Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Impacts of lack of sleep

belkarx.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 196 posts

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#161

Post by raducu »

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 my case the things that helped the most:

1) Melatonin 300mcg (2 drops) -- usually after 2-3 days, taking it I found I don't need it for another 3-4 days. No tolerance at 300mcg. I've tried other drugs that I still use for when I'm stressed (zolpidem which I actually like recreationally but won't take it when there are others in the house, antihistamines, or benzodiazepines).

I cannot stress how good it feels to know that I have options in case I can't sleep. The same with panic attacks I had a few years ago -- once I knew I had lorazepam/alprazolam in my wallet and I could end any panic attack in 15 minutes, the panic attacks stopped by themselves. Just having the option gives me peace of mind. The same for polydrug usage that helped with my BPD -- having the ability to just change the way you feel was such a blessing and the beginning of the end of BPD for me (70% was dealt with by therapy).

2) Actually fixing the problems in my life -- when I'm happy with my work, my child, my wife, I exercise a little (even just a bike ride in the park), I practice my hobbies, I socialize a little -- in such days I sleep like a baby.

3) The whole sleep sleep hygiene thing -- it's just a cherry on top of the cake, if I had a good streak of days where I was content/happy, I can basically do everything sleep hygiene says but in reverse and still get a great sleep.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#162

Post by bambax »

> which is something you should be terrified of

The use of that word "terrified" in American journalism is mildly annoying, and baffling to me (Slate is also a big culprit). What's with this?

If someone threatens me with a deadly weapon I may get terrified (IDK, never happened yet), but I'm not "terrified" of any future event regarding society, the world, or my life.

Terror is clear and present danger; it's unclear to me how any hypothetical event placed in the future could ever induce terror today.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#163

Post by clan »

ksec wrote: post #144
sofixa wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Allergies. It is very very rare I can breath through my nose. Really wish I could because life is so much better when it does. I have been told surgical operation only works for about 10 years before it comes back. And no long term medication seems to be able to deal with it without some side effect.

I am not a "yoga type" so I was completely unaware of Neti pots. By chance my doctor told me about a "Rhino horn" which is available at the local pharmacies around here. It is the same thing.

https://www.yogaprosess.com/usa/

(I am not affiliated - any odd neti pot will do!)

You mix salt and lukewarm water. It gives instant relief. Even if you are not fully obstructed it relaxes the nose. When fully obstructed just have a little patience and it will rinse through.

I think Yoga practitioners use it as part of their daily morning routine. But I am too lazy and only use it when I have a cold or allergies (been around cats and horses).

It was a really weird thing to use the first couple of times. But the relief is so worth it.

This is a total game changer for a CPAP user. If you nose is clear when you go to sleep the pressure from CPAP it often enough to keep the nostrils free.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#164

Post by krageon »

f1refly wrote: post #150
toast0 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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) supplimen…

Why would you get a pet when you're allergic?

Why would you want to live without one?

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#165

Post by Fnoord »

wenc wrote: post #111
fleddr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't agree on reading. It's cognitively stimulating, assuming you read something that interests you. I don't know about you, but I can't just close the book and forget about it.

Try reading a book you find boring, like a book in a foreign language that you kinda understand but only barely (for most Americans this would be something Spanish, maybe something by Isabel Allende). The cognitive load will make you doze off -- at least it works for me. Also try heavy books like Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. That one's another snoozefest for me.

Cryptonomicon has given me countless hours of sleep.

Regarding Why We Sleep here is a critique [1]. Was posted on HN in past.

[1] https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#168

Post by ksec »

clan wrote: post #163
ksec wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allergies. It is very very rare I can breath through my nose. Really wish I could because life is so much better when it does. I have been told surgical operation only works for about 10 years before it comes back. And no long term medication seems to be able to deal with it without some side effect.

I am not a "yoga type" so I was completely unaware of Neti pots. By chance my doctor told me about a "Rhino horn" which is available at the local pharmacies around here. It is the same thing. https://www.yogaprosess.com/usa/ (I am not affiliated - any odd neti pot will do!) You mix salt and lukewarm water. It gives instant relief. Even if you are not fully obstructed it relaxes the nose. When fully obstructed just ha…

Thanks. I Actually did that long before Yoga was a thing. It only works for about 10-30 min. Then it is blocked again.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#169

Post by sharmi »

mweibel wrote: post #152

I never really had issues with lack of sleep until I became father 1.5 years ago. Child has issues with sleep since the start and while it recently got a bit better, in those 1.5 years I can count the number of times I got 8 hours uninterrupted sleep on one, maybe two hands. On the worst days I could eat double my normal food intake and was still hungry. Working and concentration is quite hard, more coffee intake is…

>I do wonder what happens when sleep is back to normal. Are some effects staying or will eventually everything go back to how it used to be before?

We had twins and sleep was incredibly hard for more than 2years. It took me a few more years to realize that not only was my sleep disturbed, my whole sleep hygiene was messed up and I had picked up several detrimental habits (e.g Late night was the only time I had to myself with no disturbances. I started to stay awake increasingly late into the night). I almost had to relearn how to sleep all over again.

So, yes, It does get better. You may need to put some effort to reclaim it.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#170

Post by mettamage »

mikenew wrote: post #94
mettamage wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of things worked on there for me as well, but the biggest one for me personally is 0.3mg of melatonin I started with 3mg, way too much, went to 1.5mg, still too much. Then did 0.7mg, that was fine but still some small side effects. Then 0.4mg that was fine. Then 0.2mg, that didn't work. Then I did 0.3mg and it seemed to be the sweet spot. I can just barely perceive it working and it is just enough to make me…

My understanding is that melatonin is a threshold kind of thing, so it makes sense to dial in a specific dose. For me I found that 1mg gave me as much "get to sleep" effect as 10mg, so I would just use 1. I wasn't able to find dosages less than 1mg so I never experimented further. For me, I took melatonin before bed for a month or two and then stopped, and when I stopped I didn't notice my time-until-sleep being any…

In The Netherlands they are sold at 0.1mg at the lowest granularity. I used those to test it. Eventually, after figuring out my dose, I now resort to a comfortable yummy (it's sweet, helps with placebo effect :P) 0.3mg melatonin + 1mg CBD tablet.
Post reply on HN