[HN Gopher] Why does sleep becomes more elusive as we age? Shift...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Why does sleep becomes more elusive as we age? Shifts in "sleep
       architecture"
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 79 points
       Date   : 2023-12-03 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.salon.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.salon.com)
        
       | mg wrote:
       | Maybe because of less physical activity?
       | 
       | Since 2020 I have manually tracked 35093 data points about my
       | life [1]. And the one parameter that correlates most with my
       | sleep time is how many steps I took during the day.
       | 
       | The median number of steps I take during a day is about 9500.
       | 
       | When I look at the sleep time of the following night, on average
       | I slept an additional 9 minutes after a day with 9500 steps or
       | more compared to a day with less than 9500 steps.
       | 
       | The gap increases to 16 minutes when I look at nights where I
       | walked over 12000 steps in the previous day.
       | 
       | To see if that is just correlation or if there is causation at
       | play, I also started to decide to take an additional walk or not
       | by coin flip. So far, I did that 31 times. 16 times the coin
       | decided to take a walk, 21 times it decided not to. On average, I
       | slept 13 minutes longer after the coin decided that I take an
       | additional walk. 31 is a very small N of course. I hope to have a
       | larger sample by the end of next year.
       | 
       | 1: https://www.gibney.org/a_syntax_for_self-tracking
        
         | contingencies wrote:
         | Makes sense. Also, while overfed idle wealthy people faceplant
         | in CPAP machines, older people in traditional cultures with
         | healthy physical activity and consumption levels continue to
         | live long regardless. For example, the Hunza. Experimental
         | results suggest this is because of both their activity levels
         | and a reduced caloric intake of a low protein, plant based diet
         | high in complex carbohydrates. But what would a continuous
         | culture of longevity know?
        
           | twelve40 wrote:
           | I've never heard of the Hunza and kind of suspected that
           | these "older people in traditional cultures" sounds too good
           | to be true, and sure enough:
           | 
           | > A widely repeated claim of remarkable longevity of the
           | Hunza people has been refuted as a longevity myth, citing a
           | life expectancy of 53 years for men and 52 for women,
           | although with a high standard deviation.
        
             | xcv123 wrote:
             | That statistic could be skewed by a high childhood
             | mortality rate.
        
             | contingencies wrote:
             | Like all modern claims, there's probably a kernel of truth.
             | The "standard deviation" probably masks it. As with the
             | whole world, one doesn't doubt the current population has
             | succumbed to modernity. Similar health can be observed in
             | physically active people with conservative consumption
             | levels globally.
        
             | mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
             | Worth noting that the only source for that excerpt from
             | Wikipedia, for the life expectancy, is some NYT article
             | written by a journalist in 1996 which is now paywalled.
        
           | toolz wrote:
           | > older people in traditional cultures with healthy physical
           | activity and consumption levels continue to live long
           | regardless
           | 
           | I agree with the point on physical activity, but the
           | implication that traditional cultures have as long or longer
           | lifespans is easily dismissed as inaccurate.
        
             | coldtea wrote:
             | Can it, if we exclude child mortality (and effects of war,
             | resource stealing, etc)?
             | 
             | All so-called "blue zones" are in traditional cultures
             | (food and general lifestyle wise).
        
           | Rewrap3643 wrote:
           | Sleep apnea is not exclusively a lifestyle disorder. I have
           | it with a BMI of under 21.
        
         | beardyw wrote:
         | Yes, I find I sleep better after some proper exercise during
         | the day. But when I was working I worked from home every work
         | day, with only a tour round the block at lunchtime. I did much
         | less exercise but slept like a baby. Not so now.
        
         | anonporridge wrote:
         | Sleep quality would be a better metric than duration.
         | 
         | HRV is generally the metric used. You can measure that with a
         | cheap chest monitor, or get a fitness watch that tracks it
         | continuously throughout the day and night.
         | 
         | Good HRV levels are highly correlated to activity level, so
         | your base hypothesis still makes sense.
        
