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Hairy
United Kingdom1169 Posts
I did the same maths as you, and the best solution I can give (instead of trying to do some wacky sleep schedule) is to simply shorten your commute. 2 hours a day commuting is a colossal amount of time that can be reduced! I currently have the same commute, but plan to be moving house in ~1-2 years to fix that problem  | ||
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TMiweedamins
United States51 Posts
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rEalGuapo
Germany832 Posts
On August 09 2012 20:27 Frigo wrote: No you really can't reduce sleep time despite various claims to the contrary (binaural beats, biphasic sleep, etc). While sleeping your entire body is repairing itself, most noticeably your skin. It also processes your memories in various ways. All these take time, you just can't skip them without side effects. However you can greatly improve your quality of sleep, which is at least as important as the amount of sleep. For quite a while my sleep was utter crap since I slept randomly and made many mistakes but over time I discovered a few cheap tricks that helped me tremendously: - Don't drink coffee after 16:00. Caffeine has a biological half-life of 5 hours, you'll have trouble falling asleep if you drink coffee too late. - Drink at most 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day or equivalent. Caffeine is not a substitute for sleep. - Go to sleep early, for me that's before 23:00. Don't sleep at day. Sleeping in sunlight guarantees low-quality sleep. - Go to sleep and wake up at consistent times every day, don't sleep randomly. Your body will get used to the routine and will be much more efficient. I know this is hard when you are a university student, but try it. At least you will have less trouble adjusting when you start going to work. - Get a softer, more comfortable bed. Don't "get used to" uncomfortable, hard beds or awkward sleeping positions. - Get a progressive alarm clock (or an appropriate app for your phone), it improves your awakenings and mornings greatly. - Don't play video games (especially not something competitive), use the computer, or study anything before going to bed. Your body will stuck in some kind of hyperactive/overworked state and you will have trouble falling asleep. Instead I recommend some light reading in the bed to relax (get an e-book reader, books are heavy and a bit awkward to read in the bed). - Don't leave on your computer or any music when you are going to bed. It's much better to sleep to silence than various noises. - Try to do some daily exercise. Apart from being healthy, you will have zero trouble falling asleep if you exhaust yourself physically. Biking and jogging on alternate days worked for me. - Try to shower before going to sleep, much more comfortable to sleep clean. Thanks, all of your points seem to make sense and some of them I already incorporated into my daily life. I will try to get the rest in there as well. | ||
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Corr
Denmark796 Posts
Waking up right after a sleep cycle makes such a huge difference. I tend to feel better after just 4,5-5 hours of sleep than 6-7 hours. Back when I was shorter on time I would alternate 4,5-5 hours of sleep one night then 8-9. Worked great for me. I have literally sometimes slept 90 minutes and been perfectly capable of getting up and doing my thing (exam for instance) without any problems. I could obviously still feel that my body and mind wasn't performing as much as it usually does but I didn't suffer from fatigue. | ||
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ModernAgeShaman
Norway484 Posts
Be sure if you try this you don't overcook them and destroy the minerals/vitamins. I usually lightly fry them. | ||
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Motivate
2860 Posts
i heard getting more exercise helps. i only exercise once to twice a week when i play sport. | ||
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Andre
Slovenia3523 Posts
Basically it's sleeping a lot less (3-5 hours usually in total). You sleep like 20-30 minutes every few hours per day, it's really hard to get used to but it can work. Unfortunately there's not much research done around this sleep schedule, which is quite sad actually considering how interesting/beneficial it could be. I personally have tried it but failed, as I said it's really hard to get used to it. Read some personal thoughts from people on the webs and most say it's the best thing ever. Side effects include: sleeping at awkward times & drinking lots of water it seems. | ||
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r.Evo
Germany14081 Posts
What I did about 7 years ago or so was devote an month on cleaning up my sleep schedule. Go to bed, set an alarmclock to ring in 3 hours, get up. Repeat this every 12 hours. The first 3-4 days were plain and flat out brutal. I didn't fall asleep quick enough, I was incredibly dizzy after waking up and I couldn't perform anything "real" during the time I was awake. After those first days what happened is that whenever I layed down in bed I started to fall asleep asap and I started to slowly feel less dizzy and it felt somewhat okay. Next step (while you're still sleep deprived) is to find out how long your sleep phase really is (average times from 2:15h to 3:45h are completely normal) by adjusting the sleep time you give yourself in 15-30 minute increments. For me personally 2:45h of sleep in one setting just feels incredible. I wake up on the first tone of my alarm, I am immediately at full capacity and my brain just feels sharp as hell. After spending 3-4 weeks in that schedule I started to skip one of the two phases per day and returned to sleeping 1x, now at 5:30-5:45hours per day. That has been my standard sleep time ever since when I actually want to get work in, even over longer periods of time (~4months) I had never had a problem with that timing. What I noticed what stayed with me after a couple of years (especially comparing myself to other people when it comes to sleep) is that I fall asleep quicker, sleep deeper and am more relaxed than anyone I know. The only big "drawback" is that if I try sleeping e.g. 1-2hours at a time I'm completely wrecked. My guess would be that the body adjusted to the schedule and that time is right in the middle of a REM phase. tl;dr: "Cleaning up" your sleep schedule might easily net you 2-3hours more, the only way I tried this personally is by living with an incredibly strict alarmclock for a couple of weeks. I don't regret it at all and would do it over and over again. Getting to know how your body and brain works and how to make them work at their best is incredibly rewarding, most people just don't bother even thinking about it. PS: Switching from mono- to biphasic sleep and back within a couple of days feels rather normal to me, no problems there at all. Note that babies/elderly people sleep polyphasic and that monophasic sleep is more a product of our culture, not of our internal clocks. There's a reason most of us get sleepy around midday. | ||
