sleep lots, die sooner!

[threenorns]

i always know that eight hours thing was bullcrap! think about it: how long would a species survive if it spent 1/3 of its time in a comatose condition?

doctors came up with that number after a single study of young, healthy adults whose sleep eventually stabilized at eight and one-quarter hours. however, the experiment was boring and that may have made them sleep longer. i heard this on the news, which is why i went looking for it.

here: http://www.truestarhealth.com/membe...s13ML3P1A6.html

turns out that if you sleep eight hours, the mortality rate is higher and it gets worse the longer you sleep past eight hours. ppl who sleep five hours a night live longer than those who sleep eight. results were gathered from over a MILLION ppl and the study was reproduced on a smaller scale by harvard med.

hell, i guess this means i'm gonna live forever!

imo, the only way to sleep is to not use an alarm clock - only if you're waking up of your own volition will you be assured of getting enough sleep.

[SNPiccolo5]

Well, isn't that sort of like claiming that calorie restriction diets make you live longer? They do, but what's the point?! I have found, however, that I can function OK on 6 hours of sleep, and getting 8 hours doesn't really make it better...

I use an alarm clock just so that I will get out of bed. Since I need to be up by 6:00 a.m., and usually wake up at 5:50, the alarm clock assures that I'll actually get out of bed... lol!! I've never actually woke up to my alarm clock rining... that would be annoying!!

Good info! 3norns

-Tim

[KaiserSose]

It still states that seven hours, not five, is optimal. Realistically speaking most people who think they are getting around 8, are probably getting closer to seven as most individuals do not fall asleep immeaditely. I personally have trouble functioning if I get less than seven. I don't see how testing people who are in the death stage of their life is applicable to the entire population. Maybe the people who sleep more in that stage are the ones who are less active. Although, I agree that 8 hours of solid sleep is not optimal, I would never believe that minimizing your sleep contributes to a longer life.

[rangers97]

so basically, if I wake up on my own at say 5:50AM to go to the bathroom and I don't techincally need to be up until 7:00AM, should i not go back to sleep for that extra hour?

I do notice it being a lot harder to get back up when the alarm clock does go off at 7:00, is there a reason for that?

And how come on the weekends, for example, if you just get lazy and stay in bed longer I usually find myself completely sluggish for the rest of the day. It's wierd how more sleep would make you more tired throughout the day...one would think the opposite would be true

[KaiserSose]

I think it really depends on your age and what your body is used to. When I sleep in I actually feel invigorated for the rest of the day, while the opposite holds true when I wake up too early.

[threenorns]

i don't "minimize" my sleep - i wake up. at half-past-midnight or 1am (when ever i'm tired), i go to bed, meditate, and i'm out virtually instantly. if i don't meditate, i'm up for AGES - easily an hour. i wake up always before the alarm but today, i was still up at 5am even with no alarm.

if i stay in bed and snooze extra, i'm the same way - i just can't wake up enough to function the rest of the day.

(it said 7hrs may be optimal, but ppl who sleep 5hrs a night live longer than those who sleep 8)

[arbit]

Originally Posted by threenorns

imo, the only way to sleep is to not use an alarm clock - only if you're waking up of your own volition will you be assured of getting enough sleep.

If I do that I'd sleep 10-11 hrs. I usually sleep 9.
The study didnt seem to suggest a cause and effect relationship, just a correlation - ie if I sleep 5 hrs a day now, it doesnt mean I will be healthier, its just that some "disease factor" is causing me to sleep so much.

[ajarvis]

I personally can't function that well on less than 7 hours. 8 hours is generally when I feel rested. When I have to get up early and don't go to bed early to get enough sleep is when I'm sluggish all day.

I think it depends on the person. Some people can't sleep in. Some people can just sleep and sleep! Once I've slept 7-8 hours I can't stay in bed. It drives me nuts just laying there.

[threenorns]

exactly - it's not a cause-and-effect kind of thing. forcing yourself to stay awake isn't gonna do you any good.

what it means for me is that i'm going to stop worrying about not sleeping "normally" and just sleep the way i've slept my entire life from infancy on - short bursts.

[ajarvis]

Definitely! I think there is way too much emphasis put on the "normal" way of doing things.

[mustang GT]

if that's the case, then I'm gonna die quickly. lol Because there are times when I get like 17 pr 18 hours of sleep in one night. Don't ask me how, but I sometimes I have the ability to get tons of sleep at one time. I have a sleeping disorder, so that must be why.

[Blaze]

Then how does this come into play with lifting, fitness, and overall recovery as far as bodybuilding goes. Sleep is extremely important when lifting for optimal results, you need your rest. 6 hours of sleep, isnt optimal to me. But maybe that's just me.

[Efulitz]

It's flawed to conclude from that study that sleeping longer equals dying sooner. The mean age of the 1.1 million participants was 57 for women and 58 for males (meaning there were lots of elderly people in the study). Underlying depression/illness would have a strong correlation for people sleeping longer (especially for elderly people) and thus higher mortality. As KaiserSose said, people were likely over reporting their sleep time (and not figuring in the time it takes to fall asleep). All together this would be more then enough to form a strong bias. I don't believe that study's conclusion at all.

The study that recommends at least 8 hours is also flawed, but if anything I think the average optimal sleep would be even higher for healthy young adults. If I was forced to lay in bed for 12 hours a day I think I would sleep less then my natural amount. That's since I would be in a resting (albeit not sleeping) phase for several hours, meaning I would need less sleep than if I had been active as usual.

They need to do some better sleep studies really. My conclusion would be that 8+ hours is probably optimal for most adults. But this varies greatly from person to person with age also being a factor. Chances are that if you can wake on your own without an alarm clock your getting the right amount of sleep.

[Mr VW]

Okay, in the summer, I normally wake up later than usual, being that I don't have to go to school in the morning. And then when I get back to school, my body wakes me up on time, without an alarm clock. I feel the same between the summer and the time that I'm in school. Also, I go to bed at around the same time. So then, why does my body wake me up earlier when I'm in school and later when I'm not?

[threenorns]

because your activity level is different - when you're in school, you don't move around as much. days are also shorter, so hormone levels dip.