Sleep and stress

Zbigniew1

I think that these are two often overlooked factors when it comes to nutrition and exercise - or at least not spoken much about.

Many of us are to some extend sleep-deprived, and we know it, but don't do much about it and/or neglegect it.
The main problem here is actually that our bodies are very good at adapting. If we on average get 1-2 hours less sleep than we should, we may feel tired the first couple of days, but then the body adapts and even though we may only function on 70-80% of our full capacity, our bodies accept this as the default state, and it becomes the new normal.

One place it is very obvious is when flying. I often hear people say something along the lines of "I don't have a sleep problem. I can sleep everywhere". Exactly! You are not supposed to be able to sleep everywhere. Especially not in a crammed airplane seat in the middle of the day whis is illuminated, there is noise, people are walking past, etc. If you had enough sleep during the night, then you should be able to stay awake during the flight. (It is another thing when putting on a mask, earplugs, and then just trying to get some light rest,etc)

The above becomes very obvious if we a couple of days in a row get enough sleep and suddenly feel very energetized and are able to accomplish much more than before. I guess most of us have tried this.

What are your experiences with sleep and rest?


Personally, I have been doing evening and night shifts for many years, and now I suddenly find myself having to get up 0630 7 days a week. I am trying to get to bed at 2200, which leaves me with half an hour to fall asleep in and 8 hours of sleep, but doing full-time studies and nearly full-time work does not make it easy.

To get the most out of my sleep, I've looked to our ancestors, and am:

- Using F.lux (I am not sure that I can post links here, so Google it) to change the screen colors of my computer according to the time of the day. Often working late in Word or Excel, this is a god-send.

- Getting as much light in the day as possible, and as much dark in the night as possible. I use a black out curtain, and shut of all LEDs on a main switch so that my bedroom is pitch black when I go to sleep. If I put a hand in front of my face, I am not able to see it.

- Using a Wake-up light instead of an alarm-clock. It is a large light which slowly turns on the light, mimicking the rising of the sun, for 20 minutes before the sound goes off (and a much nicer sound than the standard MEEP MEEP MEEP it is). I usually wake up at some point during the 20 minutes. Only if I am really tired, I am only waking up when the sound goes off.

What are your experiences with sleep? Do you have any good tips?

runnercheryl

I get eight hours of sleep a night. I give myself this, because I'm extremely busy for the other sixteen.

Like you, I use F.lux, both at home and in the office, so wherever I'm working I'm not getting too much artificial light from the screen.

I would love a wake-up light instead of an alarm. Nothing feels worse than being quickly forced to wake, though I don't know that I'd trust one so I'd have to use both for a while with the alarm as a back-up. Don't have the money for one, though.

All that said, I AM waking to light lately, before my alarm and earlier than I'd like. For the past week or two, I've been waking at 6.30am instead of 7am as the sun's been coming up early. More than ever, I hate waking before I need to, but not early enough to get back to sleep. The alternative, black-out curtains, seems equally depressing. I guess my perfect situation would be to wake at the right time, to a slowly increasing light, which must be the effect you get with black-out curtains and a wake-up light.

LisaCFSF

Sleep? What's that? My circadian clock is set on 4-5 hrs tops... Sucks! Just can't seem to sleep...

Zbigniew1

Cheryl - can't you go back to sleep again?
I actually read recently that historically, we did not sleep for a full 8 hours but rather broke it up into smaller portions. It helped me a lot just to know this when waking up in the middle of the night. Simply knowing that it is apparently natural took the whole stress about being awake when I should be sleeping away, and helped me calm down and get back to sleep easier :-)

If you're not stressed out about it, having one and a half hour in the morning where everything is quiet, I can rest lightly in bed, maybe have a glass of water or read a few pages, does sound quite appealing :-)

Here it is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783


Right, and I even managed to post in a wrong forum. If there's an admin out there, feel free to move the post to the correct location.

Silverkittycat

I actually read recently that historically, we did not sleep for a full 8 hours but rather broke it up into smaller portions. It helped me a lot just to know this when waking up in the middle of the night. Simply knowing that it is apparently natural took the whole stress about being awake when I should be sleeping away, and helped me calm down and get back to sleep easier :-)

Thank you for sharing!

runnercheryl

Cheryl - can't you go back to sleep again?
I actually read recently that historically, we did not sleep for a full 8 hours but rather broke it up into smaller portions. It helped me a lot just to know this when waking up in the middle of the night. Simply knowing that it is apparently natural took the whole stress about being awake when I should be sleeping away, and helped me calm down and get back to sleep easier :-)

If I've got less than an hour left to sleep, I struggle. I kind of feel like I'm up already, and if I let myself drift off the alarm will go as soon as I do. Waking in the middle of the night is fine.

Judanjos

I had lots of insomnia until I had a kid. Every night I can pop off at 8pm no problem because he wears me out lol. Tonight is the exception to the rule, my grumbling tummy and (its accomplice in crime) bladder woke me up. I can usually function on minimum 5-6 hours of sleep. At 4 to 6:30 am mini me usually wakes me up because he's hungry and ready to start his day.