I like to run long distances, half marathons and mountain runs. When I'm in shape, I can run reasonably fast; I can get close to 7-minute miles on hilly half marathons, and place in the upper quartile in mountain runs. I have gone through some times in life where it's been really hard to sleep properly. My kid is three years old now, and he still interrupts my sleep patterns. I'm a teacher, and I never sleep enough d…
I recently stopped using an alarm clock, and it seems to work out a lot better. I now don't get waken up in the middle of a sleep cycle, and the sunlight naturally wakes me up.
This. What's missing from this article, is a discussion about ideal sleep TIMES. Not everyone is meant to sleep from 10-6. Yes, you can fudge your sleep cycle and you can adjust, but only so much. I'm naturally a night owl. With no alarm clock, and no obligations, I will "naturally" fall asleep at 3am, and wake up at 11. In times of my life when I've been able to do this, the 8 hours that I would get then FAR TRUMPED…
> I'm naturally a night owl. Many people are unnatural night owls, thanks to blue light sources in the evening - perhaps that applies to you too. Have you tried f.lux? http://getflux.com/
Blue light may be interrupting sleep patterns, but I assume people who call themselves night owls share with me a certain feeling of mental haze during daylight hours, regardless of sleep schedule. I'm also about 5% weaker at lifting maximal weights until late afternoon. For what it's worth, I don't consume caffeine (allergic) and I do use f.lux.
> Most of us have forgotten what it really feels like to be awake.” This may be one part of it. Some time ago, I'd definitely tell you I'm fine with little sleep. You can do it if you sleep very little every night. It's quite easy to adapt to, for example during university exam times But then after some years you realise you're not actually fine. You just don't remember how different is it to sleep longer. I'm still…
>' You just don't remember how different is it to sleep longer.' Exactly. Not too long ago the combination of child, work and school forced me to completely re-evaluate how I was spending my time and what is actually important to me. One big change I ended up making was getting to bed at the same time every night and clocking a consistent 8 hours. Within a week or so the difference was remarkable in both my mood and…
That was my experience too, though I think my enthusiasm for #3 was the main driver of the others. I found I really enjoyed lifting, and was much more successful when I was sleeping and eating well, so it became a virtuous cycle. With all of that, the depression and migraine issues that had plagued me through high school, university, and the following years became pretty scarce. If I change any of those things though, problems quickly become apparent.
About 10 years ago, I was talking to Aaron Iba, and he told me that one of his biggest advantages over other programmers is that he makes sure to get a good night's sleep every night. At the moment, I kind of dismissed it, but in hindsight, I think that he was dead-on.
Sure, getting enough sleep won't magically make you a genius overnight. But it will allow you to maximize the potential that you have.
I like to run long distances, half marathons and mountain runs. When I'm in shape, I can run reasonably fast; I can get close to 7-minute miles on hilly half marathons, and place in the upper quartile in mountain runs. I have gone through some times in life where it's been really hard to sleep properly. My kid is three years old now, and he still interrupts my sleep patterns. I'm a teacher, and I never sleep enough d…
You probably are overtaxing your central nervous system. Not getting enough sleep keeps your nervous system from fully recovering, which makes it harder to push yourself even if you have the cardiovascular and muscle capacity.
Robg, who posted this, is a longtime HNer whose current startup makes a watch that monitors your stress level. He wears the watch all the time and told me that one of his biggest lessons from it so far was about sleep. Rob, do you want to repeat that here? I thought it was interesting; maybe others would too.
Sure! It took me a decade as a neuroscientist to realize that sleep is the inverse of stress. That's physiologically speaking - stress is the sympathetic system; sleep is the parasympathetic system. We're seeing a type of high stress sleep. We don't know what it means or why. But the aim is to continue to drill in - a kind of citizen science of how sleep and stress interact. What questions would folks what to see ans…
What do you mean by "we're seeing a type of high stress sleep"? It sounds counterintuitive.
Travel cpap machines. (I saw an article on this might not have been this exact one it was a big advertisement also in the WSJ some time ago). " http://www.cpap.com/productpage/z1-travel-cpap-machine.html" I understand you still need a mask with these but it might be worth considering depending on where you can situate yourself.
Well, my CPAP machine is already relatively portable, but I don't have anywhere to nap at work, except in my car, which doesn't have an AC outlet (also, I'd like to start biking to work, so I don't want to wed myself to the car). I share a room with several other people, so I would need somewhere else to nap.
On an unrelated note: May I suggest getting a second travel CPAP even if you're not going to nap at the office?
You can use it for travel and vacations, but the best reason to have one is as a backup. Trust me when I say that you don't want to wait a month for a replacement when your existing CPAP fails (and it WILL fail).
Also, it's worth noting that many travel CPAPs have 12-volt car lighter adapters so you can run it off of your car's battery. So maybe you could use it to nap in your car?
Well, my CPAP machine is already relatively portable, but I don't have anywhere to nap at work, except in my car, which doesn't have an AC outlet (also, I'd like to start biking to work, so I don't want to wed myself to the car). I share a room with several other people, so I would need somewhere else to nap.
On an unrelated note: May I suggest getting a second travel CPAP even if you're not going to nap at the office? You can use it for travel and vacations, but the best reason to have one is as a backup. Trust me when I say that you don't want to wait a month for a replacement when your existing CPAP fails (and it WILL fail). Also, it's worth noting that many travel CPAPs have 12-volt car lighter adapters so you can run…
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look into it.
I'm sure it's true that avoiding sleep-deprivation is useful for "productivity", but, frankly, it saddens me that that this is the way it has to be pitched to get people to pay attention. Avoiding sleep-deprivation is also great for avoiding sleep-deprivation! You feel better and are healthier! Not all of life is (or should be) about productivity, the workplace, competitive advantage, etc.
> Most of us have forgotten what it really feels like to be awake.” This may be one part of it. Some time ago, I'd definitely tell you I'm fine with little sleep. You can do it if you sleep very little every night. It's quite easy to adapt to, for example during university exam times But then after some years you realise you're not actually fine. You just don't remember how different is it to sleep longer. I'm still…
>' You just don't remember how different is it to sleep longer.' Exactly. Not too long ago the combination of child, work and school forced me to completely re-evaluate how I was spending my time and what is actually important to me. One big change I ended up making was getting to bed at the same time every night and clocking a consistent 8 hours. Within a week or so the difference was remarkable in both my mood and…
> At least 8 ounces per waking hour for me.
That's 3.8L per day [(24 hours - 8 hours sleeping) * 8 fl oz = 3.8L]. Recommended intake is 2-3L[1]. Just be careful of water poisoning...