[HN Gopher] How to rest well
___________________________________________________________________
How to rest well
Author : rognjen
Score : 291 points
Date : 2021-12-02 08:24 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (psyche.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (psyche.co)
| 2-718-281-828 wrote:
| Sorry, but this is one of those articles where I don't care about
| the content but only about the discussion here.
| jader201 wrote:
| I almost always prefer reading discussion of a topic from many
| people, vs. a monologue of one person's opinion.
|
| That's the way I almost always use HN, for better or worse.
| shoto_io wrote:
| no need to be sorry about :) I always jump to the discussions
| first before reading the article.
| 2-718-281-828 wrote:
| I mean I tried reading it but it was so shallow an meandering
| - couldn't bear it
| bobthechef wrote:
| Josef Pieper[0] has written about leisure at length. What we call
| "rest" today is largely either idleness or recreation and
| something meant only to "recharge us" so that we can continue to
| work. But this is ass-backwards and not leisure. Leisure is what
| we work for and this was reflected, among other things, in the
| medieval culture of religious feasts. Our modern culture is a
| work-centric culture, but the middle ages were more of a leisure-
| centric culture.
|
| To better understand what leisure is, Pieper points to the
| etymological roots of words like "school" (from the Greek word
| for "leisure") and points to the distinction between the liberal
| arts and the servile arts (the former are superior to the latter
| and what the latter exist to enable). By definition, work is for
| the sake of something; you don't work for work's sake. Our
| culture either worships work for its own sake (an absurdity and
| largely a neurotic distraction from our own nihilism) or it
| terminates with a preoccupation with consumption and indulgence
| of various appetites. A culture frustrated by a false
| materialistic/mechanistic anthropology will produce this kind of
| vulgar ethos.
|
| [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/767958.Leisure
| mattgreenrocks wrote:
| This is one of the few books I re-read on a yearly basis. It is
| convicting.
| dec0dedab0de wrote:
| One thing that really helps me rest better is sleeping on my
| back. It's more difficult to fall asleep that way, but the sleep
| I get seems to count more. I dont know why, but it does. I've
| been doing it since I was a kid, so it's gotten easier, but It's
| still a struggle to not roll over a few times a week.
| WesolyKubeczek wrote:
| Looks like you're my opposite number or something. I cannot
| become sleepy unless I'm on my back, but then to actually
| sleep, I need to turn over.
| justinzollars wrote:
| Best advice for quality of sleep: Stop drinking.
| BareNakedCoder wrote:
| Best advice for quantity of sleep: don't stop drinking :)
| drclau wrote:
| Rather, be more selective about what you drink, and when. :)
|
| Typically, you want to avoid even water some time before
| going to sleep, such that you won't wake up to go to the
| bathroom.
| marcoslozada wrote:
| Essential for entrepreneurs!
| oedmarap wrote:
| One of the strategies that changed my sleep quality for the
| better is to stop taking coffee after 9 AM; after learning that
| caffeine has a half-life of around 6-7 hours[0], but a quarter-
| life of around 12 hours. If you have a cup of coffee at noon, a
| quarter of that caffeine can still be circulating around your
| brain at midnight.
|
| [0] https://youtu.be/k5BMGmf1ai0
| glogla wrote:
| Pedantic HN style comment: doesn't half-life of 6 hours always
| imply "quarter-life" of 12 hours? :)
|
| (though I wouldn't have realized that without your comment, so
| thanks for that)
| christophilus wrote:
| Depends on if it's linear or a curve, right?
| KMag wrote:
| A constant half-life is necessarily an exponential decrease
| (linear curve on a logarithmic plot). So, yes, if the half-
| life is 6 hours without qualification, then the quarter
| life will be 12 hours.
|
| Though, in real-life you get things like enzyme saturation,
| depletion of chemicals consumed in the metabolism of the
| chemical, etc. Real world pharmacokinetics are probably not
| exactly constant half-lives.
