The benefits of good sleep

[Khan]

The Science Of Sleep, Lesley Stahl Explores The Latest Findings In Sleep Research - CBS News

..."So, it seems to be that practice does not quite make perfect; it’s practice with a night of sleep that makes perfect," Walker says. "It's this odd notion that we all think in Western civilization that we have to stay awake to get more done. And I think that's simply not true. In fact, I think if you have a good night of sleep, what you'll find is that you can get more done than if you simply stay awake."

...The study's subjects were on the road to diabetes in just six days, and that’s not all - they were also hungry. Van Cauter has made a radical discovery: that lack of sleep may be contributing to the epidemic of obesity in this country through the work of a hormone called leptin that tells your brain when you’re full.
...

I have mentioned before how my general health has been on an upward spiral since retirement. I think improved sleep (quality and quantity) has been a significant part of that process.

 

[W2R]

I am sure it has helped a lot! I slept well this weekend, but during the work week it is harder to get a good night's sleep. I am really looking forward to sleeping in whenever I want to, after ER.

 

[StJohnsWood]

I read a Donald Trump book where he said he slept 4 hours a night (I called BS). His quote was "I'll sleep when I'm dead". Which made me think that it maybe sooner than later.

If you read the You: books about health from Dr Oz, sleep is very important. Made me realize that this is something not to go on the cheap. Eat right, excerise, and sleep and your good to go.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

as far as i can tell sleep is a physical activity so i'll not wait till death. i love sleeping & dreaming and i've always considered both wonderful aspects of life.

 

[fisherman]

Third month or ER and I am really starting to see the benefits of more sleep. It took a several weeks to get the years of toxin build up out of my system from Mega Corp but I am now sleeping well for the first time in many years.

 

[freebird5825]

sleep is very good stuff. i get to bed around 10 PM, up at 6 AM or so. that's a solid 8 hours. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

i've avoided the "stay up late cuz i can" syndrome since i FIREd. i keep the same hours as DH2B. one of the retirement books i read said this was critical if the partner still works. reduces envy and conflicts

 

[myself]

Alas, I get about 6 hours sleep every night on average. Some nights it's 8, but other nights it's 4.
I wonder if I'll sleep more when I ER, and I'm betting that I would.

 

[Goonie]

Before ER I used to hit the pillows about 1am and got up at 5:15am.....4 hours sleep (+/-). Now that I'm ER'd, I usually hit the pillows around 1am or 2am, and crawl out of the sack between 7am and 8am.....so usually about 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I never set an alarm clock unless I need to be up and gone in the early a.m. for something.

With Spring/Summer approaching, I'll still go to bed at the same time, but will start crawling out between 6am and 7am, to enjoy more time in the gardens. Of course I'll also be taking my afternoon siesta (~1 hour) a bit more religiously than I have over the Winter!

I feel more relaxed and refreshed with ~5 hours sleep, than I do with more than that. My Dad and Grandad were the same way....they both slept about 5 hours a night.....and took time for a short afternoon siesta if they needed it. Unless I'm sick (which is extremely rare) there is absolutely no way that I could sleep a full 8 hours.....never been able to.

 

[Khan]

While working, I would go to between 9 & 10PM; the alarm would go off at 5:15AM.

7 to 8 hours, but not the best sleep. Sometimes I would wake up with solutions to problems at work (I was a programmer); I would grind my teeth, have bad dreams about not being able to find things or get things done, get indigestion and have to sit up until it resolved, sometimes I would get a migraine and lay awake until it went away.

After retiring, for the first month or so, I was sleeping 10PM to 8AM; a few times 8PM to 8AM. I've settled to about 8 hours, but it is very good, full cycle sleep.

About 6 months along, I noticed I was very slowly losing weight (and there was a lot to lose); without any attempt at any kind of diet change or exercise, I was just eating less.

As gardening season approaches, I'm slowly getting up earlier (to prepare to get out ahead of summer heat). I do this by looking up civil twilight sunrise and setting the cell phone alarm to go to bed 8 hours before that. That way, 8 hours sleep coincides with morning light.

( Dayton, Ohio (45401) Conditions & Forecast : Weather Underground
Scroll down)

 

[travelover]

sleep is very good stuff. i get to bed around 10 PM, up at 6 AM or so. that's a solid 8 hours. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

i've avoided the "stay up late cuz i can" syndrome since i FIREd. i keep the same hours as DH2B. ............

Plus it can pay off benefits if one has been good and helped with the housework......

 

[george76]

The article in the first post recommended 7 1/2 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

I wonder if the following would perhaps count as well: one usually sleeps 6 hours, but then take a cat nap during the day for another 1 1/2 hr, thus still getting up to the 7 1/2 hrs.

