7 ms·

I'm highly doubtful that it'll diminish my enjoyment of life by more than the 2.5 hours a day worth of enjoyment I wouldn't otherwise have. That's like adding a

I'm highly doubtful that it'll diminish my enjoyment of life by more than the 2.5 hours a day worth of enjoyment I wouldn't otherwise have. That's like adding a full month of time to every year. I could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow and I'd be damn glad I took that extra time for myself each and every day.

rubicon33 8y ago
I agree with you. Some people want to live well into their 80s and 90s. I look at most people in their 80s and 90s and cringe. Loads of pills. Walkers. Cognitive struggles. etc. I'm fine living until 65 if it was a full, happy, productive life. I don't need to live forever, nor do I want to.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  But low sleep is going to impact your perception during waking life. You’re not going to get the maximum cognitive productivity or the maximum emotional enjoyment out of life. It’s like working smarter vs. working harder.
  - shittyadmin 8y ago
    I don't quite get it - why do you think I need the maximum possible cognitive productivity out of my life? If I'm delivering enough to get the job done, that's enough for me, I don't need to invest every minute of my day in maximizing my cognitive productivity over my enjoyment of life. If I'm giving up spending time with my family and friends, working on personal projects or even just catching up on a TV show I enjoy, I'd say that's a better use of my time than sleeping. I see no reason to think it has significant impact on emotional enjoyment though as you're suggesting - these studies impact learning primarily which wouldn't seem to be deeply involved there. In fact, studies exist showing positive impacts for depression patients.
    - gf263 8y ago
      It has a significant impact on my emotional enjoyment. I feel happier, less grumpy, less anxious, when I sleep my full 8
      - lucideer 8y ago
        I feel less grumpy and less anxious, each time I sleep my full 8, but I'd be hesitant to equate that sensation with "happier". If I do that for an extended period of time, I feel bored, existential, "socially unproductive", and begin to get a creeping sense of being a rat in a ratrace. If I sacrifice some of those 8 hours, I feel grumpy, moody, occasionally a bit depressed, but overall get to do more small day-to-day things of value that give me a genuine sense of fulfillment on top of that.
        bluntfang 8y ago
        >If I do that for an extended period of time, I feel bored, existential, "socially unproductive", and begin to get a creeping sense of being a rat in a ratrace. Have you considered that your life is boring and that you're actually participating in a rat race and sleep is allowing you to identify that?
        lucideer 8y ago
        > Have you considered that your life is boring and that you're actually participating in a rat race and sleep is allowing you to identify that? I don't need sleep to identify that ;)
        bluntfang 8y ago
        So you aren't really "happier", you've just chosen a self-prescribed medication to make you seem happier?
        projektir 8y ago
        That's life for most people. Have you been born yesterday?
- pstuart 8y ago
  You sound like you're in your twenties. I think you're setting up a false dichotomy, but it's your life. YOLO!
- doctorOb 8y ago
  I had this view for a while, until I thought about it from the perspective of my loved ones. They may very well prefer that I live past 65.
louprado 8y ago
"I could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow" Ironically, when I am sleep deprived I am more accident prone and more likely to get hit by a bus. But what's almost certain, if I sleep less than 7 hours for more than 1 week, I will catch a cold. My immune system doesn't work as well without sufficient sleep.
- alonmower 8y ago
  Same, it’s like clockwork for me if I get three or more bad nights of sleep in a row
yelloweyes 8y ago
Why do nerds have this thing where they think they got it all figured out. Like everything is a mathematical system where you can prove that A+B=C.
- aaachilless 8y ago
  I'm pretty confident the tendency to think you have it all figured out is not scoped to nerd-dom.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- ryanmonroe 8y ago
  Well you have to make your decisions based on something right? I'm not sure what you're advocating here, unless it's that we shouldn't think about life decisions too hard. The fact that math is involved doesn't automatically mean the reasoning is shallow.
  - Apocryphon 8y ago
    It's referring to the engineer's disease: https://ask.metafilter.com/297591/Origin-of-the-term-Engineers-Disease https://ask.metafilter.com/297591/Origin-of-the-term-Enginee... You see it in popular commentary sometimes- the ideas of engineers, often specifically software engineers, claiming unique knowledge by deriving from first principles, in fields they are but laymen in.
    - Kiro 8y ago
      I rather trust an engineer in random subjects than anyone else that is not a professional in the field.
      - Apocryphon 8y ago
        Why? Why not doctors? Physicists? Geologists? Scientists of other disciplines? Mathematicians? Statisticians? Why give engineers- and I presume, software engineers, specifically- that extra credit?
andrei_says_ 8y ago
Being underslept makes me grumpy, irritable, unable to focus and pessimistic. All the time. Having enough sleep lifts up my mood, I am naturally joyful, with easy and reliable access to my memory, and relaxed. All day long. For me, I know that having fewer pleasurable activities in well-rested mode beats the grinding experience of more stuff in grumpy mode. Being 90-100% present and able to enjoy fewer things is better than being 30-60% present, and in partial agony, with more things. So I prioritize sleep which forces me to do less unnecessary stuff.
- sharadov 8y ago
  You are 100% right. The days I sleep less is when am cranky, unable to focus. Its worse in the morning gets better as the day progresses. I work from home, so on those days I'll take a nap and it's a huge upliftment in the mood. And I've had those work weeks, where you don't get enough sleep and I've almost had accidents, screwed up shit at work.
erfgh 8y ago
Well, I can't get any enjoyment when I'm sleepy. Try to watch a movie, I fall asleep; try to read a book, I fall asleep. So if you lack sleep you can't get enjoyment anyway.

rubicon33 8y ago

I agree with you. Some people want to live well into their 80s and 90s. I look at most people in their 80s and 90s and cringe. Loads of pills. Walkers. Cognitive struggles. etc. I'm fine living until 65 if it was a full, happy, productive life. I don't need to live forever, nor do I want to.

