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Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

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Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#41

Post by neom »

swyx wrote: post #29
neom wrote: post #2

Interesting, I have a DEC2 mutation and don't need much sleep, but I do sleep very consistently. When I was first working through this discovery, I asked the dr how it was that people who have this have no adverse effects when folks always say not sleeping long enough is bad for your health and he said "well, we don't really know that's true" and kinda shrugged it off.

when you say dont need much sleep, are we talking 6 hours or something more out thre like 4 hours or less?

I go to sleep between 1am and 1:30am naturally and wake up around 6/:30am naturally. Allergy season makes me kinda lethargic, but doesn't change how much sleep I need. 4/5hrs is ok, less than 4 is not ok. I also oddly don't get jet lag.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#42

Post by magicalhippo »

makeitdouble wrote: post #34
magicalhippo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall watching a documentary on Discovery way back, where they followed some multiday ultramaraton competitors. They'd draw blood samples, measure vitals and have them answer mental acuity questionnaires each time they stopped for food or sleep. The competitors limited themselves to power naps, max 30 minutes though often just ten minutes. The scientist found that all the physical adverse effects of sleep deprivat…

> power nap I assume they weren't drinking coffee at every stop, do you remember what they did before napping ? (the "power" part)

Power nap meaning getting up after 10-15 minutes, 30 minutes max.

The idea being that after 30 minutes other processes in the body kick in, so you feel much worse if you woke up after an hour.

That said, they usually did get some food, a bar or some hot stew IIRC. Though can't recall if they did that before or after the nap.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#44

Post by rtsil »

hypeatei wrote: post #7

Does anyone else consistently get 6 to 7 hours of sleep no matter what? It doesn't feel optimal and I feel great on the rare days I get 8 hours, but I can function just fine on less. Also cannot easily fall back asleep if woken up which is really frustrating.

I'm a zombie if I have less than 8 hours, that's the absolute minimum. I drank a lot of coffee for years even though that had diminishing returns, until I realized it just concealed my exhaustion instead of helping, so I stopped.

Of course, spending 12-14 hours a day facing brights screens do not help.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#45

Post by magicalhippo »

fsckboy wrote: post #36
magicalhippo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall watching a documentary on Discovery way back, where they followed some multiday ultramaraton competitors. They'd draw blood samples, measure vitals and have them answer mental acuity questionnaires each time they stopped for food or sleep. The competitors limited themselves to power naps, max 30 minutes though often just ten minutes. The scientist found that all the physical adverse effects of sleep deprivat…

> The scientist found that all the physical adverse effects of sleep deprivation were negated by the short power naps. we don't even know if the "brain cleaning so, longterm, you don't get dementia" hypothesis is true, and here you/they are saying "we know it's false for these people". nah, fam.

By physical I meant primarily the body. As I mentioned the cofnitive fuctions did start to suffer somewhat. Though they had quite short naps.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#46

Post by AmVess »

hypeatei wrote: post #7

Does anyone else consistently get 6 to 7 hours of sleep no matter what? It doesn't feel optimal and I feel great on the rare days I get 8 hours, but I can function just fine on less. Also cannot easily fall back asleep if woken up which is really frustrating.

I usually get 6 hours dead on. Rarely 7 or more. I'm asleep less than a minute after going to bed, and have such a regular sleep duration that I never have to set an alarm. In fact, I haven't used an alarm clock at all in 20+ years. Well perhaps, less than a dozen times.

I am fully awake and ready to go a few minutes after waking up, too. No coffee needed.

I do occasionally take an hour nap here and there, but that is also rare.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#47

Post by wrs »

noduerme wrote: post #28
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone whose natural sleep cycle seems to be closer to 26-28 hours, and whose preferred sleeping hours in a 24-hour cycle are 6am to 2-3pm... I commend you. Sincerely, someone forced into a "normal" schedule by kids school start times and, well, everything else too, I suppose.

Hah. I've often thought that my actual rhythm is for a 25-26 hour day. I was going to write that but it seemed like too much to explain. As I go to bed later and later, eventually I find myself awake past sunrise, which is usually the day when I'll intentionally have a short sleep and snap back to an early bedtime that night. Kids would definitely screw up this aspect of my lifestyle lol. But kids give you immortalit…

Many years ago, at college, I stayed in town for a summer rather than going back home or elsewhere. I had a coding job with no fixed hours (and working in a windowless basement), and no friends in town. So I tried the “sleep when I want” experiment. IIRC I settled into about a 26-hour cycle.

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#48

Post by dmurray »

noduerme wrote: post #28
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone whose natural sleep cycle seems to be closer to 26-28 hours, and whose preferred sleeping hours in a 24-hour cycle are 6am to 2-3pm... I commend you. Sincerely, someone forced into a "normal" schedule by kids school start times and, well, everything else too, I suppose.

Hah. I've often thought that my actual rhythm is for a 25-26 hour day. I was going to write that but it seemed like too much to explain. As I go to bed later and later, eventually I find myself awake past sunrise, which is usually the day when I'll intentionally have a short sleep and snap back to an early bedtime that night. Kids would definitely screw up this aspect of my lifestyle lol. But kids give you immortalit…

Experiments where people aren't told what time it is end up with them gravitating towards a 25-26 hour day. So you're totally normal.

Wikipedia [0] criticises these experiments and says they didn't account for electric light, which apparently lengthens the cycle. So to rephrase, people with any access whatsoever to electric light favour a 25-26 hour day. You're still totally normal, but it explains you may have better outcomes with annoying interventions like "no artificial light in the last few hours of the evening".

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

Re: Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)

#50

Post by swyx »

neom wrote: post #41
swyx wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when you say dont need much sleep, are we talking 6 hours or something more out thre like 4 hours or less?

I go to sleep between 1am and 1:30am naturally and wake up around 6/:30am naturally. Allergy season makes me kinda lethargic, but doesn't change how much sleep I need. 4/5hrs is ok, less than 4 is not ok. I also oddly don't get jet lag.

its a blessing. i think i survive well on 4-5hrs (incl wake up naturally) but def feel suboptimal compared to 7-8hrs.
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