Feb 28
Sleep who needs it….
2005 at 02.12 am posted by Veerle
Now that the weekend has past let’s talk about sleep. Do you also get the feeling that there aren’t enough hours in a regular day? I have that a lot, too many things still going on in my head that it is hard to wind down and prepare to go to bed. Normally I try to stop working around 9PM to unwind a little watching the big tube.
There’s always the urge to check mail and NetNewsWire for a last quick look and before you ever realize it’s past midnight. There ‘s just too much living to be done isn’t it?
A direct result of all that living is that we so easily cut back on our sleeping hours. A recent British research project concluded that British people on average sleep 90 minutes less then in the previous century.
The cut back on sleep is not solely to be blamed on longer working hours but also on our 24/7 society. According to the same British research the problem is significant because a lack of sleep can lead to irritated behavior, inefficient working, a weaker health, accidents and even divorces. On average people in the UK sleep 7,5 hours a night, children and seniors included. Adults in the age between 25 and 55 are fine with an hour less (on average). The amount of sleep that we need is strongly personal.
On the other hand there are those occasional super humans that only need 3 a 4 hours sleep. One thing is for sure I am not one of those. I need my 8 hours sleep (not every day) but still on average. If not I will become a bit moody, easily irritated and even grumpy. In other words I’m not very cheerful company in the early morning hours, let alone mentioning looks… I’m not particularly a ‘Barbie girl’ when I just wake up. My eyes often look small, a bit swollen even… not a very nice sight I can tell you :-) I need my time to awake slowely, a few cups of coffee always taste like heaven the morning and the effect it has on me is most welcome. If I had a really bad night and this isn’t enough, then I might even grab a power drink like Nalu… this happens rather exceptionally when I’m having trouble to get through the day. When I didn’t get enough sleep I get distracted a lot and have difficulties in concentrating.
However you can’t change the amount of sleep you need, that kind of stuff is genetically stipulated. For us women there is also the hormonal cycle to be considered since that’s also an important factor. From what I’ve read the hormone progesterone is the guilty party because it causes sleepiness. Not only the amount of sleep is important. Also fundamental is the quality of sleep. A quarter of the Belgium people have to deal with sleeping difficulties. The broad range of symptoms that causes this ranges from stress at work to being in love. Tranquilizers are to be avoided, they flatten sleep phases. There isn’t a natural alternation anymore between superficial, deep and very deep sleep. In normal sleeping patterns a person usually passes through five phases of sleep, the fifth being REM (rapid eye movement).
Well, I’m not only a long hour sleeper and I’m also not a steady one either. I really envy people who get asleep as soon as they lay their head on the pillow. The average time I need to fall asleep is 1 hour, so that’s not so good. Maybe my mind isn’t easily put to rest. No wonder I need my 8 hours, mostly I sleep just 7 of them anyway. And when I sleep I easily get awake, so the time I sleep deeply is rather limited. Mostly I get awake between 3 and 5 a.m., then I need to go to the bathroom. The nights I sleep in one piece are countable on my fingers over a one month period. And when this is the case, I really feel its recharging results the day after. It feels like I’ve slept a week and I can move mountains. Too bad it can be like this every night, it would do me wonders.
The way we awake could also be a factor, but there aren’t any objective results on that so far. A French psychiatrist called David Servan-Schreiber recommends in his book ”The Instinct to Heal” for a daybreak stimulator: a device that imitates the arrival of first morning light in the room. As soon as the first luminous stimulus touches our closed eyelids, the hypothalamus receives an instruction that it is time to initiate the transition from sleep. This way the awakening process happens naturally without interrupting a dream. (source Weekend Knack)
Some more very interesting follow ups are coming on the matter ;-)
Hope you like the subject.
30served
1
I definately agree with your sentiment Veerle. My girlfriend is at Uni so she often stays up until 2 or 3. This can make those 9:00 starts a little hard for me.
I think I heard somewhere that human naturally have a daily cycle that’s 24 and a bit hours long. I’m not sure where I heard this, maybe someone can confirm? I guess they found out by making people live indoors for a few months without a clock or sunlight. Anyway, this means that we are forever doomed to be just a little bit tired!
2
I totally agree, I hate sleeping, it is such a waste of my time!
