
How to Sleep - ALee
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/how-to-sleep/508781/
======
teolandon
My biggest struggle with sleep is that I'm always excited to do stuff, and
always feel like I'm not done with my day. Exceptions are when something
happens and I end up feeling very depressed during the day, and simply want to
shut down and do nothing.

Usually, I get so infatuated with a script I'm writing, a new program I
discovered, a bug that I need to resolve, a book that I'm reading, some
concept that I'm thinking of, that my mind just keeps on being active, and
wants to keep working. It's the worst when I'm working on my computer, due to
the blue light (I've started wearing yellow sunglasses to minimize the
effect), while it's a bit better when I'm reading or listening to music or
thinking.

In any case, this is a great article. I feel like small amounts of sleep has
been the greatest inhibitor of my performance in... anything really. Being
dumb and young I felt like I could still function correctly, but I really
started noticing that I had better tournament results when actually sleeping 8
hours, while my results on all other days were lackluster. I read up on a lot
of things and convinced myself that sleeping enough is essential. I still slip
up and don't even go on my bed at the right times, my sleep schedule goes all
over the place for a lot of different reasons, but I'm really trying. I feel
like I might need to seek some professional help on this, but I'll still take
it as far as possible before that.

~~~
laughfactory
This is me, too. My wife complains that it's like I'm trying to have two or
three lives instead of just the one. But I know I need the sleep I'm not
getting, but I have a really hard time, once the kids are finally asleep, just
going to bed myself. When everyone but me is asleep it's so peaceful and
quiet, and I can read, slay work dragons, learn stuff, or just veg.
Unfortunately this usually results in maybe six low quality hours of sleep.
And I pay for it in distractibility, moodiness, not as smart as I am when well
rested, etc. But overcoming the size of deficit I've got isn't pleasant
either. I actually feel worse much of the time. More tired, speak less
clearly, slow thought... It sucks. I probably just need to stick with it until
my brain and body adjust and recover, but just haven't gotten to that point
yet. My growing concern is that not enough sleep and poor quality of sleep can
literally, indirectly, kill you (via things related or compounded by lack of
sleep). Yikes! I'd like to grow old with my wife, and see our kids grow up.
So... Gotta beat this problem somehow!

~~~
therein
> When everyone but me is asleep it's so peaceful and quiet, and I can read,
> slay work dragons, learn stuff, or just veg. Unfortunately this usually
> results in maybe six low quality hours of sleep. And I pay for it in
> distractibility, moodiness, not as smart as I am when well rested, etc. ...I
> actually feel worse much of the time. More tired, speak less clearly, slow
> thought... It sucks.

Are you me?

~~~
tertius
I feel this way about getting up really early. It's a great feeling. And by
around 9 I've made a LOT of progress. That feels even better...

~~~
voidz
I'd love to get a 9-5 sleep pattern. Sleep at 9pm, wake at 5am.

~~~
tertius
Two questions.

Why?

And why don't you?

------
xupybd
>So either that is the amount of sleep that keeps people well, or that’s the
amount that makes them least likely to lie about being sick when they want to
skip work. Or maybe people who were already sick with some chronic condition
were sleeping more than that—or less—as a result of their illness. Statistics
are tough to interpret.

Love that, no lazy journalism, no ridiculous claims. Just the facts and some
possible implications.

~~~
Shank
From The Atlantic, I expected a little more science and a little more
suggestion from this article. This read more as a summary of all of the little
sleep tips I've seen and heard anecdotally over the last few years rolled into
one summary.

Not exactly on the same level as "When Your Child Is a Psychopath" or "My
Family's Slave" (two very recent and exceptionally great articles from The
Atlantic).

~~~
soperj
I really wonder about the "When Your Child is a Psychopath" one, it was a good
story and all, but I wonder how many people read that article and like me left
feeling like "I can relate". As a kid in pre-school, I pissed in another kids
face. In elementary I ripped a kid's eyelid off, and pulled another kid's leg
through a bike lock station and then broke it amongst many other things. I
never hurt a teacher, but I was under a hundred pounds in gr.6. If I had
matured earlier I can't say that I wouldn't have, since they definitely
manhandled me after every fight I got into. I remember another parent saying
that when I grew up I was either going to be in jail for mass murder, or the
prime minister, as if there were no other option.

I wonder how many other people did similar things as a kid and turned out
completely ordinary.

