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It's common sense that 8 straight hours per day is not ideal in general, nevermind for everyone. If you check out your sleep rhythms (and with exercise and with

by Cacti 14y ago

It's common sense that 8 straight hours per day is not ideal in general, nevermind for everyone. If you check out your sleep rhythms (and with exercise and without stimulants like alcohol, coffee, nicotine, etc.) the ideal is usually something like: 1) sleep 5.5ish hours. 2) wake up at like 3am, work for an hour or two 3) sleep for another 1.5ish hours 4) wake up at dawn and somewhere in the early afternoon take a brief nap The knowledge that 8 hours straight isn't ideal isn't the issue, it's fitting it into your daily schedule that's the problem, for the same reason everyone knows that 5 small meals per day is much better for you than 2.5 huge meals. So you try to compromise, which usually means adjusting your sleeping block to hit your REM rhythms well (i.e. 6.5 or 9 hours, give or take each way).

archangel_one 14y ago
The ideal is waking up at 3am to do work? I can't think of many things that seem less like common sense than that. In the absence of an alarm or anything to wake me up sooner, I sleep straight through to the morning. I much prefer it that way, to be honest.
- Cacti 14y ago
  There's a term for it that I forget right now... morning sleep maybe? Second sleep? Whether you call that time when you're awake "work" or not is irrelevant---I just meant that you're up doing something, even if its just reading or thinking or writing or whatever. It seems counterintuitive but when you're properly rested, fit, and not using any real stimulatives/depressants, and you get in that rhythm, it works very well and comes naturally. Instead of 1 time per day of sleeping and waking up feeling great you get 3 times (pre-dawn, after dawn, then after your afternoon nap). You just have to be able to do all 3 regularly to make it work, otherwise you skip a nap and you get screwed.
Afton 14y ago
> for the same reason everyone knows that 5 small meals per day is much better for you than 2.5 huge meals. Is 'the same reason' that it's false? Your common sense and mine appear not to jibe.

by Cacti 14y ago

archangel_one 14y ago

The ideal is waking up at 3am to do work? I can't think of many things that seem less like common sense than that. In the absence of an alarm or anything to wake me up sooner, I sleep straight through to the morning. I much prefer it that way, to be honest.

Cacti 14y ago
There's a term for it that I forget right now... morning sleep maybe? Second sleep? Whether you call that time when you're awake "work" or not is irrelevant---I just meant that you're up doing something, even if its just reading or thinking or writing or whatever. It seems counterintuitive but when you're properly rested, fit, and not using any real stimulatives/depressants, and you get in that rhythm, it works very well and comes naturally. Instead of 1 time per day of sleeping and waking up feeling great you get 3 times (pre-dawn, after dawn, then after your afternoon nap). You just have to be able to do all 3 regularly to make it work, otherwise you skip a nap and you get screwed.

Afton 14y ago

> for the same reason everyone knows that 5 small meals per day is much better for you than 2.5 huge meals. Is 'the same reason' that it's false? Your common sense and mine appear not to jibe.