4 ms·

Very interesting project. Just a minor detail. > However, I have always recovered from those periods by catching up on sleep. This is actually a common miscon

by vienno 8y ago

Very interesting project. Just a minor detail. > However, I have always recovered from those periods by catching up on sleep. This is actually a common misconception. In reality, it is not possible to "catch up" on missed sleeping hours. Source: https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/you-cant-catch-sleep https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/you-cant-catch-sleep

daveFNbuck 8y ago
That mentions (without citation) one study about a very extreme and weird version of catching up on sleep. I doubt this person was talking about sleeping an extra 10 hours in one night to make up for 28 hours of missed sleep over 2 weeks.
- vienno 8y ago
  I can't seem to recall where I first read this, but I am confident I've read it in multiple articles and books (I have a keen interest in this topic due to serious personal sleep issues). But I seem to stand corrected[1]. Thanks for your comment. 1. http://time.com/5288704/can-you-catch-up-on-sleep/ http://time.com/5288704/can-you-catch-up-on-sleep/
meiraleal 8y ago
The reasonable conclusion is that the body knows how to catch up, you just need to get back to sleep normally. EDIT: otherwise everybody would be dead from the (negative) power of compound interest.
sevagh 8y ago
>This is actually a common misconception. In reality, it is not possible to "catch up" on missed sleeping hours. I find that the same sentiment is worded misleadingly in the book Why We Sleep. If you have a day of bad sleep (i.e. non-optimally consolidating the day's events), followed by a day of good sleep, it's not like your "health bar" is permanently lowered. You'll just never get to re-consolidate that lost day. So, today I read 20 pages of a book and sleep like crap - I "lose" the synthesis of those 20 pages in my memory/associative brain map/whatever. If I slept better, I'd remember way more from those 20 pages. What's lost forever by that poor sleep is the _opportunity_ to properly synthesize those 20 pages just on that one night. Not your "health", and you don't get a permanently increased level of cortisol. After a good night of sleep, you do physiologically recover and you're back to normal. Also, take everything in "Why We Sleep" with a grain of salt - sleep is hugely important and sleep deprivation sucks but he mentions several times in the book that "everybody sleeps badly once in a while, if it's not the norm then you're fine." Many times he's mentioning effects of chronic deprivation for long periods of time. And insomnia paranoia will probably make you sleep worse than if you stop worrying about t.

by vienno 8y ago

daveFNbuck 8y ago

That mentions (without citation) one study about a very extreme and weird version of catching up on sleep. I doubt this person was talking about sleeping an extra 10 hours in one night to make up for 28 hours of missed sleep over 2 weeks.

vienno 8y ago
I can't seem to recall where I first read this, but I am confident I've read it in multiple articles and books (I have a keen interest in this topic due to serious personal sleep issues). But I seem to stand corrected[1]. Thanks for your comment. 1. http://time.com/5288704/can-you-catch-up-on-sleep/ http://time.com/5288704/can-you-catch-up-on-sleep/

meiraleal 8y ago

The reasonable conclusion is that the body knows how to catch up, you just need to get back to sleep normally. EDIT: otherwise everybody would be dead from the (negative) power of compound interest.

sevagh 8y ago

>This is actually a common misconception. In reality, it is not possible to "catch up" on missed sleeping hours. I find that the same sentiment is worded misleadingly in the book Why We Sleep. If you have a day of bad sleep (i.e. non-optimally consolidating the day's events), followed by a day of good sleep, it's not like your "health bar" is permanently lowered. You'll just never get to re-consolidate that lost day. So, today I read 20 pages of a book and sleep like crap - I "lose" the synthesis of those 20 pages in my memory/associative brain map/whatever. If I slept better, I'd remember way more from those 20 pages. What's lost forever by that poor sleep is the _opportunity_ to properly synthesize those 20 pages just on that one night. Not your "health", and you don't get a permanently increased level of cortisol. After a good night of sleep, you do physiologically recover and you're back to normal. Also, take everything in "Why We Sleep" with a grain of salt - sleep is hugely important and sleep deprivation sucks but he mentions several times in the book that "everybody sleeps badly once in a while, if it's not the norm then you're fine." Many times he's mentioning effects of chronic deprivation for long periods of time. And insomnia paranoia will probably make you sleep worse than if you stop worrying about t.