down. Keyword: "associated" EDIT: I meant to communicate that it doesn't make the car slow down as much…

Well in another example, I might put my arm out of the window and feel the wind moving fast on my arm and wrongly assume my car is going fast when it is simply windy and I am stationary.

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

#358

Couldn’t this effect be classic cause vs correlation? Perhaps someone who has a consistent schedule is hypothetically more likely to make healthier choices on average?

It could be, but it also might not be?

Most things have second order effects, having a consistent sleep schedule may allow more healthier second order effects based on a more regular sleep pattern than duration. Duration also doesn't mean quality either.

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

#359
post #6
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought exactly. For people who struggle with this, and conventional wisdom doesn't seem to stick, what are we supposed to do?

Let's create a Discord/Signal/WhatsApp/mailing list group to help each other figure it out... it's time to end our sleep irregularity once and for all!

Would you actually be up for trying a one-week version of this? I'm building something rn that would let us run this in iMessage super easily!

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

#360

I kinda realize that the most important factor for personal success (whatever kind of success you want) is mental stability. Like, John Carmack said that he NEVER burned out, never went into a dark corner (verbatim from his interview), and everyone agrees that he works like a machine. And I don't think he actually spent a lot of mental training to achieve that stability, because, he has been like that from a young ag…

struggled and still struggle with a lot of health problems and lack of motivation. too much data, too little time. really hard to manage. been building something to help with all of this and it's been working pretty well for me, curious if you're interested in checking it out? nbd if not. biggest advice I have is get some social accountability
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