~~~
imesh
What makes you ordinary?

~~~
soperj
I'm not an offender of any kind, let alone a violent offender.

~~~
Shank
I mean, there is a big difference between peeing on someone and trying to
choke out one of your relatives. My family is full of mental health disorders
and I've experienced the damage they cause first hand. For me, it was much
more of a "so this is the complete extreme" experience -- it was a good
example of "almost entirely far gone."

~~~
soperj
I have no mental health disorders though. I just had some completely off the
handle reactions to people bullying me, or picking on me in any way. I was one
of the smallest people in my class, and it never turned out well for the other
person. I would blackout with rage. I've never remembered what happened in a
fight, but can still remember every detail leading up to it.

~~~
Loomie
Obviously I'm not in your head and I could be wrong, but I think what sets you
apart from the kids described in the article is that you acted on emotions.
The kids described had none. They knew what they were doing, they did not
black out in rage. The harm they did was calculated.

It seems to me that you had bursts of violence because you felt hurt yourself
and needed to make things 'right', not just because you found joy in harming
others.

~~~
soperj
I guess, but I think when people read the article, the part that's scary is
the violence. The lack of empathy is disturbing (i don't lack empathy). I
guess I wonder how many people actually have one without the other, either the
extreme violence or the lack of empathy without it, and whether it's the
combination of the two?

I also have a really low resting heart rate, around 40 beats per minute.

~~~
icc97
I too would get very angry from being bullied. This is actually something that
would entertain others at school - seeing how angry I got.

What you didn't mention in your original post was that you'd done most of
those things out of retaliation - not premeditated. That's a major difference
from being a psychopath.

However, I think my situation is much less severe - I've never caused anyone
any more than bruises (nor had blackouts), I would certainly say that the
anger I have is a mental health issue. Not at a criminal level, but certainly
at a level that can cause problems with work/life relationships.

I've went to see a therapist for about a year and it's really unbelievably
helpful.

I wish going to see a psychotherapist was as easy for people to do as going to
see a physiotherapist.

~~~
soperj
I wasn't trying to say I was a psychopath, just simply that I could relate to
the stories being told.

I've never seen a therapist, and don't know what anger does to you, but for me
it's not a mental health issue.

Part of it I'm sure is that I don't bottle anything up any more, and the other
is that I'm not a kid and being picked on is just laughable. I think knowing
that it's okay to be angry, that it is a normal thing that is perfectly okay,
was probably the biggest revelation.

------
wakkaflokka
I could write an essay about my battle with sleep. I'm in my 30's and I
finally think it's solved.

Sleeping meds, sleep studies, CBT-I, you name it - I've done it.

My ultimate solution ended up being:

\- Earplugs

\- Exercise

\- Waking up the same time every single day, no matter how late I stay up.
CBT-I had me wake up at 6:30 am every morning, and go to bed at 1 am. After a
week of exhaustion, I started falling asleep like a rock. Then my therapist
gradually had me go to sleep earlier and earlier until my time-to-sleep was
still short and I had few awakenings during the night, but felt refreshed the
next day. Turned out to be just around 6.5 hours a night

\- No coffee after 3 pm

There are still nights where I have an active mind and have trouble sleeping,
but I'll just let it happen without constantly worrying "oh no, I'm not gonna
get ___ hours of sleep tonight". Because the minute you try to force yourself
to sleep, it's over.

~~~
voidz
Earplugs are my #1 life changer when it comes to sleep. I found these really
soft ones that don't really get in the way when you're lying on one ear, they
filter pretty much all of the sound and when I take them out the next day, my
ears don't hurt. As it turns out my wife's breathing kept me kind of awake,
and traffic sounds too. And now that I got used to it, thanks to the
associativity of the brain, these days I fall asleep within 10 minutes of
putting them in. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes I do need sleep meds to
just tip me over into actual sleep. But if there's one thing I can recommend
to other people is to spend some time to really find your own suitable ear
plugs. I'm just lucky my wife is ok with it, she doesn't have these sleeping
problems and is on stanby for if our boy might wake up in the night... Which
almost never happens.

~~~
iman453
Could you tell me which earplugs you use and how you went about finding the
right ones?

~~~
bigbugbag
Easy enough, the right ones are the custom molds earplugs, plugs made from and
for your ear canal.

