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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)

#391

Post by RugnirViking »

zhengyi13 wrote: post #245
fsckboy wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and don't do screens for the last few hours before bed" because that will help you fall asleep more quickly? or because that will help you sleep later in the morning 6 or 7 hours later? People never seem to mention that key aspect.

I believe it's much to do with blue light emitted by screens: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9424753/

I had heard that that wasn't as much of an effect as some people think - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260407-the-blue-light-f...

or rather, that its less about blue light specifically, and more about activity and bright light in general - the times where we are active are shifted later, and a profound lack of exposure to bright light during the day is the issue. Even with the massive amount of screen time the average person gets in a day, that much light adds up to less than a single minute of the equivalent of sunlight.

Probably the best thing you can do is go outside as soon as you can from when you wake up, and stay outside as long as you can. Failing that, get some good BRIGHT sunlight lamps. way brighter than you think could possibly be necassary

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

#392

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

tchock23 wrote: post #313
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…

I’ve read so much on magnesium and believe in the benefits of supplementation, but when I try it (regardless of type) I end up feeling devoid of energy and borderline depressed for three days after.

FYI here. I and my partner have tried various forms/brands of Mg, around 5 of them, and they have had zero effect on sleep. I have to wonder if all positive experiences here are either placebo or shills. Similar goes for the several supplements out there.

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

#393

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

tetec1 wrote: post #337
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 does literally nothing for me.

FYI here. I and my partner have tried various forms/brands of Mg, around 5 of them, and they have had zero effect on sleep. I have to wonder if all positive experiences here are either placebo or shills. Similar goes for the several supplements out there.

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

#394

Post by irenaeus »

raddan wrote: post #233
irenaeus wrote: post #193

I read the abstract, pretty interesting. I did a word search for "wake" looking for if they talked at all about early waking times being correlated with overall regularity, as that has been my personal experience. Unfortunately they didn't talk about it, or if they did I couldn't find it.

I am also curious about this. The best sleep I ever had was when I was teaching an early morning class. Part of my morning routine is a short run, so this meant I was regularly waking up at 5am. I fell asleep regularly at 9pm when I was on this schedule. I use a sleep band [1] to track sleep, and it was the only time when I've been able to consistently get "high scores" on it. [1] https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/16500…

It's strange to me that adolescents are (or seem to be) wired to want to wake late and sleep late, since waking early and sleeping early is a predictor of a predictor of lower all cause mortality!

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

#395

Post by lII1lIlI11ll »

astrange wrote: post #342
lII1lIlI11ll wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Trazodone is also not addictive and doesn't have bad side effects afaik.

Trazodone does little to improve objective sleep quality [0] when used off-label for treating insomnia. From my n=1 experience it it useful as an adjunct to an orexin antagonist in special cases when I stressed/annoyed out of my mind by work or something else, but not as a primary "sleeping pill".

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29680424/

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

#396

Post by cestith »

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’m not saying it will work for you, but it may be worth trying GABA or 5-HTP to help you stay asleep. As a chronic insomniac of many years, I take both and not melatonin. Sometimes if my sleep schedule gets bad enough I’ll take 25mg of diphenhydramine HCL to get to sleep, but it gives me strange dreams and makes me a little foggy the next morning.

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

#397

Post by ceplabs »

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 also solved my restless leg syndrome at night. I take magnesium glycinate. I bought the powder and sprinkle some on my nighttime ice cream sundae a few hours before bed.

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

#398

Post by silexia »

A1kmm wrote: post #21

I wonder how much of this is driven by confounding variables they haven't accounted for. They do factor in shift work as a categorical variable, and employment status as a categorical variable not taking into account occupation. But probably occupation (not a variable here) interacts with sleep status. Any job that involves a lot of flying (pilot, crew, people travelling for business) get more cosmic radiation exposu…

Or just being sick messes with your sleep.

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

#399

Post by potamic »

deinonychus wrote: post #288
redanddead wrote: post #281

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…

>… but he won’t get young men to sleep in at 8pm i've never had a problem with staying or even falling asleep, instead my issue is *wanting* to go to bed and getting myself there. adhd, executive dysfunctoning/akrasia, screens, chores i procrastinated all evening, etc, all give me too many things to do at night instead of tucking myself into bed. i basically don't feel tired at all until i lay down. i don't notice i'…

> i started taking it like 3 hours before bed, after reading scott alexander's psychiatry website, instead of right beforehand.

He seems to suggest something like 7 hours before you go to sleep. Where did you get 3 hours?

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

#400

Post by testing22321 »

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…

>and that when normal adults are placed in settings without artificial light like camping or without any time indicators, they sleep longer than before - exactly as if they were sleep deprived.

I’ve been on a few multi-year camping trips, and it never stops amazing me that I feel like a different person after six months or so of sleeping with the sun. 10+ hours of sleep for many months is incredible.

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