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DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 10:51 pm
by juansweetpotato
Came across this piece of trivia:
DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
The notion of getting eight hours of solid sleep each night is a ‘modern convention’ that could leave you feeling more tired, says Professor Jim Horne, of Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre.
‘We’ve evolved to have very flexible sleep patterns and fragmented sleep — including daytime napping — can be of real benefit,’ he says.
‘A short four to 15-minute “power nap” can be as effective as an extra hour at night.’
He explains that hundreds of years ago, dividing up daily sleep was commonplace.
‘People would have what they called a “fyrste sleepe” of around two hours in the early evening, followed by supper and lively interactions with their family and friends, followed by bedtime around midnight, then three to four hours of uninterrupted sleep, before prayers and rekindling the fire, then another couple of hours sleep until dawn, making a total of around seven hours of daily sleep.
He adds: ‘This modern notion that waking in the middle of the night is a bad thing can actually be destructive to the quality of our sleep.
‘For instance we wake at 3am and lie there becoming anxious about not sleeping, whereas we should simply get up and occupy our minds with something distracting but relaxing — such as doing a jigsaw or reading a book — until our bodies tell us we’re ready to sleep again.
‘If cavemen had slept through the entire night they’d have been eaten alive.’
From a Mail link on everyday things we westerners do which are bad for us.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... d-you.html
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 11:14 pm
by MekongMouse
It would be nice, but most people need to be awake during the day for work hours.
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 3:52 am
by EdinWigan
It is a very sound notion. Many people sleep in such a way today. Muslims for example will awake for first prayers, then have another shorter sleep after that.
The Mediterranean's Spanish and neighbours like their siestas
Lady Thatcher slept for short periods during the day and only 4 hours at night.
Maybe, yet again we are trying to 'Know better' than our bodies tell us
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 6:14 am
by vladimir
EdinWigan wrote:Lady Thatcher slept for short periods during the day and only 4 hours at night.
Millions are way happier with the way she's sleeping now.
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 7:45 am
by MekongMouse
vladimir wrote:EdinWigan wrote:Lady Thatcher slept for short periods during the day and only 4 hours at night.
Millions are way happier with the way she's sleeping now.
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:47 am
by BOFH
Not once does the article mention that they are talking about biphasic and polyphasic sleep patterns. If you read the Wikipedia page on the subject they have a nice table comparing different patterns with the amounts of hours saved per day. It also links nicely to, you know, actual studies, which the Daily Mail is missing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
Someone blogged their experience about converting to Uberman:
http://www.bentinhomassaro.com/blog/ben ... ent-day-1/
I used to sleep in Uberman patterns myself until society caught up with me. The perception of time became interesting, to say the least, after waking up every 4 hours for a while. Not sure what it does to your body in the long run shifting in and out of catabolism so often, but it worked wonders for the projects I was busy with.
Re: DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 9:11 pm
by StroppyChops
BOFH wrote:It also links nicely to, you know, actual studies.
You mean real science? Gasp!