|
| For example, IIRC, the average American adult male
| saturates his alcohol dehydrogenase at about 3/4 shot of 80
| proof liquor per hour. Below saturation, I presume ethanol
| has something close to a constant (and short) half-life,
| but that exponential decrease is only observed at alcohol
| concentrations where the effects of alcohol aren't very
| obvious. So, for most practical purposes, the biological
| half-life of ethanol doesn't apply and its metabolism is
| better approximated as a constant rate process.
| dkeidowb wrote:
| Are there any examples of this? If its half-life is 6
| hours, then after six hours half of the caffeine is still
| there, and we know caffeine has a half life of 6 hours. I
| don't know of any molecules with a non-linear half-life but
| I might be completely wrong
| wfn wrote:
| There's a whole area for this - pharmacokinetics. See
| e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_half-
| life#Rate_equa... for examples of e.g. first order models
| (exponential elimination rate, etc.) It has to do with
| protein binding dynamics among other factors I have no
| idea about. Remember that you are dealing with biological
| systems.
|
| Some of these processes to do with elimination and
| clearance are very much non-linear and are modelled with
| diff equations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiologic
| ally_based_pharmaco...
| shmel wrote:
| There aren't many with zero-order pharmacokinetics
| (linear curve decay). The only notable exception is
| alcohol though.
| owenversteeg wrote:
| Interesting, for a second I thought that had to be wrong
| because I was aware of aspirin and alcohol, but
| apparently they are the two common ones and the vast
| majority are a bit more complex, which also makes sense
| if you think about it logically I suppose.
|
| It looks like in addition to those, others with zero-
| order pharmacokinetics include salicylates (salts of
| salicylic acid incl. aspirin), omeprazole (for
| indigestion), fluoxetine (antidepressant), phenytoin (for
| epilepsy), methanol (a poisonous alcohol) and cisplatin
| (chemo medication.)
| kevinmgranger wrote:
| It serves as emphasis. Most people have interpreted "caffeine
| has a half-life of X hours" to mean "oh so it's fine to have
| it just X hours before bed.
|
| By explicitly calling out the quarter-life, it prompts people
| to think if a quarter of the amount would still affect them.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| Even if it was as simple as any physical system, it is still
| something one might not realize for never making the correct
| question.
|
| Technically those two phrases mean the same, but people will
| draw very different conclusions from them.
| jasfi wrote:
| I only have decaff, rarely though, and only before 9AM as well.
| Otherwise I have green tea, and not after 1pm.
| swah wrote:
| And how is your sleep?
| sg47 wrote:
| I switched over to mushroom coffee since I couldn't tolerate
| decaf. Still has some caffeine but doesn't leave me jittery.
| yawz wrote:
| I have a very similar approach, but I usually drink a 2nd cup
| of green tea in the morning. I feel it helps my intermittent
| fasting.
| speeder wrote:
| I wonder why for coffee you have it decaff but you are happy
| with tea, that has more caffeine than coffee.
| Y_Y wrote:
| I hear that often enough. I think the confusion is that
| it's true by dry weight of beans/leaves, but a cup of
| coffee will typically have more caffeine than a cup of tea
| by a factor of a few.
| throwawaywrench wrote:
| Tea of any kind doesn't have more caffeine than Coffee. And
| green tea has less caffeine than black tea.
|
| https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-
| and-h...
| koonsolo wrote:
| It was about decaf
| ggregoire wrote:
| Why talk about half-life and quarter-life here instead of full-
| life (which I guess is around 18-24 hours)? Having less than a
| quarter of caffein in your system does not impact your sleep?
| amalcon wrote:
| It's an exponential decay, so full-life is not really a
| coherent concept. Detectable (but unnoticeable) levels will
| persist for quite some time and undetectable levels will
| persist for a bit after that.
| person23849 wrote:
| I've done the same thing, started remembering a lot more
| dreams, not sure if that's an indicator of better sleep though.
| gregoriol wrote:
| My non-sleep nights suddenly make sense, thanks!
| brendan0powers wrote:
| This is one of those things you just have to try and see if it
| works. I've quit caffeine completely for a few weeks, and
| didn't notice a difference in my sleep quality.
