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Comment by k1ck4ss | Hacker News Reader

now I feel very bad about going to sleep between 11PM and 1AM and getting up between 5AM and 6AM for many many years now.

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If you’ve been doing if for many years chances are you are one of those folks who don’t need as much sleep. Apparently there is genetics involved

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/gene-id...

It's more concerning if he intentionally deprived himself of sleep during adolescence (e.g. forcibly staying up to play video games), as brain development continues through age 25.

Why? Do you experience memory issues? If you can do that for years and not go insane or break down you must be built different. I know people like that and envy them, but this is not typical.

Since I became a sleep maintenance insomniac (I fall asleep fine but wake up 5hrs later and generally can't fall back asleep), my memory has gone from phenomenal to abysmal. I struggle to keep things in mind. More than ever, I rely on notes and reminders

That seems like possibly the hardest kind of insomnia to treat.

Is there any treatment for this specific kind of insomnia?

When that happens to me it's often because I'm ruminating about something, can't get it out of my mind and relax. If that's what's keeping you up, CBT (cognitive behavorial therapy) techniques can help to stop that thought pattern, or just taking some daily action (any concrete action besides just turning it over in your mind) towards resolving the thing you're thinking about can help.

White noise sometimes helps me sleep too, especially after waking up in the middle of the night.

My theory is this is cause by stress hormones.

You can get to sleep because you’re so damn exhausted, but you wake up as soon as you’re physically able because of the hormones.

The answer is exercise. Aerobic and weights. Three times a week minimum. And for a good amount of time.

I do powerlifting 3x week. No real aerobics, I should add that but I just hate it. Sometimes I’ll drop the weight and do high rep sets which does get my heart pumping.

My completely unscientific analysis: aerobics gets the blood circulating more and enables the body to remove stress hormones from the blood at a faster rate.

I have issues with that as well, started taking magnesium (both normal, elemental magnesium and magnesium l-threonate) and it's made a world of difference for me.

> this is not typical

going to sleep between 11PM and 1AM and getting up between 5AM and 6AM is completely typical for a parent with kids in school.

OK 1AM might be pushing it but by the time you eat dinner, help with homework, do chores, get the kids to bed, and take a bit of time for yourself and spouse to decompress, yeah it's easily getting close to 11PM.

Then getting up in time to get dressed, get the kids up, make breakfast, get them to school and get yourself to work, you're probably getting out of bed at aroud 6AM or maybe 7AM at the latest.

Last I spoke to a sleep doctor, I was told that 6-8 hours is enough sleep for a lot of people.

That would mean 11-5 is is actually enough sleep, as is 12-6

So really the problem with these times is only the incidents when staying up to 1am, or when getting up at 5 after sleeping at midnight

You are grabbing the minimum, it depends on the person. I need 8.5 hours, but last weekend I slept 10 and 10. It was great for recovery, I just didn't have any free time

11PM to 6AM is very different from 1AM to 5AM. Parents of little children who need you to wake up multiple times per night have it worse, IMO. And they often report memory problems and overall mental decline.

I have to force myself to bed at 11 or 1130 because my free time starts between 930 and 10 pm. Lucky I can wake uo at 730, so if I go to bed at 1030pm I'm well rested

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