It makes me happy that OP posted https://sidhion.com/blog/28h_days/ in October of 2023, and somehow lasted 4 months before learning about https://xkcd.com/320/. It's interesting that OP decided to try to align to a daytime schedule on the weekend, instead of during the workweek as in the comic.
28h Days: year 1 update
21–30 of 134 posts
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#22This flies in the face of circadean rhythm research. I know the human body is extremely adaptable, but imagine making every single day a jet-lagged day. My younger self may have been able to tolerate it well enough, but there's no way I'd come out unscathed now.
I doubt your assertion about circadian rhythm research, largely because of the cave experiments that show that people naturally assume non-24 hour days when removed from sunlight and social cues.
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Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#23After reading the article I didn’t pick up what any of the advantages are of 28hr days other than being able to communicate with other regions of the world on certain days. I suppose that could be a very important factor for some people who do work in a geographically dispersed area. A few things I would be concerned with are: 1) your SO is not on the same schedule and really for what isn’t a solid reason. I could se…
The greatest benefit is that you can stay up until you're absolutely dog-tired every day, and not have to worry about all the rituals of "sleep hygiene", like limiting screen time, dimming lights, no coffee, etc. On a >24 hour sleep schedule, you _will_ be tired when it's time to sleep. Guaranteed. Not only that, you can sleep longer and will always feel well-rested. Meeting people all around the world, when they're…
You're making some assumptions here that I don't think hold.
OP is likely able to do this because they have a longer circadian cycle (though I think it's still less than 28 hours)
A person who might naturally have a 24.4 hour cycle without external stimuli (which is the average sleep researchers found) will likely have problems trying to adjust to a 26 hour cycle or longer, because even if they push themselves to stay up beyond the beginning of the sleep phase of their cycle on a regular basis, there is a good chance they'll wake up closer to the end of their sleep phase, and therefore might not get enough sleep.
It's better to follow a sleep cycle tailored to your own circadian rhythm, which for most people conveniently aligns pretty well with the natural day.
I say this as someone with non-24 who often does free-running sleep (where I've found my own cycle to be a little over 26 hours in winters, and closer to 24 hours in the summer)
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#24“Leave it to a white man to cut a foot off the end of a blanket and sew it on the top of the blanket and think it makes the blanket longer.”
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#25This flies in the face of circadean rhythm research. I know the human body is extremely adaptable, but imagine making every single day a jet-lagged day. My younger self may have been able to tolerate it well enough, but there's no way I'd come out unscathed now.
I did 36-hour days (awake for 24, asleep for 12) for a long time and it was fine. I'm unable to do so now, due to other obligations, but I still think it worked better for me than a 24-hour day. Even today I inevitably stay up all night, getting at most 1-4 hours of sleep, 2-3 times per week. I don't see anything problematic with TFA's 28-hour days.
I have slept 12+ hours less than a dozen times in my 40 years, and nearly every time was due to being sick. How did you manage to sleep so long?
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#26I maintained such a schedule for over a year when I was in the Air Force --- the schedule was 9 days on, 3 swings, followed by 3 mids, followed by 3 day shifts, then 3 days off --- extending one's sleep cycle to a longer "day" allowed one to make things fit together w/o too much disruption.
That said, avoiding having to do that again was a big motivation in getting out.
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#27This flies in the face of circadean rhythm research. I know the human body is extremely adaptable, but imagine making every single day a jet-lagged day. My younger self may have been able to tolerate it well enough, but there's no way I'd come out unscathed now.
I did 36-hour days (awake for 24, asleep for 12) for a long time and it was fine. I'm unable to do so now, due to other obligations, but I still think it worked better for me than a 24-hour day. Even today I inevitably stay up all night, getting at most 1-4 hours of sleep, 2-3 times per week. I don't see anything problematic with TFA's 28-hour days.
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Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#28This may be the most Hacker News thing I've heard since Soylent.
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#29After reading the article I didn’t pick up what any of the advantages are of 28hr days other than being able to communicate with other regions of the world on certain days. I suppose that could be a very important factor for some people who do work in a geographically dispersed area. A few things I would be concerned with are: 1) your SO is not on the same schedule and really for what isn’t a solid reason. I could se…
The greatest benefit is that you can stay up until you're absolutely dog-tired every day, and not have to worry about all the rituals of "sleep hygiene", like limiting screen time, dimming lights, no coffee, etc. On a >24 hour sleep schedule, you _will_ be tired when it's time to sleep. Guaranteed. Not only that, you can sleep longer and will always feel well-rested. Meeting people all around the world, when they're…
> On a >24 hour sleep schedule, you _will_ be tired when it's time to sleep. Guaranteed. Not only that, you can sleep longer and will always feel well-rested.
Definitely not guaranteed at all. Many people’s circadian rhythms are intensely driven by daylight cycles. Trying to sleep and wake out of sync with those cycles will be very difficult.
In the past I had to do some work overnight which resulted in some very long days. I would have to be very careful to avoid seeing the sunrise because doing so would make it very hard to sleep even if I’d been up for a long time.
> Really though, the main benefit is the first one in this comment. You can live your life to the maximum extent
If your life involves a lot of solitary, indoor activities then maybe.
For the rest of us who like to socialize and do outdoor daytime activities, having your sleep schedule cut through daylight hours would be a big step backward.
I think people greatly overestimate the benefits of alternative sleep cycles (unless you have a naturally extended circadian cycle that can’t be otherwise managed)
Re: 28h Days: year 1 update
#30I find it amusing how the OP has the need to label meals within the day and gripes about how they don’t match when talking to others on a regular 24-hour schedule. They are just meals. You’re hungry, so you eat. It’s a meal.
Only one note: OP sounds like a younger person, probably in their 20s. My body was able to take some serious abuse when it came to sleep schedule back then. I had a job that kept alternating between 2-3 day shifts, then 2-3 night shifts, then 2-3 days off. Sometimes I’d not go to sleep for 24+ hours.
I’m twice the age now, and I’m still paying for it. My sleep is not great. I have to be very responsible with sticking to my schedule, and waking up anytime after 3 a.m. results in an inability to fall asleep and a day-long headache.