3
Veerle, for someone who has some “difficulties” to wake up in the morning, you are able to write long blog entries quite early in the day! ;-) I guess you slept well last night.
To everybody: have nice dreams next night!!
4
Don’t know if you read french, but tireness is the subject of Le Vif this week :
http://www.levif.be/online/default.asp
Good Night ;^)
5
In my opinion a day should definitely have at least 36 hours. Or it should be possible not to sleep if you don’t want that. ;)
but in the last few months i could fortunately reduce my average sleeping time to ~4-5h :)
6
My body doesnt relly care how much sleep i have, i always get up at the same time. I can go to bed at 2/3 still get up at 6.30/7, same if i go to bed at 10.
7
Veerle, the illustration of the sleeping girl is beautiful!
8
For me, its not so much how many hours of sleep we should all have, but more, how many days of the weekend there should be?
Personnaly, i work myself stupid all week long, then sleep for the rest of the weekend, it would be nice to have a “second” Sunday. . . . . and for mondays to be a day off, and of casue a midweek holiday would be good as well, and there’s no point to working on Friday because you always end up doing it on monday, sorry, Tuesday anyway.
9
Sleeping is so - out!
I have a fulltime dayjob - a wife and 2 kids and still I find time to do some bungee jumping, soundengineer some Belgian bands on tour and create websites for my customers.
But still, I think this is just delaying the final crash. Specially during the long winterhours I feel the need for refueling.
Maybe I’ll have a nap right now.
10
@loek, thanks I’ve drawn this myself this weekend after writing the article.
@Pat I write most of my articles (or at least half of them) during the weekend, I just don’t have much time left during the week… I slept not very good but not bad either, just like usually (not as a ‘rock’), but I feel OK ;-)
11
There’s nothing like a power nap to fight the tiredness away. It’s definately an art. Nap a couple of minutes too long can leave you feeling like sh*t. Do it right and you’ll wakre up feeling like you’ve been sleeping for days.
It’s even a greater art to try conceal it from your boss!
12
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
13
Who needs sleep when you’ve got modafinil?
14
My body seems to use less and less sleep as I get older, and I’m only in my thirties. It use to be, no matter what time I went to bed, I’d wake up at 5am. Now, I’m up at 3am, and that’s after a typical night of going to bed between 10pm-12am.
Some nights, I even wake up before 3am. I don’t mind this, in fact, its allowed me to add “Crossing Jordan” to my TV watching habits. So if I wake at 1:30am or 2am, I switch to A&E;and watch “Crossing Jordan” then try to sleep for another hour or so afterward, before getting to work.
Does anyone else also deal with that exercise making you sleep less. On days that I get in an actual work-out, rather than a few push-ups or sit-ups, I need about 2hrs less of sleep, though admittedly, my sleep seems deeper somehow.
15
Wish if I could get away with 5 hours of sleep, I can do so much more in my life!
Btw, there was interesting article on Kuro5hin about how you can sleep 3 hours a day. Check it here: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/15/103358/720
Unfortunately, I can’t really follow that schedule.
I am all ears for interesting tips/suggestions to fight the sleep, while minimizing side effects on my body!
JD
16
Veerle,
did you also draw the illustrations from your article ‘Do illustrators stick to one style?’. I think those are great. Inspired by it, I’d tried to do it myself but how is it possible that I LOVE photoshop and HATE illustrator :-( ... I just want to get the drawing part over and export to Photoshop as soon as possible. Strange, isn’t it?
17
Really great posting, except, what is this “sleep” you speak of? ;-)
18
Oh, a good night of sleep is worth a lot. I can’t get myself to bed early at night, but regret it every morning.
And I often have that same bathroom problem, although between 2 and 4 AM :S
Getting the temperature up a degree or 2 helps, ... sometimes.
19
I agree with Phil “Seconds sundays” would be great. My working days are 11 hours from door to door and getting enough sleep vs. get enough time to do things I like is a never ending battle.
20
...interesting topic!!
I’m 45-year old marathon trainer/racer runner. For me, the amount of sleep dictates success of my training.
Anything less than 7hrs., I feel the lead in my legs and the hills become painful. While monitoring my heart-rate, it’s usually 10-20% higher.
Juggling three kids (one almost teenager...scary), programming PHP/MySQL and my running addiction, at times is very challenging.