Any thoughts?

George

 

[GoodSense]

I am w*rking and unusually sleep 5-6 hours a night on weeknights. It does catch up to you and by Thursday I am exhausted. On weekends I sleep 8-9 hours to make up for it.

When I was on vacation for 3 weeks this winter, I thought I would sleep in everyday. Amazingly every morning I woke up at 6:30 or 7 with great energy. I was so excited about what I was going to do that day (hanging out, sight seeing, etc). Every night I went to bed at 11 or midnight. It helped that I didn't have a computer. Didn't need an alarm clock that whole time. Usually I'm the kind of person who hits the snooze button 4 times before actually getting out of bed.

This experience made me realize that if I was having a good time, 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep is enough. I think I need more sleep when depressed by work, and ironically don't have time for it.

 

[myself]

We once went on a vacation (3 days) to an island in the middle of a lake in Maine (Attean Lake Lodge if anyone is wondering Maine Lodging - Attean Lake Lodge: Jackman, Maine). They only had power for hair dryers every morning from 8am-11am (due to power generator).
They had gas lights for night-time lighting, and fireplaces for heat.
We went during the beginning of the season (March or so).

That was some of the very best sleep I've ever had. Absolutely no background noise whatsoever.

How do I know there was no background noise whatsoever?
There were 3 mosquitos in the place because we didn't treat the screen door with repellant. I could hear them from 15 feet across the room.

And you do want to watch out for the horse flies (or whatever they're called there). They literally can cause blood to seep from your skin if they bite you (happened to dear wife, but she still talks about how enjoyable it was). Oh, and yes we had 3 kids at the time (2 were 4 years old, and the other was about six months old).

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

I wonder if the following would perhaps count as well: one usually sleeps 6 hours, but then take a cat nap during the day for another 1 1/2 hr, thus still getting up to the 7 1/2 hrs.

as i understand it, an interrupted 8 hours is better than not getting 8 but sleeping straight through is the healthiest.

sleep deprivation can both build up and be made up during the week. if you only get 5 hours one day it is a good idea to get an extra hour or two on another day.

And you do want to watch out for the horse flies (or whatever they're called there). They literally can cause blood to seep from your skin if they bite you

yup, horseflies. i have no problem working in the garden within inches of bees or wasps or spiders or pretty much anything but when a horsefly comes around i go inside. those things are nasty.

from the all-knowing wiki:

...Females require a blood meal for reproduction. Males lack the necessary mouth parts (mandibles) for blood feeding. Most female horse flies feed on mammal blood...

The bite from a larger specimen is extremely painful, especially considering the light, agile, and airborne nature of the fly. Unlike insects which surreptitiously puncture the skin with needle-like organs, horse flies have mandibles like tiny serrated scimitars, which they use to rip and/or slice flesh apart. This causes the blood to seep out as the horsefly licks it up. They may even carve a chunk completely out of the victim, to be digested at its leisure.

The horsefly's modus operandi is less secretive than that of its mosquito counterparts, although it still aims to escape before pain signals reach their mark's sphere of awareness. Moreover, the pain of a horsefly bite may mean that the victim is more concerned with assessing and repairing the wound, than finding and swatting the interloper.

like i said: nasty.

 

[Rambler]

I find that when I get a good 7-8 hour of solid sleep, I feel better the next day, and my tinnitus is much better (less noticeable, etc). If I don't sleep well it becomes a vicious cycle: feel lousy, stress beats me up, tinnitus gets worse, tinnitus keeps me awake...and so it goes. I always sleep better during vacation, but only after several days of de-stressing, or getting used to the detachment.

R

 

[piano88]

sleep

Sleep really does seem to be a key to good health, energy levels, etc. I sometimes sleep better when I turn on the radio, put in earphones (DW doesn't want to hear it), set to talk radio for 45 minutes, and then the blather and noise just knocks me out.

Piano

 

[W2R]

Sleep really does seem to be a key to good health, energy levels, etc. I sometimes sleep better when I turn on the radio, put in earphones (DW doesn't want to hear it), set to talk radio for 45 minutes, and then the blather and noise just knocks me out.

Piano

One of the benefits of ER that I will appreciate the most, is being able to finally catch up on my sleep.

Right now, I often doze for a half hour in front of the 6PM news on TV, and that is great. Later when I go to bed, I only get about 6 hours and that isn't enough for me.

 

[dumpster56]

as far as i can tell sleep is a physical activity so i'll not wait till death. i love sleeping & dreaming and i've always considered both wonderful aspects of life.

Same here, my dreams are a fantastic journey to places unknown.

