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Impacts of lack of sleep

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Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#121

Post by sofixa »

mikenew wrote: post #15

I've struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember. I have improved it considerably in the past year (still not perfect). Out of the dozens upon dozens of things I've tried, here's what I think made the most difference, in order of importance. 1. Very consistent bedtime and wake up time. +/- 30 minutes, but ideally less. Obviously if you struggle with sleep you can't count on falling asleep at the same time, but…

> Breathe through your nose. It can be hard at first but it gets easier over time

I'm stumped here. Isn't that the normal way to breathe? Why would it be hard, unless you have some medical condition like sleep apnea, which requires treatment in itself?

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#122

Post by pkoird »

tatrajim wrote: post #120

Just in case anyone cares, this gracefully aging guy has found a reliable way to refreshing sleep every night for many years: -- Learn some form of qigong meditation (not East Asian myself, but lived there many years). Just before bed, it's a huge help to quality sleep. -- Practice a calorie restricted diet several times a week. On days I eat ~400 kcal., my sleep heart rate dips 5-10%. -- Listen at bed time via earph…

I'd like to expand on that large bit. I really used to have elevated heart rates / anxiety while sleeping. I used to get up with a startle and be unable to sleep afterwards. What I found worked for me was crowd noises. I think it provided me, at a subconscious level, the reassurance that I was not alone (thus safe from predators).

After I married, the startle basically went away :). Turns out, having a human beside you while sleeping works wonder!

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#123

Post by pkoird »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #76
joegahona wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't modafinil a stimulant? A coworker gave me some and I was super-productive at work.

> Isn't modafinil a stimulant? It's... stimulant-ish? Nobody seems to know exactly how it works.

Can you even get that without a prescription?

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#124

Post by User23 »

sofixa wrote: post #121
mikenew wrote: post #15

I've struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember. I have improved it considerably in the past year (still not perfect). Out of the dozens upon dozens of things I've tried, here's what I think made the most difference, in order of importance. 1. Very consistent bedtime and wake up time. +/- 30 minutes, but ideally less. Obviously if you struggle with sleep you can't count on falling asleep at the same time, but…

> Breathe through your nose. It can be hard at first but it gets easier over time I'm stumped here. Isn't that the normal way to breathe? Why would it be hard, unless you have some medical condition like sleep apnea, which requires treatment in itself?

When I was a child mouth-breather was an insult. I’ve also always thought one should breathe through one’s nose.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#125

Post by mrleinad »

nkozyra wrote: post #50

I did sleep studies, medicines (including modafinil which worked but had scary sides), natural supplements (which helped but tended to result in lesser quality sleep). In the end I needed to make sleep my number one priority and I focused on it for several months. I slowly built up what worked for me, but likely won't work for you. A lot of being in bed at 10 staring at a dark ceiling for 3+ hours. Getting into medit…

Can you expand on the scary sides of modafinil you found?

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#126

Post by closeparen »

In high school and college I was in a vicious cycle of insufficient sleep, lethargy during the day, and panicked heroics the night before deadlines. It worked! I got into and out of a selective institution that way. But my life got immeasurably better once I started working. I would put in an honest day’s effort, leave it wherever it was at the end of the day, unwind all evening, and wake up again when I felt like it (hooray for 11am standup).

Holy shit. The quality of life improvement was unbelievable. It is incredibly tragic to have wasted those years that way.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#127

Post by mgkimsal »

wenc wrote: post #112
mikenew wrote: post #15

I've struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember. I have improved it considerably in the past year (still not perfect). Out of the dozens upon dozens of things I've tried, here's what I think made the most difference, in order of importance. 1. Very consistent bedtime and wake up time. +/- 30 minutes, but ideally less. Obviously if you struggle with sleep you can't count on falling asleep at the same time, but…

I find brown (not white!) noise really helps too. I particularly like Alexa's brown noise mix. I tell Alexa to "play brown noise" and the droning sound calms my mind in minutes. Also writing therapy helps -- writing down all the thoughts bothering me and then crumpling it up and chucking it in the trash really helps me let go. There's something about externalizing one's thoughts that helps one let go of them.

agreed - white noise is too tinny.

I use a mix of brown and grey throughout the day.

I use Bose sleep buds for sleeping. It was life changing. The 'warm static' mix they offer is a great brownish noise for masking out external sounds and helping get to sleep.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#128

Post by toast0 »

sofixa wrote: post #121
mikenew wrote: post #15

I've struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember. I have improved it considerably in the past year (still not perfect). Out of the dozens upon dozens of things I've tried, here's what I think made the most difference, in order of importance. 1. Very consistent bedtime and wake up time. +/- 30 minutes, but ideally less. Obviously if you struggle with sleep you can't count on falling asleep at the same time, but…

> Breathe through your nose. It can be hard at first but it gets easier over time I'm stumped here. Isn't that the normal way to breathe? Why would it be hard, unless you have some medical condition like sleep apnea, which requires treatment in itself?

I have to actively try to breathe through my nose, it's often congested (having a pet despite allergies doesn't help), and it's just simpler to breathe through my mouth, cause that just works.

Medical interventions are possible, but I'm not thrilled with the side effects of the medicines I've tried, and surgery has some really awful tail risks, so there's that. I was recently recomended to try B1 (thiamine) suppliments related to sleep apnea, not sure if it helps with that, but it does seem to open up my nasal passages, and taking it before bed seems to be helpful with breathing during sleep. YMMV, not medical advice, etc.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#129

Post by sometimeshuman »

I truly wonder how many people sleep poorly because they ruminate about dysfunctional relationships at night. After many decades of miserable sleep I finally set boundaries with certain family members and long time co-workers. I can practically fall asleep on demand now and sleep through the night. It's beautiful! and so many of my life-long mental health problems, even minor physical issues, are gone. I wish I would have asserted myself decades ago but I kept thinking it's my fault, not theirs, that I am not mentally stronger.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#130

Post by Nbox9 »

Terr_ wrote: post #102

> Increased (+33%) risk of dementia which is something you should be terrified of Terrified of dementia, yes. Terrified of a ~2% chance becoming a ~2.6% chance, not quite so much.

There’s a linear increase of dementia risk as you age. It seems to be not a matter of if you get dementia, but if something else kills you first.

[0] https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/76/suppl_5/v2

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