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Impacts of lack of sleep

belkarx.github.io

21–30 of 196 posts

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#21
post #11

I'm not sure how much this will do to change anyone. Sure, it's bluntly stated but, well, most people realize quite well that lack of sleep is awful and dangerous. People don't usually do it because they want to do it. Long hours at work, deadlines, stress, occasional bout of Netflix addiction. Out of all of those, there's only one that's easy to resolve and I'd wager that Netflix isn't usually the biggest contributo…

Imagine a medieval king who decided their castle should be lit up like day at nighttime, hundreds of candles in mirror-walled rooms, 365 days a year, and also that the entire castle save only the bed chamber would host the finest entertainers and all the most interesting friends and strangers in the world, party games and amusements in a hundred palace rooms, and a mage who could show the king any wonder of the world…

That is a fun and good analogy .. that I read at nearly midnight while sitting with my laptop and external monitor at full brightness communicating with strangers in other parts of the world.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#22
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'd also add

8. Don't eat within 2 hours of sleep (at least, maybe more).

9. Exercise earlier in the day, rather than later

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#23
For me the biggest change in sleep came when I started exercising on a daily base. I started boxing and fitness couple of years back . I sleep 9 hours everyday. Never feel tired during the day, except when I go to bed. Normally takes about 5 minutes to fall asleep. Whereas it used to be hours sometimes when I was younger.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#24
post #3

Is 8h sleep from 22:00 to 6:00 qualitatively equivalent to 8h sleep from 00:00 to 8:00?

For me, I have noted that it is not. Even after long periods of going to sleep at later times. I have always found earlier to bed and earlier to rise is much better. My problem is I am never tired or motivated to go to bed before 00:00 or 01:00. I don't really get sleepy or yawny. I really only go to bed because it's getting to silly o'clock.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#25
As someone that has recently perfected their sleep I'll share my approach for anyone willing to try.

1. Always go to sleep within 30 minutes of a specific time every single day. If this ever starts to drift, take a pill of 100 micrograms of melatonin 3 hours before you intend to sleep to get back on track.

2. Get lights that turn on and off via a smartphone app. Set them to turn on 30 minutes before you intend to wakeup. No alarm.

3. Before sleeping supplement magnesium (most americans are deficient).

I wake up with 0 grogginess every morning. It's amazing.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#26
post #7

preaching to the choir, everyone wants sleep

Yeah, this is like "people who are overweight: lose weight". Well gee I never thought of that before, I guess I'll go right out and do it. I certainly won't continue lying awake between 3-5am 2-4 times a week now that I know it's important. /s

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#27
I've struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember, but my issue isn't falling asleep -- it's staying asleep throughout the night. I usually sleep ok from 12am-5am, but after that, I wake up and fall back asleep every ~30 mins or so til I get up around 8.

Does anyone else have this issue? Curious if there are any good solutions...

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#28
My problem is that I get too much sleep and it's very difficult for me to wake up if there's no meeting scheduled that morning for my flexible remote job or if there's no social pressure to get up. I'll happily sleep 12-14 hours if you let me. I've been this way since I was a teenager, and I'm 25 now.

I know this sounds like I'm complaining about a luxury, and lack of sleep is definitely worse, but it's always made me feel like I'm wasting my days sleeping and missing out on life to a degree.

Re: Impacts of lack of sleep

#30
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…

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.
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