| gauchojs wrote:
| Me too - but I stopped for 30 days and didn't cut other
| caffeine sources..
| tarsinge wrote:
| Actually for me I sleep better at night with caffeine in the
| morning. I find it helps with having a proper active / rest
| cycle, i.e. concentrate energy and stress during the first
| part of the day so I can start to wind down in the afternoon,
| instead of hovering around mildly stressed all the day and
| the evening.
| bradlys wrote:
| I found it didn't improve my sleep quality or my ability to
| fall asleep. However - I do feel like I have a slightly
| easier time getting out of bed now.
|
| I've been off caffeine for a year or more. Having it actually
| makes my stomach slightly upset now. Similar to sugary drinks
| - I can't do them anymore. Once I gave them up - I couldn't
| go back.
| Terry_Roll wrote:
| This link unfortunately doesnt really address the chemical
| imbalances which are normalised throughout society as stress
| and aging. If you consider yourself to be just a complex
| chemical reaction with a consciousness as the end result of the
| complex chemical reactions which have evolved over thousands of
| years, then I'd simply be looking at chemical solutions for
| good rest.
|
| Its not strictly true that caffeine has a half life of 6-7
| hours, nicotine reduces this to 3-4hrs and some prescription
| drugs also affect the half life either by shortening it or
| increasing it, in extreme to 24-48hrs.
|
| I found a few grams of Taurine will improve and increase sleep,
| the science is out there, the more you take the more you sleep
| and you can sleep through fire alarms and all sorts so use with
| caution.
|
| Now a restless mind can also keep people awake, so increasing
| 5-alpha reductase by consuming Glycine can then break down
| cortisol. You will laugh your head off with lots of Glycine, so
| dont blame me if you laugh your head off in a stressful
| situation and get fired from a job or something!
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5%CE%B1-Reductase#List_of_conv...
| Tenoke wrote:
| I'm not certain how relevant that is. I definitely don't feel
| more awake 6 hours after coffee let alone 12 so clearly not all
| effects are still there. Claims like these are quoting numbers
| while implying things which aren't true a priori.
|
| Sleep is admittedly easily disrupted but I also haven't noticed
| a difference in sleep quality when skipping my afternoon cup.
| pps wrote:
| Different people reacts differently. I normally drinks 2-3
| cups a day, last one sometimes after 8 PM. So to test some
| claims about coffee being so bad etc, I completely removed
| coffee from my life for a month - zero difference. And the
| same is true for Yerba Mate for me (although with Yerba I
| definitely feel different for few hours). But I believe that
| some simply react more to this substance.
| hvgk wrote:
| This. One cup a day here at 07:30 and that's it. Was actually
| life changing.
| jordanmorgan10 wrote:
| I guess I missed the most important step which probably was don't
| have three kids under 7.
| helpfulmandrill wrote:
| So we've got to optimize rest now? I'm so tired of this world.
| HPsquared wrote:
| Tired? Sounds like you need more rest.
| glial wrote:
| Relevant recent post from the always delightful Convivial
| Society:
|
| https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/you-cant-optimize...
|
| Takeaway: There are two key points. First,
| our exhaustion--in its various material and immaterial
| dimensions--is a consequence of the part we play in a techno-
| social milieu whose rhythms, scale, pace, and demands are not
| conducive to our well-being, to say nothing of the well-being
| of other creatures and the planet we share. Second, the
| remedies to which we often turn may themselves be
| counterproductive because their function is not to alter the
| larger system which has yielded a state of chronic exhaustion
| but rather to keep us functioning within it. Moreover, not only
| do the remedies fail to address the root of the problem, but
| there's also a tendency to carry into our efforts to find rest
| the very same spirit which animates the system that left us
| tired and burnt out. Rest takes on the character of a project
| to be completed or an experience to be consumed. In neither
| case do we ultimately find any sort of meaningful and enduring
| relief or renewal.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| We always have. This article is for the person who doesn't
| understand, or hasn't implemented, good work/rest balance.
