I agree entirely! I absolutely love naps as a way to increase mental performance, and they're comfortable to boot. The issue I have is that I can't quite see myself having one in the office at work... I mean, perhaps I could get away with it, but those who don't understand the power of a quick nap to get your mind refreshed and working at 100% capacity would probably think I'm odd.
Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
131–140 of 183 posts
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
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/
Wrong URL, try: https://justgetflux.com/
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#133The key takeaway is this: > The research is overwhelming that the vast majority of us require seven to eight hours of sleep to feel fully rested, and only a small percentage require less than seven. I'm sometimes envious of people I meet that can function well with little sleep, but I resign myself to the fact that I wasn't dealt that particular card. You can't compete with those folks by simply trying to ape their h…
> 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…
My last 2 months have been on 4 hours of sleep per night.
Yeah it works, but God does it suck. This has occurred out of a need to get work done, so I wonder how many others found themselves conditioned in the same way.
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#134The key takeaway is this: > The research is overwhelming that the vast majority of us require seven to eight hours of sleep to feel fully rested, and only a small percentage require less than seven. I'm sometimes envious of people I meet that can function well with little sleep, but I resign myself to the fact that I wasn't dealt that particular card. You can't compete with those folks by simply trying to ape their h…
I used to sleep nine hours a day. Two things, I noticed, reduced that: stimulants, and learning more about garbage collection algorithms. The first is pretty obvious in its effect, but the second surprised me: I was sleeping about 50 minutes less per data. It might be a coincidence, but there it is.
You mean computer garbage collection, or some kind of mental equivalent?
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look into it.
My dad had a top of the line cpap that my mother just threw out. Prior to that I had found a site that specialized in used cpaps and they were going to buy it (apparently they had so much inventory they wanted to wait to make an offer on it). You can probably source a good used one through respiratory therapists either privately or at a hospital. When someone passes away these are typically thrown out. (After a certa…
secondwindcpap.com is where I've gotten my last couple of units from.
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
>' 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... [1] http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healt...
Interesting fact - a healthy person's kidneys can excrete 25 litres of water a day. Drink more than this, and you expand your total body water volume to dangerous levels, which can lead to swelling in soft tissues and lungs (which can be life threatening). This happens in patients with psychogenic polydipsia.
Of course, drinking anywhere near 25L is not 'safe' either, and can still cause electrolyte abnormalities, neurocognitive dysfunction, seizures... Stick to the recommended intake, adjusted for water losses during significant exertion or high temperatures.
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
For what it's worth, in my opinion the haze = noise. During the day every damned thing is causing too much noise, even if you block it out with music & headphones it's still noise/distraction. So when you get to the evening and definitely past midnight the ambient noise drops considerably, everything is quiet and there's far less to subconsciously distract you.
it may be sensory overload, variant by person. for me, it's definitely light. i feel fried and cranky within minutes of being in bright sunlight.
i use a program similar to flux and, while it's shifted going to sleep a couple of hours earlier, i still have as much difficulty getting to work by 9. maybe i'm still working through decades of deprivation.
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#138>The two techniques that most help me to fall asleep when I’m under pressure are to write down what’s on my mind (to get it off my mind) and to breathe deeply if I’m still staying awake — in to a count of three, out to a count of six.
A friend of mine once told me as I was feigning sleep one evening as usual to: "just breathe like you are already asleep"
And 5 minutes later I was out like a light.
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean by "we're seeing a type of high stress sleep"? It sounds counterintuitive.
I mean that people report (and their activity data suggests) sleeping but that the sympathetic response - "fight-or-flight" - didn't seem to turn down significantly from being awake. The best analogy, I think, is that your body should flip to idle during sleep, but we see that you're still running very hot.
This is fascinating, and it makes a lot of sense. Do you have any links to any research regarding this, for those that would like to learn more?
Re: Sleep as a Competitive Advantage
#140Sleep and I have a rocky relationship. I'm terrible at falling asleep, and even worse at waking up, but boy have I learned to value it. I can't nap, because I literally can't sleep anything less than 4 hours. Friends and relatives have tried yelling/shaking/banging pots and pans, but the only thing that will wake me is cold water to the face. However, I've found taking a few moments to meditate can do wonders when I'…
I usually say that I don't have trouble sleeping, my trouble is with changing states :) I seldom go to bed in time because I hate to lay there trying to get asleep. Wanting to make more use of my day also doesn't help; I don't get home before 7:30pm, and I don't want to just dine and go to bed... Then comes the morning and I just can't wake up, even after 9, 10hs. I put my alarm clock far away from my bed because I u…
In college I used to climb down from the top bunk, walk across the room, turn off my alarm, and climb back up a ladder in my sleep.
Or so I was told anyway, I always assumed I had just slept through my alarm!