           | mg wrote:
           | Good point.
           | 
           | Is there a standardized way to measure sleep quality? Or are
           | the numbers one measures only compareable as long as one uses
           | the same device?
           | 
           | I would be interested in suggestions which watches measure
           | the HRV / Sleep quality reliably and display the data on
           | screen. Or let me get it from a Linux laptop. I hate having
           | to install an app to get the info off the watch.
        
             | anonporridge wrote:
             | My understanding is that different devices measure HRV with
             | different techniques, so they're not necessarily
             | comparable. I've heard Apple Watch is especially bad at
             | measuring HRV, while Garmin and Whoop are good.
             | 
             | One performance and health coach I follow recommends the
             | Polar H10 chest strap to take a measurement every morning.
             | 
             | https://twitter.com/Alan_Couzens/status/1723334537235607989
             | 
             | https://twitter.com/Alan_Couzens/status/1473672665541984259
             | 
             | There's also not an absolute number or threshold that's
             | good or bad. Generally higher is better, but what really
             | matters are the fluctuations from a personalized baseline.
        
               | mg wrote:
               | Is "take a measurement every morning" about sleep quality
               | or about something else?
               | 
               | Is it even possible to sleep with the H10 strap?
        
               | nradov wrote:
               | Taking a measurement at the same time every morning helps
               | to establish a consistent baseline so that you can detect
               | changes from day to day. But the latest generation of
               | smart watches can track HRV continuously throughout the
               | day, so if you have one of those then taking specific
               | measurements is less useful.
        
             | bad_username wrote:
             | HRV is indeed a good proxy metric for sleep quality, and I
             | can really recommend Garmin watches for measuring it. Even
             | the cheap models track the "Stress" metric 24/7 (which is
             | HRV under the hood). More expensive ones have pulse ox
             | monitoring and a full blown sleep analyzer that provides
             | sleep stage breakfown and a compound sleep quality score.
             | All from just being worn on the wrist normally through the
             | night.
             | 
             | However, HRV is not the whole story about sleep quality. If
             | you develop sleep apnea, for example, your HRV will not
             | react very much, though your sleep quality will suffer.
             | There is no substitute for sleep study to detect such
             | issues.
        
         | locallost wrote:
         | Physical activity definitely makes a difference, but in my
         | experience it will never cause me to sleep like my kids. That
         | ship has sailed. I was very active last year, and had many days
         | of 30k steps, sometimes although rarely 40k steps and I can't
         | say I ever experienced falling a sleep and sleeping 8h rock
         | solid. Maybe once.
         | 
         | edit: just checked, I did a 120km bike ride this year and the
         | next night I slept for around 6h.
        
           | bad_username wrote:
           | > I did a 120km bike ride this year and the next night I
           | slept for around 6h.
           | 
           | Intensive or prolonged exercise (especially close to bedtime)
           | can actually interfere with sleep. I never sleep very well
           | the night after 10k runs or 60km+ rides. There is a sweet
           | spot (for sleep quality) between zero exercise and too much
           | exercise.
        
       | spaceman_2020 wrote:
       | My sleep pattern changed when I had a kid and remained that way.
       | I always needed 7 hours of sleep to feel good and productive, but
       | after the baby, I've found myself being equally productive with
       | 5-5.5hrs of sleep.
        
         | seper8 wrote:
         | Nah, you have just gotten used to being lower functioning. Like
         | an alcoholic who still thinks he can drive equally well after 5
         | beers. At least, almost all of the existing science points into
         | this direction.
         | 
         | You aren't sleeping less because you need less. You have lost
         | the ability to stay asleep for a healthy amount of time.
        
           | bcrosby95 wrote:
           | Just to add onto this with an anecdote, I experienced this
           | phenomena for a smaller amount of sleep: 1-3 hours per night.
           | But I had other physical effects such as a persistent
           | headache - it was obvious it was bad for me.
           | 
           | It took a lot of effort to reset my body to obtain a more
           | healthy amount of sleep. I think I went about a month with
           | 1-3 hours per night. The initial cause was "sleep regression
           | in twins", but that was only for 2 weeks. The next 2 weeks
           | was how long it took me to get my body to sleep more than a
           | couple hours per night.
        