| leobg wrote:
| Haha. I said the same thing to Tim Ferriss in 2010 when he
| talked about "hacking" meditation. He did not take that well.
| mrweasel wrote:
| That is hilarious. Ferriss is an interesting guy, but there's
| something funky going on when you're trying to "hack" century
| old concept. It's basically Schwarzenegger telling you to
| sleep faster.
| rocketpastsix wrote:
| Unfortunately, yea we do. Now that more people are working from
| home the lines between work and not work are incredibly
| blurred. Add the increased connectivity we all have
| (email/slack/teams/etc on phones, laptops as work computers),
| it is essential we build good and meaningful habits of rest.
| [deleted]
| thejackgoode wrote:
| I've been doing "shallow rest" (think your typical mindless binge
| on anything) for whole my life and it has been difficult to
| convince myself or even find resources to become involved in
| resting, making it "deep rest" as mentioned in the article.
| Anyone has a good personal perspective on how to learn to do it?
| neltnerb wrote:
| I think it's the same as trying to form any other habit
| intentionally.
|
| Have a bed that you sleep in.
|
| Don't do anything in that bed other than sleep. If you are
| laying trying to sleep and find you cannot, get out of that bed
| and go elsewhere.
|
| This trains you to associate that bed with sleep and nothing
| else. It makes it so that when you go there in the future you
| have an ingrained habit that tells you it is time to sleep.
| Even reading in bed screwed it up for me.
|
| I think basically the same approach fits any other activity. If
| you want to get deeply in the flow for learning karate you have
| a dojo that you associate with it. You get way less distracted
| because you only do one thing there.
|
| I think sleep or laying still and meditating is about the most
| useful kind of rest for me, so I originally mostly talked about
| sleep. I think that the ability to get deeply into a task is
| generally strongly associated with environmental cues. Bowing
| before you start karate practice is a formal way to move into
| deep practice, even if you're practicing on your own.
| ddek wrote:
| Judging by OP, I'd say I have a pretty good handle on 'deep
| rest'. I think it's more because I'm quite deliberate than
| because I planned it this way, but it functions well as rest. I
| have almost total separation of work and personal life.
|
| Be purposeful with sleep. Work out how many hours you need,
| have a schedule, stick to it. I do 2200-0600, if I'm out late I
| still get up at 0600, a few 'short' nights a week won't ruin my
| energy. Also, if I'm stuck at home, nothing interesting happens
| after 10pm. Distractions like my phone are kept in another
| room.
|
| Push mindless binging out for more intensive activities. As OP
| says, rest does not have to be relaxed. It doesn't have to be
| solitary, although it can be. The things I do (and what they
| bring me) are: board gaming (social), tennis (social,
| competition, exercise), running (solitary, calming, exercise),
| woodworking (solitary, satisfaction), Age of Empires II
| (competition), and piano (solitary, creative). It seems a lot
| when I write it down, but I still have a fair amount of
| downtime.
| andai wrote:
| Go to the sauna, get a massage, or float in a warm salt water
| tank for an hour.
| kvgr wrote:
| Sauna is great, no phone and temperature shocks are great for
| me to calm down the brain.
| chaoz_ wrote:
| Is that why Finland is happiest country in the world?
| 0x008 wrote:
| I just go for walks without taking my phone with me. Works
| alright.
| tinyhouse wrote:
| Same. But my brain is consistently thinking about stuff. I
| wonder if it's still rest?
| 0x008 wrote:
| If you do not chase the thoughts or try to actively think
| it should stop sometimes and not think all the time.
|
| If I understand the article correct then rest is not about
| "not thinking". Rest can also be about engagement (for
| example sports or a making music). Just using different
| parts of your brain which are usually not directly used for
| work.
|
| If it never stops thinking try meditation practice, it will
| help after a couple times already (for me at least).
|
| Also sometimes it can be good to "reset" the brain by going
| into the wilderness or a retreat or have a day nap.