Apocryphon 8y ago
But low sleep is going to impact your perception during waking life. You’re not going to get the maximum cognitive productivity or the maximum emotional enjoyment out of life. It’s like working smarter vs. working harder.
- shittyadmin 8y ago
  I don't quite get it - why do you think I need the maximum possible cognitive productivity out of my life? If I'm delivering enough to get the job done, that's enough for me, I don't need to invest every minute of my day in maximizing my cognitive productivity over my enjoyment of life. If I'm giving up spending time with my family and friends, working on personal projects or even just catching up on a TV show I enjoy, I'd say that's a better use of my time than sleeping. I see no reason to think it has significant impact on emotional enjoyment though as you're suggesting - these studies impact learning primarily which wouldn't seem to be deeply involved there. In fact, studies exist showing positive impacts for depression patients.
  - gf263 8y ago
    It has a significant impact on my emotional enjoyment. I feel happier, less grumpy, less anxious, when I sleep my full 8
    - lucideer 8y ago
      I feel less grumpy and less anxious, each time I sleep my full 8, but I'd be hesitant to equate that sensation with "happier". If I do that for an extended period of time, I feel bored, existential, "socially unproductive", and begin to get a creeping sense of being a rat in a ratrace. If I sacrifice some of those 8 hours, I feel grumpy, moody, occasionally a bit depressed, but overall get to do more small day-to-day things of value that give me a genuine sense of fulfillment on top of that.
      - bluntfang 8y ago
        >If I do that for an extended period of time, I feel bored, existential, "socially unproductive", and begin to get a creeping sense of being a rat in a ratrace. Have you considered that your life is boring and that you're actually participating in a rat race and sleep is allowing you to identify that?
        lucideer 8y ago
        > Have you considered that your life is boring and that you're actually participating in a rat race and sleep is allowing you to identify that? I don't need sleep to identify that ;)
        bluntfang 8y ago
        So you aren't really "happier", you've just chosen a self-prescribed medication to make you seem happier?
        projektir 8y ago
        That's life for most people. Have you been born yesterday?
pstuart 8y ago
You sound like you're in your twenties. I think you're setting up a false dichotomy, but it's your life. YOLO!
doctorOb 8y ago
I had this view for a while, until I thought about it from the perspective of my loved ones. They may very well prefer that I live past 65.

louprado 8y ago

"I could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow" Ironically, when I am sleep deprived I am more accident prone and more likely to get hit by a bus. But what's almost certain, if I sleep less than 7 hours for more than 1 week, I will catch a cold. My immune system doesn't work as well without sufficient sleep.

alonmower 8y ago
Same, it’s like clockwork for me if I get three or more bad nights of sleep in a row

yelloweyes 8y ago

Why do nerds have this thing where they think they got it all figured out. Like everything is a mathematical system where you can prove that A+B=C.

aaachilless 8y ago
I'm pretty confident the tendency to think you have it all figured out is not scoped to nerd-dom.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ryanmonroe 8y ago
Well you have to make your decisions based on something right? I'm not sure what you're advocating here, unless it's that we shouldn't think about life decisions too hard. The fact that math is involved doesn't automatically mean the reasoning is shallow.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  It's referring to the engineer's disease: https://ask.metafilter.com/297591/Origin-of-the-term-Engineers-Disease https://ask.metafilter.com/297591/Origin-of-the-term-Enginee... You see it in popular commentary sometimes- the ideas of engineers, often specifically software engineers, claiming unique knowledge by deriving from first principles, in fields they are but laymen in.
  - Kiro 8y ago
    I rather trust an engineer in random subjects than anyone else that is not a professional in the field.
    - Apocryphon 8y ago
      Why? Why not doctors? Physicists? Geologists? Scientists of other disciplines? Mathematicians? Statisticians? Why give engineers- and I presume, software engineers, specifically- that extra credit?

andrei_says_ 8y ago

Being underslept makes me grumpy, irritable, unable to focus and pessimistic. All the time. Having enough sleep lifts up my mood, I am naturally joyful, with easy and reliable access to my memory, and relaxed. All day long. For me, I know that having fewer pleasurable activities in well-rested mode beats the grinding experience of more stuff in grumpy mode. Being 90-100% present and able to enjoy fewer things is better than being 30-60% present, and in partial agony, with more things. So I prioritize sleep which forces me to do less unnecessary stuff.

sharadov 8y ago
You are 100% right. The days I sleep less is when am cranky, unable to focus. Its worse in the morning gets better as the day progresses. I work from home, so on those days I'll take a nap and it's a huge upliftment in the mood. And I've had those work weeks, where you don't get enough sleep and I've almost had accidents, screwed up shit at work.

erfgh 8y ago

Well, I can't get any enjoyment when I'm sleepy. Try to watch a movie, I fall asleep; try to read a book, I fall asleep. So if you lack sleep you can't get enjoyment anyway.