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Sablar
Sweden880 Posts
Humans are very adaptable to the environment.. if you get used to sleeping for a shorter amount of time your body should also get used to this and start to adapt to the new circumbstances. Which means over time getting less tired when sleeping less, assuming you don't sleep during the day or something instead. Not saying that different people don't have different need for sleep, just opposing the idea of an absolute value that cannot be changed. | ||
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heishe
Germany2284 Posts
Unfortunately I haven't yet figured out the exact number, but this thread needs to remind me to do some testing. It's somewhere between 7 and 8 hours. | ||
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r.Evo
Germany14081 Posts
- Don't drink coffee after 16:00. Caffeine has a biological half-life of 5 hours, you'll have trouble falling asleep if you drink coffee too late. - Get a softer, more comfortable bed. Don't "get used to" uncomfortable, hard beds or awkward sleeping positions. These two aren't correct. While Caffeine has a half-life of 5 hours, the way it interacts with the body usually results in a high point at around 30 minutes till an hour, after that you end up being more tired than before the caffein arrived in your body. Try drinking an energy drink at 3am. Find out how long it lasts for you personally till you start getting tired without big exercise or anything similar. That time usually varies between 1-2 hours for most people. Keep in mind that there are various conditions (e.g. low blood pressure) where caffeine will make you immediately more tired. That's the reason why e.g. some elderly people can drink a cup of coffee and fall asleep after half an hour. =P A "soft bed" doesn't make you sleep better. To effectively relax your body needs a bed that helps maintain natural positions without either letting your weight decide how that ends up looking but also without offering a flat, hard surface. Most people err on the wrong side and get too soft beds which can result in all kinds of back problems in the long run. - Don't leave on your computer or any music when you are going to bed. It's much better to sleep to silence than various noises. Not exactly true. As long as the "noise" is below a certain threshold (I think 70dB, but basically equivalent to soft music, some birds around etc.) it's actually better than complete silence. Having some sound around is comforting and relaxing. - Go to sleep early, for me that's before 23:00. Don't sleep at day. Sleeping in sunlight guarantees low-quality sleep. Also a tricky one that you can't exactly quantify. In literally the entirety of southern europe sleeping 4-5 hours per night and 2-3 hours per day is completely normal. It depends on what you're used to and your body personally. If you're like me and love browsing before going to bed there are various programs which adjust the light temperature your computer screen emits. I can't remember the one I used to use but maybe someone else can link one or google will be your buddy. Solid light (colder in the morning, warmer in the evening) is half the deal when it comes to making your body work properly despite artificial lighting. Edit: @above, check my long post some above yours, I'm pretty much describing how you can find out that "magic number" that everyone knows they have but almost no one cares about exploiting further. | ||
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LilClinkin
Australia667 Posts
You just have to train yourself to function both mentally and physically with less sleep. | ||
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chenchen
United States1136 Posts
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Rigorous
74 Posts
Maybe you have a similar pattern? Many of my friends have similar patterns, with different time thresholds. Maybe find the zone where you feel the best. Also, I'm 33 now. I do remember when I was 24, new to the real world, that I felt tired all the time and I did feel like I needed the 9+ hours a night. I think as you get older, you need less sleep - heard by everyone and verified from my own personal experience. | ||
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rEalGuapo
Germany832 Posts
On August 09 2012 21:16 chenchen wrote: I think you should consider moving your career in a direction that gives you a job which you find more interesting. That way, you won't feel like your work is dragging down your personal life. I'm also working on that, but it is incredibly hard to find out what I want.. Right now I am considering becoming a chef since I can live out that drive to create something perfect in detail and am not bored to do the same thing a billion times as long as it requires me to concentrate. Right now I work and study engineering which was more like a "Well why not" kind of choice.. | ||
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bokeevboke
Singapore1674 Posts
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rEalGuapo
Germany832 Posts
On August 09 2012 21:30 bokeevboke wrote: I have same issues, but I don't consider "sleeping" is a problem. Its more of I'm not satisfied with my life (daily routine). Thats why I'm thinking of changing my job. Suppose this, if you have a satisfying job you will find yourself having fun and living your life at your job, otherwise it will be dragging yourself through it. It's off topic but still a valid point. Yet, I am not sure if there actually is a job I can find joy in. Professional Game tester and TV-Series watcher would probably work for me | ||
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TSM
Great Britain584 Posts
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Sephy90
United States1785 Posts
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Badgesc
France111 Posts
I'm at my best with usually 10 hours or a little more a night. I chose to sacrifice TV and a bunch of crap. I think sleep should be on top of your list and the rest is less important. | ||
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