| | |||||||
| Register | FAQ | Members List | Calendar | Search | Today's Posts | Mark Forums Read |
| Health & Fitness Health issues, diet, exercise, sleep, fitness, endurance, flexibility, strength, physical skills, sports, health habits, healing |
|
Welcome to the Personal Development for Smart People Forums, the place for lively, intelligent discussion of all personal growth issues -- physical, mental, financial, social, emotional, spiritual, and more. You're currently viewing as a guest, which gives you limited read-only access. By joining our free community, you'll be able to post your own messages, access many members-only features, see the new messages posted since your last visit, and of course remove this header message. Registration is fast, simple, and free, so please join today. If you arrived here from a search engine, you may want to explore the main site first, which includes hundreds of deep and insightful articles on a variety of personal development topics. |
| | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
| |||
| Hi Guys, I'd like to reduce the hours I sleep too -- to make way for more productive activities, however, I've been facing massive resistance getting down to sub 8 hours.. I have 2 questions: 1. Do you think sleeping less just creates a sleep debt which can possibly be stored for weeks, months, even years? I know of some workaholics which claim that they get by 4-5 hours of sleep a day but they crash on the weekends. Is less sleep sustainable in the long run? 2. Has anybody tried to gain weight (muscle that is) and survive with less sleep at the same time? Cos i am trying to do so, but it feels very unnatural and my body keeps telling me that I need to sleep! |
| |||
| Quote:
I did this by just what Alarin is suggesting here, shaving off abt a half hour every week, in the morning. I set the alarm but more often than not, wake up just before it goes off, which feels quite good. I'm now getting into biphasic sleep. I find the 90 minute cycle idea pretty workable within my own physiology, and my 90 minute nap in the afternoons really makes a difference for both the rest of the day (having gotten up at 3:45 Quote:
For the latter, I think first of caffeine, sugar and alcohol intake (other drugs, sure quite likely--both medical and "recreational" as they say). Also sleeping, work and other activity environment, stressors of various types including the stress of not much to do. And certainly the physio chemical effects of an active athletic program, muscle building or other would certainly have a strong effect on sleep need, and one I'd be listening to, both for the success of the athletic effort and for my health Also, if sleeping less is not the best option, there are so many other ways to affect one's own productivity or efficiency....this site is full of discussions and links to helpful sites on that. Just my 2 cents. Good luck ! Let us know how you are doing! all best, Ati
__________________ Ati A Musica Cura Saudade |
| |||
| Wow, before reading this thread, I didn't know it was even possible to not sleep. I've been sleeping way too much, probably around 9 hours and it's definitely way too much for my body sometimes. It was also an emotional escape mechanism for me when I was younger. I'd struggle with depression and then go to bed to escape in my dreams. I want to reverse this psychologically so I can become more productive in my waking hours. Sleep has got to be one of the #1 things holding me back right now from accomplishing many things I want to do. I'm going to focus on being more efficient with time and cutting back on my sleeping patterns, so I'll learn with the rest of you. |
| |||
| Quote:
Quote:
For your second question, I'm not surprised your body is telling you to sleep |
| |||
| Alarin--thanks for the thumbs up Although 3:45am sounds really early, almost polyphasic (not quite!), it was really the adherence to a particular discipline and schedule AND the daytime sleep times that helped this the most, I think. I totally agree with what you say about listening to one's body clock in general and appreciating when one needs more sleep, like during weight training, for example ! So, time for that guitar now... Ati
__________________ Ati A Musica Cura Saudade |
| |||
| I too am trying to reduce sleep, two ideas I'm finding to be useful so that I can intellectually justify my decision are: 1. According to a book on sleep research ("Why we sleep") people need about five hours of sleep to rest their cerebellum (which can only be done during sleep). The rest is OPTIONAL sleep. If we don't get it we feel tired, and unmotivated, but there in LITTLE effect on our mental/physical performance. - so if we have enough conscious motivation that counteract biologically loss of motivation, we can reduce sleep to about 5 hours and suffer no ill effects. 2. "given the opportunity, most of us would eat more, drink more and have more sex. But this doesn't mean we have been deprived or have unfulfilled needs. " - So, the tiredness associated with less sleep should be tolerated (and not a problem that needs to be fixed), just like how I tolerate the distress I feel when don't eat isn't good me, but which I like. (Weird I know). So basically, it is not unhealthy to sleep less than 8 hours. Its OK to feel tired, all that I have to do is build conscious motivation such that biological tiredness/lack of motivation that comes less sleep is counterbalanced my conscious motivation. With conscious motivation, it is easy to tolerate the tiredness that comes from lack of sleep. |
| |||
| Quote:
Incidentally, I find the same thing re lifting weights. Much better sleep. |
| |||
| I normally sleep 8 hours a night, at one point in the past when I could go to the gym every morning it was 6 hours of so (11-5), but now without as much to motivate me (getting my moneys worth vs maths homework) I find it alot harder to get up. Also, when I was sleeping less all my family knew Id be gone by 5 in the morning, so I wanted to keep up the habit, when I crashed they were all like what are you doing here and I was well gutted So in short, yes, but only temporarily when I had enough stimulation to get up
__________________ "Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal these things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil" The Iron Code of Druss the Legend (David Gemmel) |
| |||
| Have you stopped working out, or has your schedule changed around a bit? I'm just wondering why you've gone from 6 to 8 hours. |
« Previous Thread
|
Next Thread »
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
| |
| | ||||
| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| free running sleep | tadeas | Health & Fitness | 18 | 05-31-2008 11:40 PM |
| Biphasic Sleep - need help | Romeo Foxtrot | Health & Fitness | 23 | 03-02-2008 04:10 AM |
| Minimizing sleep | toasterwater | Health & Fitness | 23 | 11-16-2006 02:24 PM |
All times are GMT. The time now is 03:21 AM.

