

One Night Of Sleep Not Enough To Make Up Deficit - skmurphy
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/007378.html

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powrtoch
Really though, the math is pretty unsurprising isn't it? Optimum sleep time is
usually considered 7 or 8 hours, we'll say 7.

If you sleep 4 hours a night for 5 nights, you wind up 15 hours short. Why
would one expect to make up for that with 3 "extra" hours?

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zokier
In my experience sleeping "extra" 1.5 hours in two night in row is much more
helpful than sleeping 3 "extra" hours in one night.

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antichaos
Check out the Stanford Sleep Book to learn more about sleep debt:
<http://stanfordsleep.ning.com/>

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kqr2
Warning: the above link autoplays audio.

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MikeCapone
Melatonin has really helped me regularize my sleep pattern and get better
sleep quality. I recommend it. So far I've been taking 3 mg supplements, but
I've read that this might be overkill, and plan on moving to 1 mg.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin>

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blackguardx
Melatonin works alright as long as you wind yourself down a half hour or so
before you take it. I found that if I took it while still up late on the
computer, I would get tired, but not enough to fall asleep.

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bazookaaa
Interesting... I just started a biphasic sleep schedule (4.5 hours of sleep
from 1:00 to 5:30, and then 1.5 hours of sleep from 19:00 to 20:30) but now
I'm wondering if the cost will outweigh the benefits.

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1053r
I've done a 6 and 2 biphasic schedule (or sometimes 7 and 3), and I felt
better than I ever had before. It's difficult to fit the nap in with work
though.

I think in many ways the "Italian" sleep schedule (up at 7, awake till 2,
sleep till 5, awake till 2) is very natural. It's no less sleep, but it feels
more refreshing somehow.

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blintson
Depending on where you live, the hottest hours of the day are usually between
12 - 5. Maybe it's instinctual for predators to not want to do stuff during
those hours?

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BrandonM
Interestingly, this submission was perfectly timed for me. I slept 4 hours
each on Sunday and Monday night, then I stayed up all night Tuesday night.
Wednesday I slept 13 hours, and then last night I got tired around 10 pm and
slept 10 more hours. Before seeing this submission, I thought it was a little
weird to sleep so much two nights in a row.

Now I'm feeling truly refreshed, and I'm ready for another late-night weekend
:)

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bfung
<http://www.xkcd.com/776/>

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sliverstorm
I've known this forever.

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tkahn6
You win

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sliverstorm
It just seemed self-evident, and not worth an article.

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lobo-tuerto
It isn't self evident. That's why research and studies are performed.

We can assume or think a lot of things are self evident, but if there isn't
any hard facts lying around, we can never be sure.

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sliverstorm
Ok, self-evident is the wrong word. Properly expressed, what they describe and
conclude is exactly what I have experienced all my life. If I stay up all
night, or close to all night, the following night I will sleep for 10+ hours.
The following night after, another 10+ and the 3rd night 8-9. Not by choice, I
just can't be woken by my alarms.

This pattern repeats almost without fail.