They're not cheap but they fit snugly and tight, plus they last a long time. I
got mine from a recommendation from a sound tech frien. There are different
kinds with filters, for example to remove the bang from a gunshot or filter
out snoring but not the alarm clock or the full plug to cancel all sounds.

While taking the print for the molds I experienced total silence for the first
time and enjoyed the slight tinnitus I never noticed I had.

------
ericdykstra
No small art is it to sleep: it is necessary for that purpose to keep awake
all day.

Ten times a day must thou overcome thyself: that causeth wholesome weariness,
and is poppy to the soul.

Ten times must thou reconcile again with thyself; for overcoming is
bitterness, and badly sleep the unreconciled.

Ten truths must thou find during the day; otherwise wilt thou seek truth
during the night, and thy soul will have been hungry.

Ten times must thou laugh during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise thy
stomach, the father of affliction, will disturb thee in the night.

When night cometh, then take I good care not to summon sleep. It disliketh to
be summoned—sleep, the lord of the virtues!

But I think of what I have done and thought during the day. Thus ruminating,
patient as a cow, I ask myself: What were thy ten overcomings?

And what were the ten reconciliations, and the ten truths, and the ten
laughters with which my heart enjoyed itself? Thus pondering, and cradled by
forty thoughts, it overtaketh me all at once—sleep, the unsummoned, the lord
of the virtues.

[http://4umi.com/nietzsche/zarathustra/2](http://4umi.com/nietzsche/zarathustra/2)

------
RandomInteger4
I'm not sure what the long term effects of chronic melatonin supplementation
are, but I'll find out eventually. I've been taking between 3-6mg of melatonin
every night for the past few years (2011?) It's almost required. Without it my
sleep cycle seems fine at first, but then gets out of whack as I can't seem to
keep a circadian rhythm in line with the rest of society / the earth's
rotation.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I can't function mentally without
caffeine. I tried going off caffeine a few times, and while the withdrawal
effects were horrible, they eventually passed and everything felt great except
my ability to concentrate on anything. Sadly I can't afford to see a doctor
for my ADHD meds. While caffeine helps, it still leaves much to be desired.

Exercise helps immensely, both in terms of sleep and ability to concentrate,
but at some point I injured my upper back (rhomboids and rotator cuff
muscles), so I can't get the same level of exercise I had before.

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
I take melatonin for sleep only as necessary. I work a physically demanding
job that requires approximately 50% computer time, so I find the mixed
physical & mental effort of work tiring.

What I found help immensely with regaining my focus and mental clarity after
coming off caffeine, and before that methamphetamine 4 days out of 7 for
nearly a year, is taking a multi B vitamin plus 1000mcg methylcobalamin (also
known as 'Activated B12') sublingually, and 200mg B6 once or twice a day,
along with eating fewer sweet things and more protein and raw fats (butter and
coconut oil). Plus chiropractic / osteopathic adjustments to deal with my
crooked postural habits.

I also find Liquorice root as strong decoction immensely restorative.

That's what has worked for me. N=1 and all that.

Full disclosure: I hold a Diploma in Western Herbal Medicine and an Advanced
Diploma in Clinical Nutrition. For what it's worth.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Vitamins are a complete scam. They aren't even FDA regulated. After I read
about their ineffectiveness and possible harm, I threw all of my bottles into
the garbage can.

[https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-
vitam...](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-vitamin-myth-
why-we-think-we-need-supplements/277947/)

The placebo effect is powerful.

I highly recommend reading Topol's "The Creative Destruction of Medicine" for
more information.

~~~
zzalpha
The one vitamin worth taking for anyone living in a northern climate is D,
particularly if, like me, you don't consume a lot of dairy. Beyond that, I
agree, vitamins are entirely unnecessary.

~~~
casicone
Also those who suffer from Celiac Disease, like myself, are often low on Iron
and are recommended to take iron supplements to prevent anemia.

~~~
zzalpha
Yeah I think it's fair to say that prescribed vitamins for those with a
medical condition are probably worth taking. ;)

------
manibatra
Personally the change that has helped me the most has been mental. I used to
feel "guilty" of going to bed early, not working to exhaustion. Now I view
sleep as something to enjoy. Just letting go of that guilt has me sleep a lot
better. From being a light sleeper I have gone to be able to sleep through my
housemates blaring loud music.

------
0xcde4c3db
I guess it's once again time for my standard PSA response to this genre:
various chronic medical conditions can interfere with sleep. If you
consistently have trouble sleeping or sleeping well over an extended period of
time, it very well could be something more than "poor sleep habits".