         | wharvle wrote:
         | Nb to observers considering having kids but worried about this,
         | unless you're badly space-constrained it's pretty easy to keep
         | sleep for both adults north of 6.5hrs a night, and to have
         | catch-up nights for both on the weekend (9+ hours). Plus the
         | period in which night feedings are necessary, rather than
         | habit, is only 2.5-3 months anyway.
         | 
         | It's mostly a fairly simple scheduling problem, plus having one
         | adult sleeping somewhere they can't hear the baby during each
         | "shift" (loud fans help). Not having to jump _instantly_ on the
         | crying baby also lets you slooowwwly stretch your response
         | times longer, which is a nice smooth way work toward the
         | glorious 1-feeding-per-night and finally no-night-feedings
         | period (babies wake up and cry even when not hungry--past the
         | earliest weeks, immediate feeding may not be necessary, and if
         | you can wait a minute they may go back to sleep, because they
         | weren't hungry, they'd just woken up and briefly freaked out--
         | if you keep pouncing every time as soon as they make a noise,
         | it trains them to stay awake rather than going back to sleep,
         | and you'll have a bad time for, potentially, much longer)
         | 
         | All bets off if you have a kid who's ill, but for most babies,
         | it's entirely achievable.
        
           | csdvrx wrote:
           | > It's mostly a fairly simple scheduling problem, plus having
           | one adult sleeping somewhere they can't hear the baby during
           | each "shift" (loud fans help).
           | 
           | Wouldn't it be easier to have a soundproofed room for either
           | the parents or the baby?
           | 
           | Your key assumption is "not badly space-constrained" is
           | plausible, but no time/scheduling constraints for adults
           | seems unlikely.
           | 
           | > if you can wait a minute they may go back to sleep, because
           | they weren't hungry, they'd just woken up and briefly freaked
           | out--if you keep pouncing every time as soon as they make a
           | noise, it trains them to stay awake rather than going back to
           | sleep, and you'll have a bad time for, potentially, much
           | longer
           | 
           | Your observations would be in favor of soundproofing where
           | delaying intervention would be a feature, not a bug.
        
             | wharvle wrote:
             | What's with the soundproofing thing? I don't follow what
             | you're getting at. Yes you could solve the problem with
             | soundproofing, but that's really expensive. Some distance
             | and a loud fan is something more people already have than
             | soundproofed rooms. If you'd rather soundproof, sure, go
             | nuts, I'm not providing an exhaustive list of solutions.
             | 
             | > but no time/scheduling constraints for adults seems
             | unlikely.
             | 
             | For parents with 9-5 sorts of jobs, it works fine. You
             | don't even need "sleep-per-parent x2" amounts of contiguous
             | time available, because there'll be a gap of usually a hour
             | or three between the last time the kid wakes up for first-
             | parent and the first time they wake up for second-parent,
             | and it's not like you can't get _any_ sleep while "on
             | duty". We were managing 6ish _uninterrupted_ hours per
             | parent in the very worst weeks for each kid, and more than
             | that for total sleep, with a sleep window (for us, the
             | parents) of about 10 hours. Not sure what you mean. Yeah
             | inconsistent shift work or something could mess it up, but
             | that messes up everything.
        
