Sleep myths 'damaging your health' | Hacker News Reader

Sleep myths 'damaging your health'

bbc.com

61 pointsLanceTaylor56 comments

Staying in bed is a big issue with me. If I get less than 5 hours I take a major productivity hit. I've identified most drivers of my insomnia, but not all.

Low caffeine, go to be without a full stomach, get up at a consistent time, keep the room cool. Beyond that, if you have suggestions I'm all ears.

White noise machine to block out any background sounds which could wake you.

Get rid of screen time for 3 hours before bed.

Also, I highly recommend the book "Why we sleep"

Edit: you can also experiment woth wearing socks (by changing limb temperature you influence blood flow and heat dissappation

Socks is one of the surprisingly good suggestions

Socks on or off?

THREE hours? What the heck do you do for that nearly 20% of your waking life?

I guess you buy a lot of books, or visit the library a lot. I personally like reading but not so much that I want to do it for three hours every flipping night.

The concern is not the act of reading, but rather the additional exposure to light suppressing melatonin production.

Melatonin plays an important role in the sleep/wake cycle.

Avoiding unnecessary light for a period of 3 hours prior to sleep gives the body a chance to run it's shutdown scripts by producing enough melatonin, etc.

https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/melatonin-insulin-re...

Would putting all monitors in warm/night mode be sufficient?

Not op but I really enjoy my famous midnight walks. Walking also let's your body dump excess energy and so maybe you could get away with 1-1.5 hours only. Works well enough for me.

I'll take the opposite approach:

What does your life look like if you can't spend 3 hours away from a screen?

There's a whole world of opportunity out there.

I honestly thought this comment was joking at first! In fact I'm still not certain... is it really so difficult to imagine doing something other than stare at a screen for 100% of your waking life? What do you think people did for the entirety of human history? You could be writing, or drawing, or playing an instrument, or listening to music, or baking cookies, or taking a stroll, or playing darts, or building a model rocket, or literally any activity ever.

I don't mean to condescend, but man.

I know it's not the same but for those that won't do this (for such a long period) at least activate/install some kind of night mode. It automatically adjusts the warmth of your screen color depending on time/daylight.

In the evening (or early morning) it will transition the colors to a warmer (red) tone. This helped me a lot. I really tire easier while sitting in front of the screen.

E.g. Gnome has this out of the box. It's called "night light".

Was there not a news just a few days ago about the research finding that screen time has no effect?

Maybe? There's been lots of research saying it does though, and I don't think I'd regret a decision to have less screen time before bed.

You might be thinking about the article about screen time and children, developmentally.

Don’t have kids.

Legit commentary, however, point 1, the phase of lowest sleep is temporary, and point 2, with kid #2 and I presume onwards, you've been through it before and it's easier to adapt.

Weirdly, my sleep is way better with kids than without. I was always staying up too late (grad school), but now it's impossible -- I have to be in bed by 12. Their sleep schedule regulates mine. YMMV

Exercise has helped me in many ways, including sleeping.

Exact opposite for me. I used to sleep really well. Since I started higher volume running, sleeping has been a challenge. It's only been a few months, so I'm hopeful that it's temporary.

Do you run in the mornings?

Most days. Once a week I run in the morning and the evening.

Whatever your mind drifts too while hoping to sleep- don’t engage with that for hours before.

Also, aim for a full night of sleep. 5 hours is not enough. Being unreasonably underslept can make it harder to fall asleep. By the time you’re noticing major productivity hits you’re likely deep in the red.

Reduce ambient lighting and opt for more red lighting.

Soft foam earplugs (very cheap from chemists). I used to be a light sleeper. Not anymore

Over use of earplugs while sleeping will lead to a condtion by where you will never be able to sleep without them - even in dead silence.

When you sleep your brain and hearing system stays somewhat active, alerting you to potential dangers. Therefore by wearing earplugs to sleep you are actually causing your hearing system to become more sensitive.

I had seen many patients with hyperacusis caused in part by over use of earplugs.

Melatonin and bright light early in the morning.

For the bright light I have a 10,000 lux sun lamp hooked up to an automated power switch. So every morning before I wake up I get a huge dose of sunlight.

Is its brightness slowly increasing or do you get flashed all of a sudden? For me, the latter would immediately trigger a very painful headache for the next 4 hours!