~~~
funkyy
And it very well couldn't. Slapping medical name to everything is not a
solution either. Sometimes sleep disorder is as little as the wrong diet.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
Sometimes people are speaking from direct experience with well-validated
medical conditions fucking up their lives for multiple decades until someone
_eventually_ bothered to actually order the relevant diagnostic test.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Like sleep apnea: A lot of doctors mistakenly think that only overweight
people can have sleep apnea.

I am 6' 150 lbs and was tired my whole life until I INSISTED I get a sleep
study. Turns out I had severe sleep apnea.

~~~
swah
And the solution is to sleep with a CPAP? Could I just rent one and check if I
wake up more rested? Does snoring correlate with sleep apnea?

~~~
Hydraulix989
Snoring definitely correlates with apnea (your airway is already narrowing
enough to "snore"). You could rent one but you wouldn't know the optimal
pressure settings without a titration sleep study. You could try renting an
auto adjusting machine and set the window wide open so that min pressure is
the lowest possible value and Max pressure is the highest. Then if you look at
the data and see that the machine had to increase the pressure while you slept
with it on, you know you had a disordered breathing event(s). The machine
reports back AHI but it really means that you stopped breathing and the
machine couldn't treat you effectively because the pressure wasn't set
correctly, but it doesn't report apneas that you would have had without
wearing the machine to begin with because at pressure, it has no way of
knowing/measuring them, if that makes sense.

------
lphnull
I'm 30 years old now.

I was able to live on 4-6 hrs of sleep a night all the way up to age 25-28.
That's when sleep started becoming a problem.

At age 30, I absolutely need 8 hours of sleep _minimum_ average of sleep, but
that average has to be accumulated over the course of a week! That means that
a single night of sleeping less and doing strenuous tasks on a linux terminal
now takes a toll on me in ways that I have never felt before in my youth.

Full disclaimer: I am a blue collar worker at a non-computer job who
physically excerts myself and am very fit as a result of my job. This is part
of why sleep is mandatory for me.

The older you get, the more sleep you need and the less alcohol your body can
handle. This is a universal truth that people <age 25 have a hard time
accepting because everybody has to be a superman of course.

~~~
dpark
> _The older you get, the more sleep you need_

This isn't true. Need for sleep declines with age. Youth masks the effects of
poor sleep in the same way it masks poor eating and lack of exercise. But
young people need _more_ sleep, not less.

------
caio1982
It actually does not tell how to sleep, it only discusses common sense
strategies like taking melatonine and avoiding (or not) caffeine. Kind of a
let down.

------
jedisct1
I don't have a computer at home any more.

Granted, the office is at walking distance, and I can go there 24/7, but not
having a computer at home recently made a huge difference.

Once I go back home, I don't have the temptation of hacking something really
quick, which will eventually last longer that expected, and I'll then keep
thinking about it all night long.

Verdict? Better sleep. And I can get up earlier. Overall I feel better and
more productive, if only because there is a better separation between work
(including on OSS projects) and personal life.

------
KennyCason
> The original studies seemed to say yes. But when the military put soldiers
> in a lab to make certain they stayed awake, performance suffered.

One minor piece of anecdotal evidence here. I have done a few 5-6 day sleep
deprivation experiments in my life. I've stayed up for 3 days more times than
I can count. I also used to regularly sleep every other day for long chunks of
time. It's something that I could do much better when I was younger, and I try
to avoid this now as I regularly get sick when I don't sleep for extended
periods of time nowadays.

Firstly, performance (particularly my short term memory) always suffered.
Sometimes if not active, or sitting for long periods of time I'd also get pain
in my joints. Typically, when I fall asleep or start feeling tired it's
because I enter a small boring, quiet homely environment (i.e. go home, or sit
in a quiet room, or watch tv). My secret to staying awake was constant
activity like walking around, talking to people, hydrating (water), small
snacks, and walking some more, etc.

I feel that the effects of sleep deprivation hit the hardest when I'm not
being stimulated physically. As such, I think dragging someone into a lab
would have a harsh effect on one's performance. While I think no matter what
you will suffer from performance degradation, I would love to see some
contrast between performance given different environments/habits.

------
ashark
1) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down.

2) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down.

3) _no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down._

4) very low candle-temperature lighting only after dark. Especially try to
keep it out of your direct line of sight.

It'll work, but 1-3 are _hard_.

