

Sleep less for better productivity - alexheaton
http://leanminded.tumblr.com/post/9800643432/sleep-less-for-better-productivity

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gwern
This is a little incomplete. It is true that it matters _where_ in the sleep
cycle you wake up. You want to wake up during light sleep, or most ideally,
during the occasional waking moment (which you forget, but there are usually
0-5 such periods during sleep). Sleep latency is a lot higher when you are
woken during deep sleep or REM. (I don't have citations for this off hand, but
I'm pretty sure it's well-accepted sleep science.)

So if his sleep cycle is very regular, and his alarm time happens to be at a
frequently REM/deep portion, then less sleep could lead to a better wake up.
But he is still cutting sleep off his schedule! All the research he alludes to
about how less sleep is harmful still applies; he's still losing some mental
capacity or resilience or something _because_ he has trimmed his sleep.

This may or may not be a worthwhile exchange for having a better morning.

