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Sleep

Sleep is a question of ease. If you are totally at ease, your sleep quality will go up and your sleep quota will go down. -- Sadhguru

If you can transition from wakefulness to sleep consciously, you will also be able to transition from life to death consciously.

Comfortable modern sleep is an unnatural superstimulus. Sleepiness, just like hunger, is normal​

The default argument for sleeping 7-9 hours a night is that this is the amount of sleep most of us get "naturally" when we sleep without using alarms. In this section, I argue against this line of reasoning, using the following analogy:

  • Experiencing hunger is normal and does not necessarily imply that you are not eating enough. Never being hungry means you are probably eating too much.
  • Experiencing sleepiness is normal and does not necessarily imply that you are undersleeping. Never being sleepy means you are probably sleeping too much.
  • If you sleep as much as you want, you'll probably sleep too much and become more susceptible to depression.
  • And if you sleep way too much at once, you'll be feeling terrible afterwards, however pleasant the sleep was.

Depression -> oversleeping. Mania -> acute sleep deprivation​

Occasional acute sleep deprivation is good for health and promotes more efficient sleep​

  1. Acute sleep deprivation combined with caffeine or some other stimulant that cancels out sleep pressure does not result in decreased cognitive ability at least until 30-40 hours of wakefulness (if this is true, then sleepiness, rather absence of sleep per se is responsible for decreased cognitive performance during acute sleep deprivation).
  2. Occasional acute sleep deprivation has no impact on long-term cognitive ability or health.
  3. Sleep does become more efficient over time and, in complete analogy to exercise, you withstand both acute sleep deprivation better and can function at baseline with a lower amount of sleep in the long-term.

Our priors about sleep research should be weak​

Decreasing sleep by 1-2 hours a night in the long-term has no negative health effects​

  1. A sleep researcher who trains sailors to sleep efficiently in order to maximize their race performance believes that 4.5-5.5 hours of sleep is fine.
  2. 70% of 84 hunter-gatherers studied in 2013 slept less than 7 hours per day, with 46% sleeping less than 6 hours.
  3. A single-point mutation can decrease the amount of required sleep by 2 hours, with no negative side-effects.
  4. A brain surgery can decrease the amount of sleep required by 3 hours, with no negative-side effects.
  5. Sleep is not required for memory consolidation.

https://guzey.com/theses-on-sleep

I'm gaining 33 days of life every year. 1 more year of life every 11 years. 5 more years of life every 55 years

28 hour day - https://xkcd.com/320

https://www.polyphasic.net

Polyphasic sleep is the practice of sleeping in numerous smaller blocks during the day as opposed to sleeping once as is common in many countries. The Siesta (popular in Spain), and Segmented (which was widespread before the advent of artificial lighting) sleep schedules are some of the earlier forms that polyphasic sleep has taken. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in this practice, and many other schedules have been developed with increasing research and experimentation. Sleeping polyphasically can:

  • Reduce the total sleep time required.
  • Eliminate chronic tiredness.
  • Help with insomnia.
  • Help many workers cope with their demanding schedules.
  • Improve overall sleep quality and quality of life.

The importance of sleep in learning​

  • sleep is the brain way to get rid of its toxins

  • erases less important part of memory and simultaneously strengthens areas that we want to remember by going over the synapses over and over

  • rehearses about some of the tougher part we want to learn

  • dreaming about what we are learning can help in the process of learning

  • Also just thinking about that we are going to dream about this topic can make dreams come.

  • Its very hard to do multitask, with a lot of training its possible

  • But it's better to do context switching between tasks (can increase or decrease the duration of each task according to priority)

  • hippocampus can create new neurons even in adulthood

  • In restrictive environment, exercise can help to create new neurons

  • persistent/passionate/hard-working/not giving up/staying the course/not letting go

Blinkist - Why We Sleep by Mathew Walker​

  • body clock dictates our sleep patterns
  • Sleep deprivation leads to high blood pressure and heart disease
  • Every animal needs sleep, but not same kind of sleep or the same amount of it
    • Humans - 8 hours
  • Driving drowsy is equally as dangerous as driving drunk
  • Sleepwalking kills - and it's not caused by dreaming
  • If you want to sleep better, get lots of sunlight and avoid certain substances
    • Hot bath before sleep
    • Receive sunlight
    • Wake up to morning sunlight and not to alarm

Early Bird and Night Owl​

I'm not an early bird or a night own. I'm some form of permanently exhausted pigeon. -- Gemma Correll

Sleep starts​

Sleep starts, also known as hypnic jerks, are sudden, involuntary muscle contractions that people might experience as they fall asleep.

Certain factors that increase the likelihood of experiencing sleep starts include excessive caffeine and stimulant consumption, vigorous exercise before sleep, emotional stress, and sleep deprivation. Researchers do not know for certain what causes sleep starts.

Brain

Can you change your sleep schedule? - YouTube

The Ultimate Guide to 10X Better Sleep | (Why We Sleep) - YouTube