~~~
Antrikshy
I mean, what am I supposed to do in my leisure time if I _can 't_ look at
glowing screens? Just sit around and pretend I'm in the 90s?

~~~
voidz
We watched TV in the 90s. Lots and lots. Try the 40s.

~~~
bigbugbag
Maybe not the 40s, I know who's been there and says it was not the best times
to be around.

------
rrggrr
1\. Room temperature should be between 60 - 67 degrees F.

2\. No electronics, games, and minimal to no blue light 30min to 1hour before
sleep.

3\. Do not exercise less than 3 hours before sleep. Exception: sex.

4\. Coffee and other stimulants before 12pm, not after.

5\. Avoid naps longer than 15 minutes day of.

6\. Stretch before going to sleep, particularly if you experience minor
restless legs or periodic leg movements.

7\. Avoid alcohol, will reduce sleep quality.

8\. Avoid stimulating TV, conversations or books before sleep.

9\. Controversial: Sleep in late if you can. Adequate sleep is more important
than consistent sleep rhythm. My opinion only.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
60-67F? That's cold. I live in Fl so if I were to let myself get used to that
temp I would literally melt when I went outside.

76F is more reasonable here.

~~~
ams6110
Easy in the winter, crack a window if necessary.

In the summer the A/C bill would be outrageous.

------
aarohmankad
What are your recommendations for dealing with noisy roommates/hallmates?

There have been nights where I had to put on my ANC headphones to get some
peace and quiet. (I've heard a good pair of earplugs may work?)

~~~
moultano
Get a white noise machine.

~~~
RandomInteger4
Something along these lines I recommend is a loud HEPA filter fan, so you get
fresh air + white noise.

~~~
Bakary
Currently living in China and this is a godsend

------
ysavir
The article mentions William Dement, one of the pioneer researchers on sleep.
His book The Promise of Sleep is a great and easy read, and I absolutely
recommend it for anyone looking to learn more about the subject and the
history behind the study of sleep.

------
herbcso
Is nobody else concerned with the implications of what losing sleep does to
the doctor going through residency? I've always thought that was insane. The
author even admits to having observed the detrimental effects first-hand, yet
never suggests that this practice should be abandoned - why is that!?

I as a patient have enough of a problem giving myself into the care of a
doctor-in-training, why does s/he have to sleep-deprived on top of not being
fully trained? Is this some sort of macho thing, or a "well, I went through
this hazing, so you gotta do it, too" kind of thing?

Somebody please enlighten me as to what the point of this seemingly counter-
productive practice is!

------
bobjordan
My experience with Melatonin is that about 1.5 mg per night is a game changer.
I travel across the Pacific Ocean several times per year and it got to where I
was a stick of dynamite temper wise for a week after each trip, just not able
to cope with any irritations, due to Jetlag. On top of that, just the general
stress of being an entrepreneur resulted in bad sleep. For some reason, I
bought the melatonin, and I'm very glad I did it. Now, I sleep like I did when
I was in elementary school. Lots of dreams and even wake up with solutions to
problems that I went to bed thinking about.

------
chippy
My "One Simple Trick" to help limit active thinking when in bed, and thus make
it easier to sleep is to write the thoughts down, pen on paper.

By thinking I mean things like being excited about an event, going over a
conversation, thinking about some code, an idea, things to do tomorrow,
errands etc. All things that can be literally dumped onto paper and stored. In
my experience I have found that pen and paper work better than typing into a
device.

Now, I still seem to wake up multiple times during the night, but it's not
because my brain is excited anymore.

------
OJFord
> _In 2013, a 24-year-old advertising copywriter in Indonesia died after
> prolonged sleep deprivation, collapsing a few hours after tweeting “30 hours
> of working and still going strooong.” She went into a coma and died the next
> morning._

Things like this always slightly scare me.