My only trouble is when I overtrain, ie run too many miles in a week. It can and does cause sleep issues, not feeling rested even after 8 hours. Ran 160 miles in the past 16 days and still sleeping great soooo maybe I have gotten this ER stuff working!!

 

[oma]

I'm so desperate for a good night's sleep that I recently purchased "Good Night" - a DVD from PBS that discusses improving sleep. I have 15 months of work left, and I'm convinced that work in itself is the cause of my poor sleep - ruminating problems at work seems to the cause of my sleeplessness. I take 25-50 mg benadryl on nights where I want to guarantee that I sleep well through the night. Exercise in the evening (or anytime of the day) seems to help, too.

I look forward to my first ER day when sleep hygiene isn't a concern.

 

[oma]

Sleep really does seem to be a key to good health, energy levels, etc. I sometimes sleep better when I turn on the radio, put in earphones (DW doesn't want to hear it), set to talk radio for 45 minutes, and then the blather and noise just knocks me out.

Piano

That usually works for me, too.

 

[Alan]

I feel sure that I will sleep better when I retire. Whenever I go on a long vacation (2 weeks or more) I seem to really relax and my quality of sleep improves enormously.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

I sometimes sleep better when I turn on the radio, put in earphones (DW doesn't want to hear it), set to talk radio for 45 minutes, and then the blather and noise just knocks me out.

interesting you mention that you turn to talk radio because when i have trouble quieting my own mind i notice i fall asleep easier with the tv on than with music playing on the radio. there could be a few mechanics working there. i think music plays more on emotions which set the mind into motion. also music is often more pleasant than talk and so less likely to be brushed aside. whereas talk is something we train ourselves to ignore.

just think of all the conversation you don't hear during the day, even though people are always talking around you at the shopping center, at the gym, etc. we learn to shut it out and we get annoyed when someone is talking so loudly on a cellphone that shutting them out is not easy.

so when it is not easy to quiet your own mind, listening to someone else can take you away from your own thoughts and then it is easier to turn them off than to turn off your own thoughts because their thoughts are not yours and so you are able to fall asleep.

I take 25-50 mg benadryl on nights where I want to guarantee that I sleep well through the night.

just a suggestion but i am not trained as a doc so i hope this is not bad advice: i'd trade those 25-50 mg of benadryl for 3mg or less of melatonin.

 

[Meadbh]

There's a famous study done some years ago in which they persuaded a bunch of volunteers to live in a cave with no clocks and lights perpetually on. When left to their own devices, they all assumed a circadian rhythm of approximately 26 hours. This may explain why it's so tempting to sleep in on weekends (and later on Sunday) and why getting up early on Monday morning is so difficult!

As a physician, I had permanently disrupted sleep patterns throughout my 20s and 30s. By my mid 40s it was taking me 2-3 days to recover from each night on call in the hospital and I quit doing that. Of course I still get called in the middle of the night when I'm "on call", but I no longer have that that cold, shivery zombie-like exhaustion. Residents are supposed to get relief after 24 hours (!) but I have to tell you that this is honoured in the breach rather than in the observance in many US academic health centres. Did I mention that after one sleepless night you are functioning at the same level as a person who is legally drunk?

 

[metabasalt]

Proof from last night

Oddly enough I slept an hour more than usual last night, 9 rather than 7.5-8 hours, and it reminded me of how much better I feel and function if I can get close to 9 hours of sleep. In fact it's been enough for me to tackle my taxes today without feeling I'm undertaking an impossible task!

One thing I've found that often helps me sleep better is Sleepytime Tea. I'd say that at least 75% of the time I sleep much more soundly if I have a cup of it a few hours before going to bed.

metabasalt

P.S. By the way this is my first post. I still haven't had time to introduce myself. So let me just say for now that among the many interests that I'd like to pursue rather than my current job is geology. Thus my geologic moniker..........

 

[Alan]

There's a famous study done some years ago in which they persuaded a bunch of volunteers to live in a cave with no clocks and lights perpetually on. When left to their own devices, they all assumed a circadian rhythm of approximately 26 hours. This may explain why it's so tempting to sleep in on weekends (and later on Sunday) and why getting up early on Monday morning is so difficult!

Meadbh,

Not noticed before, but from how you spell certain words, methinks you may be British. Apologies if I am wrong.

Anyway, do you know if there have been any studies of sleep patterns changing as seasons change. Coming from England, growing up at lattitude 55 - same lattitude as Edmunton, Canada, the length of day swings dramatically between summer and winter. I can't recall any difference in how I slept but I visit England a lot on business and in the summer months I have trouble getting enough sleep because it is still daylight well after 10 at night and again well before 5 in the morning