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Real Men Go to Sleep

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Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#151

Post by jacalata »

pshin45 wrote: post #142

I wish I could find it again, but I remember reading about a study that stated that a small percentage of the population, maybe 5% or 10%, are genetically wired so that they actually can function normally with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep. It seemed to make sense, especially when I later heard stories of professional athletes like Gilbert Arenas (professional basketball player) who were able to play at a very high leve…

This Harvard sleep summary page [0] gives a few references at the bottom for similar sounding studies.

[0] http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science/variatio...

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#153

Post by [deleted] »

enraged_camel wrote: post #106
nlh wrote: post #93

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. It's frustrating - because it's not logical, it's just pretty deeply ingrained. I set up a (rather nice) nap room at my company's office and I'm the only person who EVER uses it. It turned into a storage room. I sent articles about the virtues of napping - the studies - the benefits - the facts - to all of my employees, and nobo…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, there is no reason why you should need 20-minute "power naps" in the middle of the day. (There may be exceptions, such as extremely demanding manual labor, but I think we're talking about white collar jobs in this context.)

[deleted]

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#154

Post by surement »

thomasahle wrote: post #149
pavel_lishin wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse for me. I fall asleep, then wake up groggy, often times with a headache. Every once in awhile I achieve the perfect nap - and that's usually in a noisy place, very well lit - and after it, I barely feel like I was really "asleep" - not the same way that I feel after I sleep in a dark room under a blanket.

Have you considered if you're waking up in the middle of a cycle? Maybe you could experiment with the length of the nap and/or cycle detecting apps or gear.

This is important. I've found that 22.5 x 2^k min for any reasonable k has me waking up feeling refreshed.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#155

Post by mildtrepidation »

nlh wrote: post #93

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. It's frustrating - because it's not logical, it's just pretty deeply ingrained. I set up a (rather nice) nap room at my company's office and I'm the only person who EVER uses it. It turned into a storage room. I sent articles about the virtues of napping - the studies - the benefits - the facts - to all of my employees, and nobo…

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce.

Perhaps I've just been extremely lucky not to have seen this, but I don't think it's a justified generalization. I've only worked at length in two states, MN and FL, but I have never seen anything overt to suggest this is some sort of vastly applied cultural judgment.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#156

Post by zem »

spuz wrote: post #39

It was my understanding that while Google has nap rooms in some offices, they are seldom used. The culture is geared around long hours and if you are seen to be napping that is seen as a potential sign of weakness. Of course I could be completely wrong (I'm just pulling this idea out of a vague memory of reading about it here on HN) so I hope a Google employee will correct me. However, it seems reasonable that a comp…

google mountain view employee here - there is no stigma that i am aware of surrounding the nap pods; people just get caught up in the "so much to do, so little time to do it" cycle and don't want to leave their desks to go nap. i've even seen a surprising number of coworkers eating at their desks, something i can guarantee you there is no cultural expectation of within the company - again, it's just a case of individuals feeling the real or perceived pressure of work piling up too fast for them to step away.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#157

Post by xiaohanzhang14 »

DrStalker wrote: post #137
pekk wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have Celiac disease, or did you just decide on your own that wheat is unclean?

There are a few things other than Celiac disease that cause problems with wheat; I've never been able to get a solid diagnosis other than ruling out Celiacs but I know if I have too much wheat, especially in the form of light fluffy baked goods, I get very tired and cranky as well as having digestive issues. It could be an additive used in commercial baking because I seem to be fine with no-wheat gluten and some form…

This entire thread is like a WebMD page. Somehow a food coma resulted in a Celiac disease diagnosis. Not that it's impossible, but it's certainly implausible.

Sounds like your lunches include a bunch of carbs, too much sugar, and/or maybe a drink or two. If it happens frequently, habits form.

Get real, guys.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#158

Post by CodeMage »

nlh wrote: post #93

The culture of "napping = weakness / laziness" is still so prevalent in the US workforce. It's frustrating - because it's not logical, it's just pretty deeply ingrained. I set up a (rather nice) nap room at my company's office and I'm the only person who EVER uses it. It turned into a storage room. I sent articles about the virtues of napping - the studies - the benefits - the facts - to all of my employees, and nobo…

I suspect there might be something else at work here. Ask yourself this question: if you take a 20 minute nap at work, will that count as part of your working hours or not?

Even at the places where employees are not expected to rigidly conform to fixed working hours, there's an expectation to put in a certain minimum of hours. I'm not talking about producing a certain output: even in the most "goal-oriented" places I've worked at, there was still an unstated, tacit expectation that you were supposed to put in a certain minimum of effort, regardless of your results.

What I'm getting at is that if you have employees who nap and those who don't, there will almost certainly exist an expectation that those who nap should put in extra time equal to the length of their nap. Therefore, those who do nap will lose some of their free time.

If you're single, that could be an acceptable bargain: instead of sleeping for (say) 8 hours at night, you would have a 20 minute nap at the office, stay 20 minutes longer and then sleep for 6 hours at night. The net gain would be 80 minutes, which isn't bad at all.

On the other hand, if you're a family person, then that's 20 minutes less with (say) your kid after school.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#159

Post by ekianjo »

nlh wrote: post #118
enraged_camel wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep at night, there is no reason why you should need 20-minute "power naps" in the middle of the day. (There may be exceptions, such as extremely demanding manual labor, but I think we're talking about white collar jobs in this context.)

Not for me. I can get 10 hours of sleep at night but I'll still hit an afternoon lull post-lunch. I'm sure if I really worked at it I could figure out why (too big a lunch? blood sugar spike?) but regardless, I'm good to go for 6+ more hours w/ a 20-minute nap. Meanwhile everyone else sits and forces their eyelids open, stares at YouTube videos, and downs espresso shots...

That's biorhythm, it has nothing to do with food intake. You will have a tendency to fall asleep around 2 pm, more or less, everyday, based on your internal clock.

Re: Real Men Go to Sleep

#160

Post by ekianjo »

Romoku wrote: post #128
hfsktr wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everywhere I've worked (for the most part) you had to be there between 8-5 (roughly). You just couldn't leave early even if you came in early. I know it's not like that everywhere. My current job I am almost always the last one here by 5 and it's just hard to break the habit that I have to be here until closing time. Exceptions were made if you made arrangements with management but usually only people with families o…

I work 7:00 - 3:30 and go home early on Fridays.

wait, how can you go home earlier than 3h30? :)
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