I have been awake consecutively for far longer, and on several occasions. But
does that mean I just _can_ \- or would I really be risking death each time?

~~~
Asooka
The article suggests his death was due to a combination of too much energy
drinks and a preexisting mild heart condition. If you get regular checkups you
should be probably mostly fine for a while until you get weakened by old age
and can't do it any more.

That is not to say that it's at all recommended. I personally absolutely
cannot stay awake for more than 20 hours.

------
esseti
"Or, sometimes preferable, read something on paper.". Now, to read on paper we
need light, so the problem is not solved (altought the ligth is not directly
from the device into the eyes). But the real question is, if I use the kindle
with its light that lights up the screen, will it be the same as using a
phone? or what?

~~~
pizza
The color temperature of a phone backlight and ordinary household lighting are
fairly different

~~~
anothercomment
Ordinary household lighting is more and more being replaced by LEDs, though.

------
smartbit
William Dement gave a Google Tech talk on September 23, 2008. Dement recalls
that Randy Gardner who stayed awake for 11 days in 1964, when asked some
40years later " _would you do this again?_ " he replied " _No way would I do
this again_ " [0]

Very interesting from Dement's talk is that equilibrium daily average sleep
for completely health young adults is _8:15 ± 50min_ [1]. Most people I meet
contest these results and state that they can work optimal with less than
7h25m daily sleep.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAw1z8GdE8&t=1310](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAw1z8GdE8&t=1310)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAw1z8GdE8&t=28m29s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAw1z8GdE8&t=28m29s)

------
mythrwy
I've had great luck with these videos.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7OGw1QS9JI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7OGw1QS9JI)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTAwdgf1nZE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTAwdgf1nZE)

I went through a phase a few years ago where I'd fall asleep only to wake up a
short time later with mind racing, then be up half the night and tired the
next day. This went on for some months and was very annoying.

These videos cured that phase right away. I don't listen to them much anymore
but they really worked. It wasn't just staying asleep that was cured, the
quality of the sleep seemed much better. Still listen on occasion if having
trouble getting in "sleep mode".

~~~
teolandon
Is it weird that these videos never work for me? I haven't tried these
particular ones, but I've had tons of troubles sleeping through the years, and
hypnosis audios never works. It actually gets me frustrated and keeps me up
longer.

~~~
tomcam
No it's not. Me too

------
mansilladev
How not to sleep:

/this

I read this article 8 hours ago. Now I'm in bed, staring at this screen,
typing this comment at 5 AM.

~~~
anothercomment
Actually, you are only dreaming this :-)

~~~
teddyh
[http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/on-office-mandatory-
nap-...](http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/on-office-mandatory-nap-time)

------
ziglef
I consider myself one of those short-sleepers. Ever since I was a kid I
averaged 5-6h of sleep a day.

While the differences perceived (which can always be misleading) from sleeping
6 or 8 hours weren't noticeable, if I slept 4-5 for a week my short term
memory would suffer, reflexes and split second decision making (think fast
passed multiplayer shooters) would also suffer.

But what I noticed was that although the split second decision process would
come back after a good night sleep, short memory would take me a whole 3-4
days to come back at its finest.

Obviously this is all what I observed and not to be taken seriously, because
as we know observing and understanding oneself is one of the hardest tasks out
there.

Just my 2c

~~~
chippy
Interesting 2c about observations - because according the article, people who
have less sleep may perform worse objectively, but to themselves they report
no noticeable difference.

~~~
chatmasta
Short term memory variation is very obvious to me when coding. And as the GP
mentioned, reflex variation can be obvious when playing FPS games.

~~~
chippy
I wonder what tasks the subjects were given in the studies.

slightly related - I seem to remember a study on the performance of hungover
people. Hungover people self-reported that they performed worse, but
objectively there was no negative change! (edits...or thinking about it some
more, maybe the thing was that they had Common Colds)

------
bhavyapruthi
"Dolphins are said to sleep with only half their brain at a time, keeping
partially alert for predators. Many of us spend much of our lives in a similar
state." This is definitely deep.

------
charliemol
>In one study published in the journal Sleep, researchers kept people just
slightly sleep deprived—allowing them only six hours to sleep each night—and
watched the subjects’ performance on cognitive tests plummet. The crucial
finding was that throughout their time in the study, the sixers thought they
were functioning perfectly well.

>Effective sleep habits, like many things, seem to come back to self-
awareness.