               | csdvrx wrote:
               | > Not sure what you mean
               | 
               | I'm basically non functional at less than 7h of
               | uninterrupted sleep per night.
               | 
               | > We were managing 6ish uninterrupted hours per parent
               | 
               | It may not be enough
               | 
               | > What's with the soundproofing thing?
               | 
               | Soundproof the room where either the parents or the baby
               | are would be more reliable to control the noise level by
               | preventing it from reaching out instead of adding more.
               | 
               | It could also be converted later into a music room
        
               | wharvle wrote:
               | If "just soundproof the room" is an option, I'm guessing
               | a night nanny's in the budget, too.
               | 
               | What we did was just one of us would sleep in another
               | room with the monitor, and the other in our normal
               | bedroom. Fan and door closed was all the soundproofing we
               | needed in the normal bedroom. But that's why having
               | little space might make it a lot tougher--ours relied on
               | having three rooms, two of which with sleeping-places for
               | adults.
               | 
               | And Ok we probably weren't averaging 7 hours
               | uninterrupted until about 6-8 weeks, but total sleep was
               | consistently over 7, and uninterrupted of 6ish is a lot
               | better than what many parents report (the ones where both
               | get up for every feeding... I'll never understand those
               | folks)
               | 
               | [edit] my overall point is that with just a little
               | thought applied to the problem, and possibly some
               | resources but likely not that much if you already live in
               | a house instead of a small apartment, you're not
               | _guaranteed_ impossibly-short sounding amounts of sleep
               | just because you have an infant.
        
           | 123pie123 wrote:
           | I suspect the above worked for you? this is 100% nothing like
           | my experience and it wasn't a "fairly simple scheduling
           | problem"
           | 
           | and "Not having to jump instantly on the crying baby" made
           | things worse
           | 
           | our experience was a not great to begin with, but the sleep
           | deprivation only lasted around 6-10months per child and for
           | the benefits it gave - I would definately do it again
           | 
           | to all the potential parents out there, please do your own
           | research and try not to fall in the trap of the victorian
           | mindset - which on the whole (massively over simplifying it)
           | seems to suggest actions to make your life easier at the
           | expense of the baby.
        
             | wharvle wrote:
             | Like a charm, three for three. No night feedings past 12
             | weeks for any of the three. Longest "cry it out" period of
             | the three was three nights (because all were comfortably at
             | a single feeding by then, and used to falling back asleep
             | on their own after more-minor sleep interruptions) All
             | slept great--and as long as medical professionals say they
             | should, which is a thing we notice most other young kids in
             | our circle _not_ coming even close to doing--until old
             | enough to start worrying about death and stuff like that,
             | which--yeah, same here, kid.
             | 
             | [edit] and actually the whole rest of this holds without
             | capping it with that action, it just means you'll need to
             | keep up the shift thing for 6-12 months instead of 3, and--
             | from what I've seen--deal with a couple nights a week of
             | your kid waking up in the middle of the night the whole
             | rest of their early childhood. The shift-sleeping strategy
             | has no bearing on that, but does get you a couple REM
             | cycles a night, even in the worst of it.
        
       | squidbeak wrote:
       | Fancy, but I'm much more inclined to believe the causes are
       | simpler. Steadily increasing aches and pains, worry about
       | mortality, worry about younger relatives, multiplication of
       | regrets, or this side of retirement, the sheer stress of modern
       | life, which seems to wear more heavily when there's less time to
       | bounce back, substance abuse maybe.
        
         | mongol wrote:
         | Yeah, the burdens of adulthood, a more complex life with more
         | responsibilities, and so on
        
         | iJohnDoe wrote:
         | Good summary.
         | 
         | Oh, to be young again and when you can fall asleep without a
         | busy mind keeping you awake.
        
           | ideamotor wrote:
           | Jeez, at what age was this true for you? Before puberty,
           | surely. I think folks are mythologizing their past a tad bit
           | here.
        
             | jwells89 wrote:
             | Can't speak for others, by my teenage years were pretty
             | worry-free. That may not have been the norm though because
             | I spent most of my free time on my computer, pouring many
             | hours into Photoshop, WoW, and tinkering with code rather
             | than worrying about classmate drama or getting into
             | trouble.
             | 
             | Back then, I was practically always dead asleep within
             | minutes of my head hitting the pillow and a snooze was
             | always within easy reach no matter when I tried (wasn't
             | uncommon to have a 1-2 hour nap after coming home from
             | school). Flash forward 16 years to today and getting to
             | sleep isn't too much of a problem but it's much more common
             | to have trouble with getting my head stopped long enough to
             | drift off, especially nights when I don't make a point of
             | doing almost nothing for 2-3 hours prior to wind down.
        