| mrweasel wrote:
| That's why I go for walks. I believe it frees up time for
| the brain to think through stuff without getting
| interrupted. Sure it might be a series of incohernt
| throughs and ideas, but that's fine, now they've been
| processed and the mind can relax.
| jimpix45 wrote:
| I also like doing this and I'll try to focus on what I'm
| seeing during my walk which helps my brain not to wander
| worrying about work or other stressors but it allows me
| to be in the moment.
| treme wrote:
| Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR):
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL02HRFk2vo&
|
| Yoga Nidra version
| https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yoga+nidra+20+m...
|
| try either, and see how you feel compared to your usual rest
| methods, gl
| jasfi wrote:
| Make it a goal for a specific day. Turn off all your devices,
| except for your phone (if you really have to be contactable or
| check something).
| mlac wrote:
| I'm taking this to the extreme and purchasing a bluetooth
| home phone, so I can leave my phone in a room with the base
| station, and still pick up if someone calls / texts
| throughout the day. But no apps or anything. Gives me a way
| to get out of connection anxiety.
|
| Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086PYS5VG?smi
| d=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_...
| tradesmanhelix wrote:
| I find that whatever I'm doing (binging a show, taking a walk,
| playing a video game, etc.) is much more restful when I'm fully
| present. For me, this means putting my phone and any other
| distracting technology away (or even turning it off) and just
| fully immersing myself in whatever I'm doing.
|
| Additionally, I find a bit of boredom is helpful in making an
| activity restful. For example, I love The Expanse TV show but
| sometimes it's very slow moving and I find myself wanting to
| stimulate my brain more than it's currently being stimulated by
| the show if that makes sense. However, I've found that if I
| embrace the boredom, resist the urge to take my eyes off of the
| TV, and just "float" in the moment so to speak, after about
| 15-20 mins the discomfort fades and I lose myself in the
| narrative. I find this "losing of oneself" in an activity or
| experience to be very restful and rejuvenating.
| Davexon wrote:
| Travel alone to scenic places with no connectivity.
| machiaweliczny wrote:
| I was on the weeding and got super tired once so I wanted to take
| nap. Couldn't really nap (I can't) but just relaxed body and
| tried to not think about anything for 20 minutes. I felt after
| that like after whole night good of sleep. Was very surprised
| that it worked.
| themodelplumber wrote:
| That's a great result. Sometimes I think resting as "waiting
| while doing nothing" is good enough if it simply keeps one from
| working during the bottom of a local ultradian pattern. Coming
| back up out of that pattern by itself should naturally feel
| better.
| randcraw wrote:
| How different is that from alpha meditation, where you free
| yourself from all thoughts, thereby entering a pre-sleep state
| of mind?
| doreal wrote:
| One of my favorite essay is Adorno's "Free Time" in _The Culture
| Industry_ [0]. When someone talks of work and rest as opposite, I
| always think of this quote:
|
| >I have no hobby. Not that I am the kind of workaholic, who is
| incapable of doing anything with his time but applying himself
| industriously to the required task. But, as far as my activities
| beyond the bounds of my recognized profession are concerned, I
| take them all, without exception, very seriously.
|
| Free Time and Rest are actually what makes us intelligent and
| creative. Work is experienced within its own constraint while
| free time let us explore and make fortunate mistakes.
|
| [0]: http://xenopraxis.net/readings/adorno_freetime.pdf
| curtson wrote:
| This is actually a great read that helps me understand and
| appreciate the importance of rest.
| l33tbro wrote:
| Honestly just take magnesium before bed and thank me later. 150mg
| should do it.
| pps wrote:
| I'm on 200mg of magnesium taurate. Magnesium l-threonate years
| ago when the hype for it started. Absolutely no difference in
| anything. Also taking l-theanine + apigenin (mix that Andrew
| Huberman recommends) - same effect. But for people with not-
| the-best diet magnesium is definitely beneficial for health so
| it's good to take it anyway.
| l33tbro wrote:
| Might it be a biochemistry thing rather than diet? I eat very
| few processed carbs and sugars and enjoy deep, restful sleep
| with most off-the shelf magnesium.
