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Sleep Myths 'Damaging Your Health':
Widely held myths about sleep are damaging our health and our mood, as well as shortening our lives, say researchers.
A team at New York University trawled the internet to find the most common claims about a good night's kip[*].
Then, in a study published in the journal Sleep Health, they matched the claims to the best scientific evidence.
They hope that dispelling sleep myths will improve people's physical and mental health and well-being.
So, how many are you guilty of?
Myth 1 - You can cope on less than five hours' sleep
[...]Myth 2 - Alcohol before bed boosts your sleep
[...]Myth 3 - Watching TV in bed helps you relax
[...]Myth 4 - If you're struggling to sleep, stay in bed
[...]Myth 5 - Hitting the snooze button
[...]Myth 6 - Snoring is always harmless
Another myth is that one should have 7-8 hours of continuous sleep. There is ample evidence that this is a relatively recent phenomenon. Consider embracing a bi-phasic or two-sleep schedule, instead.
I was at first concerned when I found myself waking after 3, 4 or even 5 hours sleep -- I became worried that I might be trending into insomnia. Instead, knowing this is a "thing", I just accept it, now. I get up for an hour or so. Use the bathroom. Maybe do some light reading (SoylentNews FTW!). And, after an hour or so, am ready to go back to bed for the rest of my night's sleep. Naps can be helpful, too.
How well do you sleep?
*kip: chiefly British : sleep, nap
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @12:11PM (8 children)
The problem is not in continuous or not. The problem has to do with interruptions in with blue light (ie. white light, screen light, etc.) which will screw up your melatonin levels. And that has been linked to all sorts of problems like cancer and heart disease.
So if you want to do some light reading, get a red LED (like astronomers use for night vision preservation) and read with that. If you insist on using your computer, you can use an overlay program that will adjust your screen to only emit red light and may some green. There are also special glasses that can do this...
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side [harvard.edu]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @12:18PM (1 child)
you say "overlay program"
I think you mean redshift: http://jonls.dk/redshift/ [jonls.dk]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday April 18 2019, @08:35PM
or f.lux [justgetflux.com]
They have a Linux version too
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @12:46PM (5 children)
SN is way ahead of the curve (or retro if you think about it that way), I use VT100 mode -- green text on black. VT220 red also available... There are still white/colored parts of the window border, but minimal. For anyone that hasn't looked, the settings (assuming logged in) are at https://soylentnews.org/my/homepage [soylentnews.org]
Unless I'm really tired, I usually wake up after about 5 hours and this is a problem--get very sleepy in the late afternoon but usually can't nap. I've tried the "get up and read for an hour" at 4am and sometimes that helps, but not consistently. Another one that helps to calm my internal dialog is to get up and make a to-do list, this sometimes lets me stop worrying about getting everything done.
Doesn't help that I'm under a lot of stress, with daily visits to a high maintenance, ailing, older relative.
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:16PM (2 children)
I wake up in the middle of the night. It's not a problem as long as I get a chance to make up the lost time, either by sleeping later or getting a nap. Luckily I'm retiring in 10 weeks, so naps won't be as awkward.
Making a list definitely helps. That keeps my brain from trying to make a list and waking me up completely. Oh, I don't have to worry about that, it's on the list.
(Score: 5, Funny) by hendrikboom on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:33PM (1 child)
Yes. A todo list by the bed. You worry that you'll forget to do something in the morning. So you add it to the list instead of doing it in the middle of the night.
You can even write with the light off if you know how full the list is. Or with a dim red light if you don't. You go back to sleep, comfy and secure that important things will not be forgotten.
Then in the morning, when you are fully awake, you review the list and conclude ,"I don't want to paint the cat blue."
You've had a better night's sleep. And the cat didn't get rudely awakened or painted blue.
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Friday April 19 2019, @02:15PM
And yet, it's morning and I still think painting the cat blue is a fine idea. Made me think of pictish cats, which led to Viking Kittens [youtube.com].
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:25PM (1 child)
Wow! There are a lot more options there than I expected. Let me advise everyone to go there and see for (him)(her)(their)sel(f)(ves).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @04:52PM
In the 1980s I had both green and amber monochrome displays before color monitors of reasonable quality became more affordable.
Tried the SN VT220 red/orange for awhile, but went back to VT100 green. Set for something that looks about like 12 point text, the green reminds me of my Ann Arbor terminal with 60(?) text lines in portrait display--running on a CP/M Z-80 system. On my laptop the text is much sharper than the Ann Arbor CRT.