         | fnordpiglet wrote:
         | Perhaps but I think like the rest of the body the brain
         | experiences dysfunction as well, which almost certainly impacts
         | sleep as a fundamental function of the brain.
        
         | philjohn wrote:
         | I find the best way for me to fall asleep is to put on a
         | podcast, my current go to is "Now there's your problem" and
         | just focus on the words being spoken, pushes everything out of
         | my mind.
         | 
         | But also, as I get older I worry less about my own mortality -
         | me, you, everyone we both know - all going to die, and worrying
         | about it isn't going to change that.
        
           | I_Am_Nous wrote:
           | True. I'm Catholic so I even look forward to my death lol
        
         | twic wrote:
         | For me, pain is definitely part of it. I fall asleep alright,
         | then i wake up with my arms both asleep and my ribs aching
         | where i'm lying on them, and it's quite hard to fall asleep
         | again. To be honest, i might just need a new mattress.
        
           | chadcmulligan wrote:
           | ..and exercise, core strength helps things not hurt, muscles
           | hold things in place
        
         | sixothree wrote:
         | I like the say the worst part of getting older isn't your body
         | breaking down, it's the accumulation of things you can't unsee
         | that keep you up at night.
        
       | seviu wrote:
       | Funnily enough when I was much younger I developed amnesia. It
       | was devastating in many levels. Lost friendships, it impacted my
       | long term memory, my concentration. I could go several nights
       | without sleep no matter what I did.
       | 
       | My mind would wander, I would worry about things, it was a
       | nightmare.
       | 
       | Eventually I had to relearn how to fall asleep. I am now much
       | older and I won't say my sleep is perfect, but I can easily fall
       | asleep within minutes. I had to rewire myself to empty my mind of
       | every external real life related thought. What works for me is to
       | build an imaginary world and dive into it. Eventually that world
       | disappears and I fall asleep.
       | 
       | I know there are other techniques but this works for me.
        
         | asdfologist wrote:
         | Amnesia? Or did you mean insomnia?
        
           | rented_mule wrote:
           | I'm not who you're responding to, so I don't know what they
           | intended. But sleep issues can certainly lead to memory
           | issues. So, maybe both?
           | 
           | When I was in my mid 30s, I suddenly had extreme memory
           | issues. For example, at dinner time, I had no memory of what
           | I ate for lunch or even if I had lunch at all. I could
           | remember people that I knew, but I could not remember if I
           | talked with them earlier in the day. It was all very scary.
           | 
           | After various neurological tests showed nothing unusual, my
           | doctor thought we should look into sleep issues. It turned
           | out I suffer from something called Delayed Sleep Phase
           | Syndrome - whereas the average person has a natural bedtime
           | that is ~24 hours after they last went to sleep, mine was
           | significantly longer than 24 hours.
           | 
           | My doctor concluded that this was the source of my memory
           | issues. That confused me a bit, as I experienced trouble
           | sleeping my entire life prior to this diagnosis. She
           | explained that the consequences of inadequate sleep worsen as
           | we age.
           | 
           | It was inconvenient for work and social things, but I was
           | able to start living longer days (i.e., don't go to bed until
           | I'm sleepy). Within a week, the recall issues I'd had were a
           | memory (see what I did there?). I was also able to fall
           | asleep much more quickly than I had before, and sleep
           | duration didn't have the wild swings I'd experienced all my
           | life.
        
         | loxias wrote:
         | I would love to hear more about how you successfully releared
         | how to fall asleep.
         | 
         | I'm facing a similar battle right now, I've always been a
         | "night person" and on a roughly 28h day, for the past year I've
         | been (mostly unsuccessfully) trying to force myself into a
         | morning person and 24h day. It's kinda worked, though I get btw
         | 3-6h of sleep, which isn't enough.
        
