Hacking your sleep?

[Kaido]

I'm far more productive in the morning so if I go to sleep early and get up early I am able to get more done simply because my early AM hours are more productive.

Same. I typically get more done before 7am than I do the rest of the day. But a lot of times I stay up late, push the alarm back, and just kind of coast through the day. It's difficult in the modern age to avoid the Internet, Netflix, food, etc. during your nighttime unwind period :\

 

[Kaido]

I'm a bit of a night owl. Not excessively so, but I rarely fall asleep before 11pm nightly.

Those times that I do manage to fall asleep before that though, I find myself waking up fully refreshed and before the alarm ever goes off and I find my day much more pleasurable for some reason. What's odd is I usually end up getting the same number of hours of sleep.

I blame the Army for my sleep issues. I was programmed at age 19 to "react" to sleep instead of planning for it if that makes sense.

I do think there's something to waking up before your alarm goes off. I got a Jawbone Up24 fitness bracelet, which vibrates to wake you up in a wakeup window, whenever it detects that your sleep window is light. It seems to work a lot better for me than my alarm on the days I stay up late. Not as good as actually going to bed early, but anything helps!

 

[Kaido]

Yea, I'd like to get to that point. I was reading an article on Trump and he mentioned that he averages 4-5 hours of sleep per night.

Supposedly, many successful people wake up between 3-4am.

People say you need 7-8 hours of sleep for optimum health. I wonder if that is a myth, like drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

Donald Trump Quote on Sleep:

I've read some articles like that and a lot of them also say that it catches up with them and they have to crash for awhile, even if it's a few months later. Plus I think genetically, some people are just like that. Especially people who are high-energy, extremely driven people - they just have so much natural energy that they don't need as much sleep as the rest of us.

 

[Imp]

In a nutshell, sleep is a lot more complicated than most people think. And everybody is different. Some really driven people only need 4 to 6 hours of sleep. After about 3 days, I'm a useless mess if I deprive myself like that. Even if I go to bed at midnight and get like 8 hours of sleep, it's just not nearly as good as going to bed early and only getting 7 hours of sleep. I don't know why; that's just how it is for me. And I wish I was better at it...I stay up late alllllll the time haha.

I'm not so sure about that. I knew a few people who bragged about only sleeping 6 hours or less, but all they really did was inject themselves throughout the day with Red Bull or coffee. Seems like you can't beat biology.

 

[Kaido]

I'm not so sure about that. I knew a few people who bragged about only sleeping 6 hours or less, but all they really did was inject themselves throughout the day with Red Bull or coffee. Seems like you can't beat biology.

I think you're right. Either they're on stimulants or have to crash and take naps or have sleep-in weekends or vacation catch-ups. But I dunno. I only know for me, 8pm + 7 hours of sleep = awesomesauce. As I post this at nearly 10pm

 

[Mai72]

I'm not so sure about that. I knew a few people who bragged about only sleeping 6 hours or less, but all they really did was inject themselves throughout the day with Red Bull or coffee. Seems like you can't beat biology.

Nope. The lack of sleep catches up with you sooner or later. I need about 7 hours of sleep a night. If I could shave off 1-2 hours a night that would be great. But, I'm wondering how I would feel at the end of the week. I'd probably feel like sh*t.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

My first two years of my PhD I regularly went with 4-6 hours of sleep and seemed to do fine more or less, but I took a break and now even that my work has slowed down a lot, I feel exhausted if I don't get at least 7. Lately I'm even averaging close to 9. I don't really drink caffeine either, and never at work.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Meh, don't care if I'm borderline dead or falling over from sleep deprivation, or impaled. This useless slab of flesh called a body better damn do what it's told.

 

[K7SN]

You should sleep enough to dream; Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is necessary. Sleeping with short catnaps can get you by on a deadline for a few days (Sleep 30 minutes; program 5 1/2 hours; repeat about 12 times

or

sleep 2 to 3 hours and wake up after REM, program 16; sleep 2 top 3 hours program 16 and you might be able to do it efficiently for a few months.

Both of the above assume you don't have a life outside of your work.

My philosophy when I did that was work 9 hours to 4:00 PM; nap for three hours; Got to night school for 4 hours; nap for three hours; do research and homework and repeat Monday through Friday at 4:00; nap three hours get laid; get a good nights sleep; finish any necessary assignments; go out get laid; and then a good nights sleep - any goo race a motorcycle in the desert on Sunday. Yes, you can adjust as long as you get enough sleep to think clearly and enjoy life.