I never quite get to follow this routine, but, when I do I get the best sleep (+20% deep sleep, +20% REM, 4X light sleep (as opposed to 5X% light sleep that I normally get)):

- soft earplugs

- shave, bathe and have all my clean clothes ready for the next day -- because I usually snooze my alarm and do everything in a hurry -- knowing that I can just wake up and go is such a good feeling

- drinking 30 minutes before bed a cup of tea made of: 2 grams of glycine, 2 grams of Taurine, 200-400mg of L-Theaning, 1 pill of zync + magnesium + calcium (I'm somewhat convinced that calcium is not good for sleep, but I'm usually deficient), chamomile, st john's wort; sometimes 1 cap of ashwagandha(not an extract so I don't know the exact quantities)

- having low anxiety that particular day (tough one) - heavy curtains that do a good job at blocking light; tape all charger LEDs

- watching one Isaac Arthur's video about space habitats or some other calming videos with my noise cancelling headphones and phone's screen set to block blue light

I'm going to check out Isaac Arthur, it looks like there are audio only versions on soundcloud, which works better for me. I've used Art Bell and Terrence McKenna (via the Psychedelic Salon) in the past, and pretty much anything that is mildly interesting yet monotone and frequently I use a sleep timer since I'm generally asleep pretty quickly when this works.

For me the sleep prep is more about momentum than duration, if I'm moving in the relaxing direction the duration of the prep is not as important and I can go to sleep shortly after watching TV or using my PC.

For me it's not that Isaac Arthur is monotone, it's the fact that he's so confident about the future that is most relaxing.

Also, it's quite serene listening to him talk about gigantic space habbitats; it's such a good/calming thought that all humanity would be able to enjoy space, have all their basic needs met, saving Earth by offloading our resources exploitation elsewehere; I guess it's an engineer's wet dream :)

I like late night workouts. I sleep easier and more; additionally, eating before bed usually doesn’t bother me in this context.

Make sure you get enough sunlight or take Vitamin D3 (along with a good multivitamin). I was taking 6000 IU at one point and it seemed to make a big difference since I was outside rarely. Taking 400 or whatever is supposedly recommended did not seem to affect me.

Although you might need to get a few blood tests if you are going to take a significant amount like that. If D level is not low at all then I guess you would not want to try that.

Ear plugs help me also.

I highly recommend the book "Why We Sleep" if you're interested in learning the actual mechanics of sleep.

Currently reading this one. It's already the most impactful book I've ever read.

Does anyone believe any of these so called myths?

No, but I think another prevalent one is the "you need less sleep as you get older." Just skimmed this piece on sleep and aging also points out some interesting variables when it comes to how people report their sleep based on race, gender, etc.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995617/

I know people who believe the alcohol one, and it isn't completely idiotic, since alcohol is a depressant and may help you get to sleep. But the article is correct that sleep quality drops so much that it is not worth it.

The laziness of these articles is astonishing. Myth #5 is "Hitting the Snooze Button". That's not a myth. It's not a claim or belief of any kind.

Laziness perhaps, but consider incompetence as another possibility. Many journalists seem to have only the sketchiest command of English.

The alcohol one for sure. Most of the rest are just stupid.

Surprised they didn't add "catching up on sleep", my pet peeve. I know I'm not actually catching up, I just finally feel rested for the first time this week

Who on earth thinks drinking helps you sleep better? I've missed out on the best factoids it seems.

Some people have problem falling asleep. Drinking until they pass out is a solution of sorts.

Amen

Many people. And anecdotally it helps many people for very long periods (40-60 years daily) of time to sleep like a rock. But I think there is a difference between 'a night cap before sleep' or plonking down a few glasses of Scotch in the evening. The side effects the article mentions are really not triggered, for casual drinkers anyway, by a little shot before sleep. Unless you were drinking before that (at dinner for instance), but that's not a fair comparison against what the 'myth' says.

My dad had occasional insomnia for years (before it became chronic). An easy solution to fall asleep was a shot or two of whiskey. I've done the same from time to time (once a year, perhaps).

It obviously isn't the best sleep one can have, but it sure beats staying awake for hours and only getting a few hours of sleep. I guess it isn't really "sleeping better" as it is "sleep some"

I certainly don't make a habit out of it, but when I do drink before bed, I wake up much more alert and feel refreshed than usual.

of course, I've never had an issue falling asleep, especially after having kids. It's not a sleep-aid to me.

Most of these aren't myths, they're unhealthy habits we struggle to escape from.

> People with the condition are more likely to develop high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat and have a heart attack or a stroke.

I'm pretty sure that obsesity has been linked to snoring, so is it possible that this is just a side effect?

From what I understand poor sleep quality is one of the reasons obese people see these issues. But maybe my understanding is wrong and it's just all correlated without causation going in that particular direction.

It is possible. Snoring pre-dates weight gain in many people though, and in fact snoring-related sleep issues may be causal in obesity.

I realize this sounds hokey, but the Deep Sleep Pillow Spray is phenomenal.

Looked it up and it appears to contain lavendar - which iirc is a potential hormone disrupter

Chamomile too. Just spray it on your pillow before bed and it totally sets you up for the first phase of your sleep routine.

Apparently, it doesn't just work for me! https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/sleep/a707967/this...

But at what cost?

How does it work?

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