|
| L-theanine is fantastic too with my morning coffee. Alertness
| without the jitters.
| MrJagil wrote:
| Good timing, I've been meaing to ask HN: what's the best book on
| "sleep"?
| i_love_limes wrote:
| This is a very popular and quite detailed pop science book on
| sleep written by a prof of neuroscience:
| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep
| 600frogs wrote:
| This book actually gets quite a lot of hate on HN as parts of
| it have been debunked (or are at least heavily argued about):
| https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
| doitLP wrote:
| Slightly off topic but I always understood these types of
| books (scientific, biographical, medical) go through
| extensive fact checking before legit publishers will
| publish them. Is that not the case? Or did the author just
| serve as his own fact checker for that book?
| pps wrote:
| I wouldn't call it "debunked". All these were later
| answered by author, I don't have sources, but I remember it
| was on author's blog and also on some podcasts*. I remember
| that he said all these will be answered also in second
| edition.
|
| EDIT: 90% sure it was on one of these https://duckduckgo.co
| m/?q=matthew+walker+site%3Apeterattiamd...
| belval wrote:
| Thank you for sharing, this was an interesting read. I
| wonder if the rest of the book also suffers from this.
|
| To be fair though (not that it excuses it) but pop-
| science/livestyle book written by academics to gain more
| notoriety usually suffer from this issue that a lot could
| be fixed by doing X. Livespan by David Sinclair also does
| this by basically pinning everything on aging.
|
| It makes for a good read but I think it's best to always
| keep a healthy skepticism.
| nojs wrote:
| Note that this book tells you all about why we sleep, and
| gives you a lot of scary stats, but almost nothing practical
| about _how_ to sleep better. If you already know sleep is
| important and want actionable advice, this book won't help.
| helpfulmandrill wrote:
| The actionable advice for me was just "you have permission
| to sleep 8 hours, it isn't a waste of your life. No animal
| escapes the need to sleep, and thinking you can 'game the
| system' by robbing yourself of sleep night after night is
| the height of arrogance."
|
| I never had any problem sleeping, I just wouldn't let
| myself do it enough.
| kmtrowbr wrote:
| This is not true -- he does give good advice, it's just
| that it can be summarized in a single page. In fact the
| last page of the book has his 12 tips. They are widely
| shared across the internet -- here is one such place:
| https://fastlifehacks.com/matthew-walker-12-tips-for-good-
| sl...
|
| So the book is mostly documenting his research into the
| negative effects of a lack of sleep. Totally worthy and
| interesting. But the great thing for YOU is that you don't
| need to read the book. Just those 12 tips.
|
| I'm 41. Over the years I have tried lots of ways to sleep
| well: various herbs, pills, etc. Ultimately I found, for
| me, there's no way to hack it. Good sleep is a part of
| lifestyle. Matthew Walker says the most important thing is
| routine: now I get in bed at 9:30pm, I read for an hour, I
| fall asleep around 11pm, I wake up at 6:55, etc. Almost
| every day, I allow some flex on the weekend. And a party is
| a party, I give myself a freebie on those (sadly
| increasingly rare) occasions.
|
| You must get reasonable daily exercise. You can't drink a
| lot of alcohol and expect to sleep well. Don't bring your
| devices into the bedroom, read a paper book. Try to get
| cozy at night. Chamomile tea is wonderful. Look into sleep
| masks as I found as I got older I became more sensitive to
| light & a sleep mask helps. Spend some money on your
| bedroom: a good mattress, fan, blinds, the right
| temperature, etc.
|
| It totally works! I sleep fantastic these days! Best of
| luck to you in turn.
| pps wrote:
| Not books, but I recommend Huberman Lab podcast on YT (at least
| two episodes on sleep) and
| https://themattwalkerpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
| drclau wrote:
| I second Huberman Lab podcast. He has now a monthly
| newsletter too, and September's was about sleep. You can read
| it here:
|
| https://hubermanlab.com/toolkit-for-sleep/
|
| Thanks for the second suggestion, I'll have a look.