           | rainclouds wrote:
           | I struggle with this as well and decided the only thing I can
           | control is wake up, so I stretch those into 45-90 minute
           | periods using increasing music volume to wake up.
           | 
           | Having a time period to wake up makes it more likely I fall
           | asleep in a predictable time period. Going to sleep at X to
           | wake up at Y is all fail for me.
        
           | jmiskovic wrote:
           | My method is similar to meditation. I focus on my faint
           | tinnitus, and expand the peripheral awareness to any other
           | sounds. When my mind starts wandering I bring the focus back
           | to the sense of hearing. It helps clear the mind and I'm out
           | in minutes, pretty reliably. Only time it doesn't work is
           | when I've had too much coffee (not that I learn from that
           | mistake).
           | 
           | I also tried other methods, like reading a book before sleep,
           | the 4-7-8 breathing pattern, and the white noise generator,
           | but to me they are just distractions.
        
           | kornork wrote:
           | What do you mean 28h day? Are you going to bed 4 hours later
           | every day than the day before? How can you do this and keep a
           | job, or even schedule appointments several weeks out?
        
             | loxias wrote:
             | Left to my own devices, I fall into something like that,
             | yes. My ideal world would be one in which I was allowed to
             | stay up and keep being productive, instead of feeling like
             | I'm hitting my stride right as the external world says it's
             | time to go to sleep.
             | 
             | I donno, it hasn't been a big deal. I've worked for
             | startups and also doing consulting work the past 20 years,
             | I always mentioned my weird schedule when interviewing,
             | maybe it's tech, maybe just my bubble, but it's fine.
             | During that time I didn't tend to schedule many
             | appointments.
             | 
             | Now I'm doing a different thing, trying to see if I can
             | actually adapt to be on a 24h schedule and be a "morning
             | person" and all that.
        
           | ajolly wrote:
           | A battled this for most of my life, the biggest difference
           | surprisingly has been trying to shift meals earlier and
           | earlier in the day. Search for ETRF, early time restricted
           | feeding.
        
       | Projectiboga wrote:
       | Body produced Melatonin levels go down throughout adulthood.
        
       | cracrecry wrote:
       | Does it?
       | 
       | I firmly believe that most problems people have with sleep also
       | depend on modern "way of living", that is highly Artificial.
       | 
       | For example, lots of people have Apnea, and Apnea is highly
       | correlated with being obese, and being obese is normal in the
       | Western world, but it was not 100 years ago.
       | 
       | So it is not about being older but about being overweight,
       | something that depends on eating healthy and exercising, that
       | most people do not do.
       | 
       | Another important factor is artificial lighting, again a 100
       | years old thing, people that have used candles know how dim they
       | are, and people using screens in the bedroom until late,
       | specially social media.
       | 
       | Social Media is addictive, but you don't need to use it, people
       | can stop using it, but they just don't want to.
       | 
       | Also living in the city is noisy, expensive and stressful. Most
       | people are worried about lots of things, and that makes them
       | sleep badly.
        
         | letmevoteplease wrote:
         | Also alarm clocks, caffeine, unnatural sleep schedules. This
         | site[1] has lots of good information, with this basic
         | (unfortunately impossible for many) recommendation:
         | 
         | "There is only one formula for healthy and refreshing sleep: Go
         | to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier. Not later.
         | Wake up naturally without an alarm clock."
         | 
         | [1] https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Science_of_sleep
        
           | EA-3167 wrote:
           | Unfortunately for me that would entail staying up until 3AM
           | and waking up at 11AM. That might work for me, but it doesn't
           | work for my professional or social life.
        
             | hermanradtke wrote:
             | It is worse. The sleep formula article says free sleep
             | often involves 24 hour sleep sessions, which is practically
             | impossible for most people.
        
             | sen wrote:
             | Yeah I had a period before I had kids and when I worked for
             | myself where I could sleep whenever I wanted. I'd get tired
             | around 3-4am, go to sleep about 5am, wake up around 12-1pm,
             | and felt great every day. The most energy, motivation, and
             | general good moods I've had in my life.
             | 
             | Then kids + career = 10pm-5am sleep schedule and pretty
             | much feel tired (struggling-to-function tired) 24/7.
        
