4 ms·

funny how in the top stories in HN at the moment there is another article about the dangers of not getting enough sleep. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1

funny how in the top stories in HN at the moment there is another article about the dangers of not getting enough sleep. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16954079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16954079 though maybe don't read it if you want to try this one.

ItsMe000001 9y ago
The article here is not about that less sleep is okay, but that worrying about it is counterproductive because it keeps you awake even longer. I thought the headline alone already pretty much shows the core of the argument. It does not say "It's not a big deal", but "Tell yourself it’s not a big deal". It's about your mental state, not about the sleep duration.
- keithnz 9y ago
  my point is, it's hard to relax and not worry about it when you read another article that says, you are gonna die early :)
  - cdelsolar 9y ago
    Yeah, but that's an "in the long run" type of thing. You're not going to die early from a couple nights of bad sleep. Take it one day at a time and say "I'll be fine tomorrow if I don't sleep, I've been perfectly functional before on little to no sleep"
  - ItsMe000001 9y ago
    How I solved it: Work from home and get up whenever you want. Whenever I had an episode of wakefulness, usually between around 2 and 4 am, I would get up, watch a video, and get back to sleep, (perfect external aluminum) blinds fully closed, and sleep until 10 or 11 am. So I would always get a a full amount of sleep. I recovered from (long-term very low-dose) chronic heavy metal poisoning (treated with chelators) for years, turned out that was the source of my occasional sleep issues. During the long excretion phase (years) the problems got pretty bad, so I got to test what the best methods are pretty thoroughly. That means you have to find a way to have no time pressure before noon and be able to use that time for sleep. Then worrying stops. I found that interruptions, while inconvenient, don't matter, your brain gets used to it and adjusts. What matters is that you get the full amount of 7-8 hours. How do I know? The last hour of sleep is different - if you get that last hour or not makes a big difference. It was all a lot more intense for me for a few years so I could get a good look at sleep phases. The worst one is the initial 1-3 hours, and the worst time is ~3 am. When you have issues such as my heavy metal problem that's the nightmare "I have cancer I'm going to die" hour (anxiety/panic attack, no factual basis). Somebody else asked about just this here, I don't want to tell them I suspect they may have a problem similar to what I had... base on my experience that is a sign that something is not right, chemically, in the brain.

ItsMe000001 9y ago

The article here is not about that less sleep is okay, but that worrying about it is counterproductive because it keeps you awake even longer. I thought the headline alone already pretty much shows the core of the argument. It does not say "It's not a big deal", but "Tell yourself it’s not a big deal". It's about your mental state, not about the sleep duration.

keithnz 9y ago
my point is, it's hard to relax and not worry about it when you read another article that says, you are gonna die early :)
- cdelsolar 9y ago
  Yeah, but that's an "in the long run" type of thing. You're not going to die early from a couple nights of bad sleep. Take it one day at a time and say "I'll be fine tomorrow if I don't sleep, I've been perfectly functional before on little to no sleep"
- ItsMe000001 9y ago
  How I solved it: Work from home and get up whenever you want. Whenever I had an episode of wakefulness, usually between around 2 and 4 am, I would get up, watch a video, and get back to sleep, (perfect external aluminum) blinds fully closed, and sleep until 10 or 11 am. So I would always get a a full amount of sleep. I recovered from (long-term very low-dose) chronic heavy metal poisoning (treated with chelators) for years, turned out that was the source of my occasional sleep issues. During the long excretion phase (years) the problems got pretty bad, so I got to test what the best methods are pretty thoroughly. That means you have to find a way to have no time pressure before noon and be able to use that time for sleep. Then worrying stops. I found that interruptions, while inconvenient, don't matter, your brain gets used to it and adjusts. What matters is that you get the full amount of 7-8 hours. How do I know? The last hour of sleep is different - if you get that last hour or not makes a big difference. It was all a lot more intense for me for a few years so I could get a good look at sleep phases. The worst one is the initial 1-3 hours, and the worst time is ~3 am. When you have issues such as my heavy metal problem that's the nightmare "I have cancer I'm going to die" hour (anxiety/panic attack, no factual basis). Somebody else asked about just this here, I don't want to tell them I suspect they may have a problem similar to what I had... base on my experience that is a sign that something is not right, chemically, in the brain.