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Engineering Sleep

minjunes.ai

171–180 of 205 posts

Re: Engineering Sleep

#171
post #81
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could be sleeping less to do more fun stuff, no?

I never said we couldn't and I did not refer only to work: it's still the wrong goal in my mind. "Fun" is usually defined as something providing instant gratification (through hormonal response), though there is fun in retrospect too ("I was scared like shit, that was fun"). And while it's nothing to sneeze at and we should always have some, you can achieve the similar with different medications or narcotics (if the…

These two types of fun have been sometimes categorized as “type 1” and “type 2” fun:

https://medium.com/@yinonweiss/the-four-types-of-fun-a745ec5...

Re: Engineering Sleep

#172

Recently this came up on sleep deprivation : "preemptive administration of low-dose aspirin during sleep restriction reduced pro-inflammatory responses. Specifically, aspirin reduced interleukin-6 expression and COX-1/COX-2 double positive cells in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated monocytes, as well as C-reactive protein serum levels." "aspirin-induced reduction of inflammatory pathway activity in sleep-restricted parti…

Low dose aspirin is used to reduce the risk of strokes:

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/low-dose-aspirin/about-low-dose...

Re: Engineering Sleep

#173

I work in the sleep space, particularly enhancing slow-wave sleep - the synchronous firing of neurons which define deep sleep, the most restorative and vital component of sleep. Only focusing on the amount of time asleep is a significantly limited viewpoint, but I believe this will change in the coming years as we gather more knowledge of sleep and access to EEG data about our brain activity during sleep increases. O…

Your /research link doesn't work. It seems your company produces a deep sleep headband. I'm interested in these sorts of products because I want more deep sleep (for myself, and for family) while lifestyle factors (mostly kids) make that very difficult. The last product I tried was the Philips deep sleep headband (which, unfortunately, never appeared in Netherlands, I had to import it from the US even though Philips…

"So now I use a pair of really good ear plug",What earplugs do you use to sleep? I would like to know them. Thanks.

Re: Engineering Sleep

#174
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your /research link doesn't work. It seems your company produces a deep sleep headband. I'm interested in these sorts of products because I want more deep sleep (for myself, and for family) while lifestyle factors (mostly kids) make that very difficult. The last product I tried was the Philips deep sleep headband (which, unfortunately, never appeared in Netherlands, I had to import it from the US even though Philips…

"So now I use a pair of really good ear plug",What earplugs do you use to sleep? I would like to know them. Thanks.

https://www.alpine.nl/products/sleepsoft-custom-4d

Custom made specifically for your ear shape. They provide the highest level of isolation that I've seen.

Sometimes that by itself is not enough, and so I also wear a Sony noise-cancelling headphone. The ones by Bose are also good.

Re: Engineering Sleep

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be an advantage? Aren't you "losing time"? I need 10 hours every day, so even if I go to bed at 10pm, I'd wake up at 8am, which is "late" for most people. I'd love to be able to wake up at 6am, but just can't. It doesn't feel like an advantage.

> I'd love to be able to wake up at 6am, but just can't. What does "just can't" mean, exactly? Just curious, because I felt that way, too, until I had a newborn and was forced to wake up with less sleep and discovered it was physically possible. Still felt awful all day, but it was possible.

For me, alarms simply don’t wake me up. I’m literally unconscious and not just asleep. That being said, I only need 6 hours of sleep a night and I can’t sleep any more than that. However, I also have delayed sleep entry. So, I usually stay up until 1am and wake up at 7am, with no alarm. If I want to sleep less than six hours, I simply won’t wake up. Famously, in the military, I was dragged outside, to the morning formation, and slept through the entire thing. It was entertaining enough that I didn’t get in too much trouble, but alarms simply don’t work for me. I ended up getting doctors orders to always get six hours of sleep, if possible, instead of the 4 hour minimum. I was always worried I would sleep through important things in a war zone; and I did. I just never got caught or admitted to it.

Re: Engineering Sleep

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to just sleep 10 hours every day seems like an unfair advantage.

Why would it be an advantage? Aren't you "losing time"? I need 10 hours every day, so even if I go to bed at 10pm, I'd wake up at 8am, which is "late" for most people. I'd love to be able to wake up at 6am, but just can't. It doesn't feel like an advantage.

I would physically not be able to do this. I think many people would have a hard time to sleep more.

Moreover, when I sleep more, I notice that I'm sharper and I find it easier to take on tough challenges: this means that sleeping longer makes me happier for the rest of the day. So I'm also willing to live a tougher life. So there's also a trade off with: yea, you have less time, but the less time that you have, you're happier. Or at least, that's my experience.

And not only are you happier, you're also more capable. So it's more easy to live according to your own rationality and it's easier to not live according to your emotions and instincts.

Again, just my experience.

Re: Engineering Sleep

#177

It's notable that almost every animal sleeps in some way, even organisms that are away from sunlight (ie. creatures that live underground). If you sleep 30% of the time, that's 30% of the time you aren't eating, mating, etc. Also, during sleep you are more vulnerable to predators. One would expect evolution to get rid of sleep in creatures who don't rely on sunlight cycles. So, there must be some really good evolutio…

It has a lot to do with diet and metabolism. Cat's sleep 2/3 of the time, have a very high metabolism and spend a very short amount of time eating or catching prey. (compared to say, Cows who are chewing for as long as humans are sleeping) So it's likely to conserve energy in situations where there is a limited food supply or constraints on what and when you can eat. Then there's animals that hibernate, for similar reasons, over winter. But that's only one aspect of sleep, there's also the file indexing and disk defragging that goes on when you're not running any applications.

Re: Engineering Sleep

#178
post #44

> Familial Natural Short Sleep (FNSS), a benign mutation that allows them to sleep 1-2 hours less than the recommended 7-9 hours, without experiencing the negative effects of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is one concern, but there’s a more subtle impact on cognitive functions (working memory, creativity, deep focus), overall health (particularly the endocrine and immune systems), and long-term health outcomes…

Churchill also drank heavily and smoked like a chimney, don't you think that might have more to do with his cognitive decline than anything else?

Re: Engineering Sleep

#179
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fun thought experiment, but our working definition of life is something along the lines of heritable metabolizing, which dreaming doesn't so obviously serve.

> heritable metabolizing That's a really nice phrase - thank you. Hmm, searches for `"heritable metabolizing"` have like no hits, *bolism only a few.

For a broader definition, I'll refer you to Dr. Michael Wong, astrobiologist and planetary scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science's Earth & Planets Laboratory: https://pca.st/episode/40b841c8-6f31-4bbb-88e0-c834ae319ee4

Re: Engineering Sleep

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not getting what I'm laying down. I'm not saying this at all. Have an alarm clock, have a schedule. But don't stress about it or "optimize" it. Just do it.

You said “sleep when you are tired”. Lots of people can’t do that, we need to manage our sleep. The thing that helped me not worry about sleep was the routine. But that needs to be maintained and tweaked. I don’t worry about it, but have to think about it.

Can you please elaborate as to why?

Do you have a health condition that requires you to manage your sleep? Pragmatically how does that shake out?

I was not speaking to those with medical conditions or similar. It was more general advice that helped me in the past for those who don't have sleep conditions, but are giving themselves one because they're needlessly worrying about or optimizing it.

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