One of the things I've noticed is that it's really hard to police your own
sleep schedule, especially if you aren't aware of the consequences of losing a
few hours of sleep. I'm working on a bot that helps you get to bed earlier,
and our power users often come to us with a really clear understanding of what
happens when they don't get enough sleep (e.g. "I perform way worse on my Army
fitness test", "I'm not focused enough to do my side project after work") and
still need to set up systems to keep themselves accountable on a daily basis.

That said, I think there's a much larger "zombie population" of the "sixers"
described above that isn't getting enough sleep and simply isn't particularly
aware of it. From a population health standpoint, the question then becomes:
How do we get people to appreciate the effect of getting a full 7-9 hours of
sleep when they don't explicitly feel the effects on a daily basis? Not only
that, but how do we get them to unwind and prioritize getting good night's
sleep at the time of day when willpower is low and Netflix temptations are
high.

The CEO of Netflix somewhat flippantly declared sleep their biggest
competition, and I think they're crushing the competition right now.

[http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/new...](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-
tech/news/netflix-downloads-sleep-biggest-competition-video-streaming-ceo-
reed-hastings-amazon-prime-sky-go-a7690561.html)

On the bright side there are people who have used our product and seen it make
a pretty big difference. The trick was getting them to start with a very
unambitious bedtime goal relative to their average bedtime, and gradually make
the bedtime earlier week over week until they've dismantled their bad sleep
habits.

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michaele
Try 15-20 minutes of meditation right before you go to bed. I find it slows my
mind, decreases stress and prepares my body to sleep deeply and well.

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drukenemo
A recent TED I watched linked sleep deprivation with the speed one can develop
Alzheimer

[https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_pre...](https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_prevent_alzheimer_s)

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Izmaki
Reading this on Monday morning already late for work and wondering when I can
have a nap...

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m-j-fox
Whatever you do, don't click the video at the bottom of the article unless you
have a few hours to kill. Dr. James is an impossibly engaging and fun-to-watch
youtuber and there goes my memorial day.

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diyseguy
For those struggling with caffeine addiction and poor sleep I strongly
recommend rutaecarpine. Take one a few hours before bedtime and it deactivates
the caffeine so you can sleep.

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notyourloops
I had trouble with insomnia until I took up the practice of meditation. It was
not my intention to solve my insomnia via meditation, but that's what happened
incidentally.

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tempodox
Finally. Mankind exists for almost a million years, but only now are we taught
how to sleep. Seriously, how did our ancestors survive?

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bojanvidanovic
One of my cousins is in that 1% of people. He sleeps 4-5 hours a night and
stays hyperactive all day. I'm so jealous of him!

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chillytoes
This was a pretty weak article. Usually The Atlantic packs a powerful punch.
This seemed like clickbait.

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TheAdamist
New to sleeping with people, I find the actual sleeping part the tricky bit.
Not my expectation at all.

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bewe42
I can recommend "The effortless sleep method" by S. Stephens.

~~~
brw12
Can you say more about it?

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GoToRO
If you have problem sleeping do this: there will be some times when you will
sleep better. What you have to do is go back 3-7 days and see what you did in
those days and do more of that regularly.

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kutkloon7
Great article. I especially like the interpretation of the statistics by the
author, which is, well, hardly any interpretation at all:

"One 2014 study of more than 3,000 people in Finland found that the amount of
sleep that correlated with the fewest sick days was 7.63 hours a night for
women and 7.76 hours for men. So either that is the amount of sleep that keeps
people well, or that’s the amount that makes them least likely to lie about
being sick when they want to skip work. Or maybe people who were already sick
with some chronic condition were sleeping more than that—or less—as a result
of their illness. Statistics are tough to interpret."

Contrasted with articles that take one example (a 94-year old making a
breakthrough in some field) and directly generalize it ("to be a genius, think
like a 94-year-old"), this is a much healthier and saner approach to
interpreting statistics.

(I didn't make this example up; it was on hacker news)

~~~
tie_
Same here. Really impressed how the author restrained themselves from jumping
into the most intuitive conclusion, and instead quoted a few other plausible
alternatives. We need more of that!

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branchless
This is an interesting article if only for the nugget that only 1% think they
function well on 4-5 hours (though they may be mistaken).

The title isn't great - it cautions against common fallacies about aids to
sleeping.