 

[Brainonska511]

Donald Trump Quote on Sleep:

Yes, because that's exactly who you should turn to for life advice.

 

[DrPizza]

Nope. The lack of sleep catches up with you sooner or later. I need about 7 hours of sleep a night. If I could shave off 1-2 hours a night that would be great. But, I'm wondering how I would feel at the end of the week. I'd probably feel like sh*t.

I've never thought so. I get by just fine on 4 hours of sleep, as long as I don't do 4 more than 2 or 3 days in a row - then 6 the rest of the time and I'm fine. I've noticed that I seem to be more mentally creative with less sleep, in a good way.

 

[Imp]

I've never thought so. I get by just fine on 4 hours of sleep, as long as I don't do 4 more than 2 or 3 days in a row - then 6 the rest of the time and I'm fine. I've noticed that I seem to be more mentally creative with less sleep, in a good way.

I "internalize" and get more creative when sleep deprived -- by creative, I mean batshit crazy. Feels like I retreat back into my head, body goes numb, and I think or concentrate on my own thoughts more.

That sleep deprived feeling sucks though, even if it's an hour short.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've always been curious if a perfect mixture of oxygen/CO/CO2 would be key to the "perfect" sleep. Imagine a pod that you sleep in and it mixes these gases perfectly inside, and you sleep for like 5 hours but wake up super refreshed, instead of super tired. It would alter the gases as the different REM cycles take place.

At least till it malfunctions and just starts pumping CO without stopping because the logic board froze up.

 

[adamantine.me]

These are the known ways to hack your sleep:

I would say very few people are tying this and even less are succeeding.

This is what I was thinking of when I read "hack your sleep" - I've heard of a group of people who tried the uberman cycle, like 6 naps of 20 minutes per day? Anyway, obviously it sounds crazy. Two hours of sleep a day is a quarter of what is recommended for young adults, but apparently there was some science behind it. How did it end? I think they were able to stick with it for a few weeks, but ultimately cracked.

Maybe a less extreme version of that - several naps of 1.5 hours each, or however long your personal sleep cycle lasts (there are apps for this).

The benefit would be well worth it - an additional 3 hours per day to work, pick up a hobby, work out, date another person... Whatever you want, really.

I'm starting to suspect I have a delayed sleep cycle. There always comes a night where I'm just not ready to sleep. Melatonin and rigorous workouts have been the only thing that works for me. It is a very elusive thing, but it has also been heavily researched this past decade.

 

[John Connor]

Hacking your sleep?

 

[Dr. Zaus]

This is what I was thinking of when I read "hack your sleep" - I've heard of a group of people who tried the uberman cycle, like 6 naps of 20 minutes per day? Anyway, obviously it sounds crazy. Two hours of sleep a day is a quarter of what is recommended for young adults, but apparently there was some science behind it. How did it end? I think they were able to stick with it for a few weeks, but ultimately cracked.

Maybe a less extreme version of that - several naps of 1.5 hours each, or however long your personal sleep cycle lasts (there are apps for this).

The benefit would be well worth it - an additional 3 hours per day to work, pick up a hobby, work out, date another person... Whatever you want, really.

I'm starting to suspect I have a delayed sleep cycle. There always comes a night where I'm just not ready to sleep. Melatonin and rigorous workouts have been the only thing that works for me. It is a very elusive thing, but it has also been heavily researched this past decade.

A post 20s adult only needs about 6 hours a night. The key is to avoid blue light after sun-down and wake up at the same time every day (preferable when the sun is up).

In my 20s would do "power naps" for the last month each semester: 2 servings of energy drink followed by 1.5 hours of sleep.

 

[who?]

Avoid caffeine for four to six hours before you plan to go to bed, then drink something heavily caffeinated and go to sleep immediately before it gets in your system. The caffeine will speed up the sleep processes and you won't need to stay asleep as long.

 

[adamantine.me]

Avoid caffeine for four to six hours before you plan to go to bed, then drink something heavily caffeinated and go to sleep immediately before it gets in your system. The caffeine will speed up the sleep processes and you won't need to stay asleep as long.