               | gambiting wrote:
               | In the same cart now. Not sure how you can stay
               | functional as a human with a 2 year old who won't sleep
               | past 6am. Going to bed super early doesn't seem to help
               | either. I can force myself to go to sleep before 10pm so
               | in theory I get a full restorative 8 hours of sleep, but
               | I don't feel _anywhere_ near as rested as I was doing
               | 2am-10am.
        
             | golergka wrote:
             | One more reason to embrace fully remote work with async
             | communication. I'm in my top work shape at 2am, when slack
             | is dead silent.
        
           | hermanradtke wrote:
           | > only when you are very tired
           | 
           | The sleep formula article said "truly sleepy" which, to me,
           | is significantly different from "very tired".
        
           | globular-toast wrote:
           | > "There is only one formula for healthy and refreshing
           | sleep: Go to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier.
           | Not later. Wake up naturally without an alarm clock."
           | 
           | I did that for years when I was younger. For me that meant a
           | longer-than-24-hour day which quickly led to being completely
           | nocturnal. Those were dark days, literally and figuratively.
           | I can distinctly remember my first "day" without daylight. It
           | wasn't a nice feeling. I would usually try to correct it when
           | that happened which was like having a 12 hour jet lag.
        
         | SantalBlush wrote:
         | All of these other factors you've mentioned do nothing to rule
         | out age as a factor. These things aren't mutually exclusive.
        
       | hindsightbias wrote:
       | This may be obvious to most, but if you can't sleep and your mind
       | is empty, you probably have something bio going on.
       | 
       | If you can't sleep and you have ten things you're worrying about
       | then it's probably more psychological and you might have to get
       | that sorted before expecting night bliss.
       | 
       | Have been amazed the number of people who complain about sleep
       | and have all sorts of drama going on. People have this sense that
       | the act of laying down and closing your eyes = sleep mode.
        
       | charlie0 wrote:
       | "Sleep architeture"...where can I find the Dream engineers?
        
       | aquafox wrote:
       | IIRC, the explanation of Matthew Walker, a well respected sleep
       | researcher and author, (https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-
       | Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...) involves melatonin. It's a sleep
       | timer: Melatonin levels peek in the middle of the day and are
       | lowest around midnight. "Around" is the important part. As we get
       | older, melatonines gets is earlier and earlier, say 1am for a
       | juvenile but 8pm for a retiree. But the retiree doesn't got to
       | sleep at 8pm because of social activities, watching a movie or a
       | late night sports game. By the time he goes to bed, it's already
       | too late and at 4am, melatonin levels are so high that he cannot
       | sleep anymore, despite being tired.
        
         | ashirviskas wrote:
         | I've read that Matthew Walker isn't a good source on sleep, as
         | he tends to just make up some claims or bend the data to
         | support whatever point he wants to make [1].
         | 
         | [1] - https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
         | 
         | EDIT:
         | 
         | >Melatonin levels peek in the middle of the day and are lowest
         | around midnight.
         | 
         | Isn't that the opposite of how melatonin works?
        
         | glitchc wrote:
         | How can it be that high melatonin levels wake you up when
         | people are given melatonin supplements to fall asleep?
        
         | porknubbins wrote:
         | This finding seems to be at odds with what I have heard about
         | melatonin. Everything I have read says higher melatonin helps
         | promote sleep, otherwise why would taking small doses near
         | bedtime work?
        
       | fooker wrote:
       | This is anecdotal, but whenever I have managed to keep my phone
       | in a different room, I get pure uninterrupted sleep.
        
       | beebeepka wrote:
       | Since I almost never sleep for more than 5-6 hours, in my early
       | 20s I wanted the cycle to be more like 32 hours, or at least 28.
       | Now, 20 years later, I think 32 would be too much but 28 is still
       | looking attractive to me, especially with an afternoon nap just
       | after lunch.
        
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