My ‘ace-in-thehole’, short naps!!
21
Well, I myself am a highschool student with a 7 hour day + work + at least 3 hours of homework a night, so the day gets a little long. I find that reading before bed, accompanied by a spot of calming tea does the trick.
I believe that the metabolism gets so worked up all day that it just needs to slow down a bit when you try to sleep. I’ve found when you slow down the metabolism at night, the mind follows and you ned up with a nice sleep.
22
@Loek, yes that’s mine too (all the illustrations on my blog are). I’m font of both programs, they are complementary.
@Jeff, I sometimes also read in my bed with a cup of tea before I go to sleep and it helps me to sleep well, at least in the first half of the night. It’s no guarantee, but I’ll have a better chance in a better sleep.
23
Oh, and on topic...When I can’t sleep? I ask my girl to tell me more about that interesting project she’s doing right now. Tell me again about how this use case can’t meet the functional specs in the given time frame, while...ZZZZZZZZ :-)
24
yes, i totally agree with you- sleeping is natural for humans. without sleep, my day is irregular! my warm regards.
25
I find that the more efficent and regular my routine, the better i sleep, and the better I feel in general. That tends to mean (no ordered lists, so standard numbers will suffice):
1. Go to bed and wake up at the same time
2. Exercize, even if just pushups and situps. Cardio tends to make the body feel good.
3. Eating at regular times, a minimum of three meals a day (although smaller meals is better for you).
4. Eating healthy foods.
5. Not smoking cigarettes (boo)
6. Not drinking more then 2 or 3 drinks.
I’m sure everyone has thier punch list, but this really does help out, although it does not a rock star lifestyle make.
The exercise is KEY. When I didn’t work out, I had really light sleep and tossed and turned most of the night. Exercize? Sleep like a rock.
26
Since 2 years now, I sleep in a waterbed. At the beginning I had a kind of Titanic feeling all the time www.harvey.be/waterbed.htm But now I am used to it :D
27
Hello,
This is my first comment on this blog… So first, a bit of presentation: I am a belgian freelance designer who owned a furniture shop near Liège (http://www.quatuor.be). I love clean web design and design in general. This website is full of beautiful things, fresh articles and I am sure it will become one of my must-be-seen-everyday-websites.
I really like this article about sleep, I totally agree with what it is said about the cut back on sleep… I experience it everyday lol. My only adavantage, is that I am one fo those who do not need more than 5minutes to fall asleep.
Have a nice day.
28
I can actually manage on as little as 4 hours of sleep a night for a work week. The only problem I experience if I only get 4 hours a night is that I become slightly less social and less outward going.
I also have the great advantage over you ;) that I can fall asleep almost anywhere anytime, but only if I want - and I can lie down on the pillow and fall asleep directly. Last time I couldn’t fall asleep directly was when I was madly in love, actually, but otherwhise it’s no problem.
The article about sleeping was spot on - many times have I woken up 5 minutes before the schools starts, thinking: “why didn’t the bloody alarm go off??”.
And conversations - you can actually have a full on conversation with me in the morning when I seem to be in “deep sleep” - and I won’t even remember it. (I can also be a bit mean, since I really don’t think about what I’m saying, hehe)
Lastly I sometimes talk in my sleep, but I have no idea what I’m saying. (people have said I talk in my sleep, haven’t actually experienced it myself, so to speak)
29
I definitely understand what you’re talking about. There are many times when I could go to sleep but the urge of checking forums, blogging, checking email, or just chatting keeps me up. And I have no idea how to control it!
30
“There’s always the urge to check mail and NetNewsWire for a last quick look and before you ever realize it’s past midnight. There ‘s just too much living to be done isn’t it?”
Sorry to say so, but there are other things in life then checking your mail. There are times I have the same urge, but instead of checking this last post or mail, try to push the off button of your mac and do something else. Nothing makes you more ‘fatigue” than endless repeating ‘bad habbits’; Doing something new gives your more energy.
Believe me, you won’t miss anything when not reading that last mail or last post. There is always tomorrow and you can’t do it all in one day.
(ok, now I have to press my off button myself, it is a friday-night 23.58. My son is awake early tomorrow and I need to be fit. He does not have problems with sleep and has the energy for 2 ;)
Sleep tight, don’t let the bed-bugs bite