| jimpix45 wrote:
| I third Huberman Lab podcast - he has a lot of great
| content. His recent one about ADHD was really interesting!
| sdevonoes wrote:
| > A 20-minute nap provides an energy boost comparable with a cup
| of strong coffee (without the later crash).
|
| This is not true for me. If I get a 20-minute nap in the middle
| of the day, I wake up wasted. It takes around another 20 minutes
| for me to get really awaken.
| tradesmanhelix wrote:
| Anecdotal, but for me this means I'm sleep deprived. When I'm
| getting enough sleep on a regular basis, a 20-minute "nap"
| (even if it's just closing my eyes and listening to something
| like [0]) is extremely refreshing.
|
| [0] https://youtu.be/dPqCRyzhXn8
| mrweasel wrote:
| I have that issue, and I've tried with anything from 5 minutes
| to 30 minutes. Regardless of the time frame I wake up feeling
| confused, sleepy and my head hurts.
| el_benhameen wrote:
| I'm curious how folks here manage a midday nap. I usually fall
| asleep quite well at night, but unless I'm unusually exhausted
| (stayed up too late, one of the kids was up during the night),
| I can't calm my mind enough to actually sleep during the day.
| Even if I can manage to do it, it takes a long time, so a
| 20-minute nap really takes an hour+ given the wind-down time.
| khariel wrote:
| Something to factor in here is if you're sleep deprived. I can
| normally nap for 20 minutes and get said boost, but not when
| I'm sleep deprived. In that case, it feels way harder to wake
| up at the 20-minute mark, I also wake up groggy and I feel like
| napping longer (and that's what normally ends up happening).
| droopyEyelids wrote:
| You hit the crux of the problem here.
|
| Our brains compensate for sleep deprivation by releasing
| increased dopamine in the striatum, which is involved in
| motivation and reward, and the thalamus, which is involved in
| alertness. On top of that, one of the effects of sleep
| deprivation is a reduction in your ability to tell how sleep
| deprived you are.
|
| If you're sleep deprived, you're running on a natural high.
| If you get just enough sleep to get close to rested, that
| extra striatum and thalamus dopamine stops, and you also
| regain your ability to perceive yourself.
|
| That feels really bad. Not only do you forego the high, but
| you can feel every bit of the lack of rest. It's like the end
| of a bender. The only good thing is knowing you're making
| progress back to relatedness.
| Juliate wrote:
| Been there.
|
| If you haven't do so already, perhaps you could try to
| experiment within +/- 5/10 minutes, to see where you sleep
| cycle hits better. It can make a whole lot of a difference.
| hvgk wrote:
| Same trouble here. I find it's better to get up and go for a 20
| minute walk instead. That pulls all the right strings in my
| brain.
| xwdv wrote:
| 20 minutes is too long. You can get similar benefits by
| performing a few minutes of depth jumps to shock the central
| nervous system.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| I agree - don't talk a walk, it's an unnecessary hit on
| your productivity. But, depth jumps require you to get up,
| which again seems unnecessary to me if you can just taser
| the CNS directly to wake it up.
| flerchin wrote:
| Like an actual taser?
| probotect0r wrote:
| No, that would require moving your arm, which seems
| unnecessary. A figurative one will have to suffice \s
| mlac wrote:
| To get primed for the day, my protocol involves 3 cycles
| through a cold plunge (28 degree salinated water) and a
| sauna. On the third cold plunge I use the taser to boost
| the CNS.
|
| Would not recommend this unless you've studied the Wim
| Hof method and have medical supervision.
| flerchin wrote:
| Really not sure if this is satire.
| mlac wrote:
| I would not recommend mixing electricity with salt water.
| ninjinxo wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaser_Taser_Energy_Raiser_
| Met...
| oweiler wrote:
| Because this is HN, I don't know if this is sarcasm or
| not.
| codeisawesome wrote:
| Had us in the first half...
| hvgk wrote:
| It's not just about that. You get time to process things in
| that 20 minutes.
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