Interesting, that explains tea drinking habits before bed time. What else can we control? Sunlight has been mentioned, eating, exercise... Sleeping positions? Sleeping surface?

I don't count sheep, but sometimes taking slow deep breaths helps slow down my mind and body.

 

[wabbitslayer]

get married and have several kids.
You will never sleep more than 5 or 6 hours a night ever again.

 

[destrekor]

Yea, I'd like to get to that point. I was reading an article on Trump and he mentioned that he averages 4-5 hours of sleep per night.

Supposedly, many successful people wake up between 3-4am.

People say you need 7-8 hours of sleep for optimum health. I wonder if that is a myth, like drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

Donald Trump Quote on Sleep:

i've been getting up a lot earlier after having the kid. i have to agree with kaido too, i feel a lot more motivated getting up earlier (also going to sleep earlier) than i did before. i used to sleep around 1am every day and get up like 8:15 or so, but now i'm usually in bed between 10:30 and 11 (sometimes later cause it's football season) and up around 6 or little after, usually waking up once in the middle of the night.

i definitely feel more motivated with my new schedule than i do with my old schedule. and it's also a lot nicer to be home so much earlier since i go to work earlier.

Young adults need closer to 8-9 hours of sleep for optimum health and memory retention. As you age, you actually need less for optimum results, though I believe it's like a reverse bell curve, and senior citizens need more again. But middle-age adults can supposedly get optimum results, on average, between 6 and 7 hours. Every individual has a slightly different number, of course, so some can get by with 5, while some 40 year old folk truly do need 7.5 or 8.

 

[OverVolt]

You will actually be less productive if you cut your sleep.

You can get away with less sleep if you have a standardized routine and a boring job. If you are learning something new, you can forget about skipping sleep since you need sleep to learn something new.

 

[flexy]

There is no point in hacking your sleep to sleep less because this will sooner or later get back to you.

But what you can do, and it really depends on your work/personal schedule whether you can actually pull it off:

I noticed that I have two major sleep phases, one 4 hour phase deep sleep and then 3 or so hours light REM. Many times I wake up after the first 4 hours. You can as well get up, do whatever stuff/work...and then take the remaining few hours in the afternoon for a long nap, Siesta like. There is really no "requirement" that you have the sleep the entire 7 or 8 hours all at once. (If you split your sleep like this is good for say when you work at home and want to do stuff early in the morning and then just sleep afternoon). I noticed this second portion of sleep, the nap is also always crazy for dreams.
On the other hand, whether it really has any "benefit" to split your sleep I can't really say. After I did this for a while I still prefer sleeping longer, like 7 or so hours and then wake up "fresh"

 

[CraKaJaX]

I've never had any issues falling asleep. I get between 7 & 8 hours of sleep. I could care less what Donald Trump says about sleeping - I know what works for me. That is, I exercise daily whether it's sports, gym, bike ride, jogging, whatever... eat fairly well and also try to eat 3 hours before bed, and sleep with a fan on for the noise. If you don't sleep with a fan on, I would say give it a shot and see what happens. It's a calming noise and believe it or not, drowns out little sounds that you may not be aware - especially if you live in an apartment.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Soo, what to do if you sleep like poopy no matter how much sleep you get?

 

[OverVolt]

This is what I was thinking of when I read "hack your sleep" - I've heard of a group of people who tried the uberman cycle, like 6 naps of 20 minutes per day? Anyway, obviously it sounds crazy. Two hours of sleep a day is a quarter of what is recommended for young adults, but apparently there was some science behind it. How did it end? I think they were able to stick with it for a few weeks, but ultimately cracked.

Maybe a less extreme version of that - several naps of 1.5 hours each, or however long your personal sleep cycle lasts (there are apps for this).

The benefit would be well worth it - an additional 3 hours per day to work, pick up a hobby, work out, date another person... Whatever you want, really.

I'm starting to suspect I have a delayed sleep cycle. There always comes a night where I'm just not ready to sleep. Melatonin and rigorous workouts have been the only thing that works for me. It is a very elusive thing, but it has also been heavily researched this past decade.

Blue light, too much caffeine, or lack of exercise FOR THE DAY, or a mixture of all 3. Thats all it ever is in most cases.

Exercise has effects almost like a drug. Endorphins, metabolism changes, suspends some processes as they are supposed to be every once in awhile, inhibits TNFa via myokines, etc..