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Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

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Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#31

Post by newacct500 »

andor wrote: post #23

Apart from quantity, quality of sleep is also important. I just realized how much a little light can disturb sleep. My blinds are opaque but hung 1-2 cm from the window frame, letting in just a few unwanted photons. I temporarily taped the blinds to the frame, leaving the room in almost complete darkness. I haven't felt this rested in years. Do try this at home!

I've never understood how this could be the case, evolutionarily speaking. Even in the absence of electrical light, there is rarely complete darkness. Did our remote ancestors just sleep extremely poorly whenever there was a lot of moonlight?

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#32

Post by [deleted] »

eigenspace wrote: post #28
coldtea wrote: post #3

> Sleep is not like the bank, so you can't accumulate a debt and then try and pay it off at a later point in time. And the reason is this: We know that if I were to deprive you of sleep for an entire night — take away eight hours — and then in the subsequent night I give you all of the sleep that you want, however much you wish to consume, you never get back all that you lost. You will sleep longer, but you will neve…

What is meant is that there are long term health consequences of sleep deprivation and you can’t cancel those effects by oversleeping the next couple days after an all nighter.

[deleted]

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#33

Post by FreeFull »

jmartrican wrote: post #29

I'm no expert but I thought that the whole 8 hour a night thing was not true, at least not for everyone. If I force myself to get 8 hours of sleep, by forcing myself to stay in bed after I wake up, I get a headache. If I let myself wake up on its own without an alarm, it averages around 6.5 hours. If I get below that, then at some point I will sleep more than the 6.5 hours, and maybe even 8 hours. So from personal ex…

The best thing to do is probably to sleep as much as your body tells you to, which in your case happens to be 6.5 hours (It can depend on genetics), and in my case ends up being more than 8 hours. Forcing yourself to sleep longer probably isn't a good idea.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#34

Post by newacct500 »

Puer wrote: post #30
jgh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried thc? My wife has sleeping problems and thc really helps her a lot.

No, I've never really used any recreational drug, including alcohol. I don't mean to sound judgmental, but for me personally the long-term effects of THC aren't understood well enough for me to try it yet. If you don't mind me asking, does your wife have to take it on a consistent (ie nightly) basis to sleep well? Maybe when I'm older with less to lose I'll experiment more and see if things like that work.

This seems like an odd stance to take, especially when what is known about the long-term effects of THC rate them as considerably more benign than the long-term effects of chronic sleep deprivation.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#35

Post by hugja »

Puer wrote: post #19
hugja wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious have you ever tried working out in the early hours after waking up? This alone determines if I'm getting good sleep or not. I'll end up staying up way later into the night unless I worked out that morning.

Throughout college my routine was to go to the gym every weekday at 6 AM before class. In my case, my insomnia is diagnosed as insomnia in the absence of other external factors. Lifestyle choices like proper light exposure, getting consistent exercise, melatonin, not drinking caffeine, not using electronics before bed, etc. don't affect my quality of sleep.

As a teenager who would play games often into the early morning hours (I remember I'd just be going to bed as my father went off to work) feeling like complete garbage and just mentally slower for a few days because of it. I couldn't imagine this all the time...

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#36

Post by lovich »

Puer wrote: post #30
jgh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried thc? My wife has sleeping problems and thc really helps her a lot.

No, I've never really used any recreational drug, including alcohol. I don't mean to sound judgmental, but for me personally the long-term effects of THC aren't understood well enough for me to try it yet. If you don't mind me asking, does your wife have to take it on a consistent (ie nightly) basis to sleep well? Maybe when I'm older with less to lose I'll experiment more and see if things like that work.

If you're expecting to die early, what have you left to lose?

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#37

Post by hnisgroupthink »

Puer wrote: post #30
jgh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried thc? My wife has sleeping problems and thc really helps her a lot.

No, I've never really used any recreational drug, including alcohol. I don't mean to sound judgmental, but for me personally the long-term effects of THC aren't understood well enough for me to try it yet. If you don't mind me asking, does your wife have to take it on a consistent (ie nightly) basis to sleep well? Maybe when I'm older with less to lose I'll experiment more and see if things like that work.

It's medical for you I imagine. I can't imagine the long term effects being worse than the long term effects of sleep deprivation.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#38

Post by narag »

jmartrican wrote: post #29

I'm no expert but I thought that the whole 8 hour a night thing was not true, at least not for everyone. If I force myself to get 8 hours of sleep, by forcing myself to stay in bed after I wake up, I get a headache. If I let myself wake up on its own without an alarm, it averages around 6.5 hours. If I get below that, then at some point I will sleep more than the 6.5 hours, and maybe even 8 hours. So from personal ex…

You're asking different questions and mixing different reasons. Is it a problem of what's better for your health or what's more practical for work? The article anyway talks about 6.5 hours average and defines deprivation as less than six. If 6.5 is enough for you, good.

As for you need to wake up at certain time... you still can go to sleep earlier. Yes, I know. That's difficult and you miss other things instead of work, but you should know what you're trading sleep for.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#39

Post by jcims »

newacct500 wrote: post #31
andor wrote: post #23

Apart from quantity, quality of sleep is also important. I just realized how much a little light can disturb sleep. My blinds are opaque but hung 1-2 cm from the window frame, letting in just a few unwanted photons. I temporarily taped the blinds to the frame, leaving the room in almost complete darkness. I haven't felt this rested in years. Do try this at home!

I've never understood how this could be the case, evolutionarily speaking. Even in the absence of electrical light, there is rarely complete darkness. Did our remote ancestors just sleep extremely poorly whenever there was a lot of moonlight?

Sleeping in cover, if just a rock outcropping or under some brush, is much safer than sleeping out in the open. Maybe that’s what happens, your mind maintains extra readiness at some cost.

Re: Sleep Scientist Warns Against Walking Through Life 'In an Underslept State'

#40

Post by wierd0 »

newacct500 wrote: post #31
andor wrote: post #23

Apart from quantity, quality of sleep is also important. I just realized how much a little light can disturb sleep. My blinds are opaque but hung 1-2 cm from the window frame, letting in just a few unwanted photons. I temporarily taped the blinds to the frame, leaving the room in almost complete darkness. I haven't felt this rested in years. Do try this at home!

I've never understood how this could be the case, evolutionarily speaking. Even in the absence of electrical light, there is rarely complete darkness. Did our remote ancestors just sleep extremely poorly whenever there was a lot of moonlight?

Our ancestor's sleep might not have been optimal due to the fact we had other things to care about, like shelter. But that does not imply there is nothing to gain from feeling perfectly rested.
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