The importance of good sleep

CyberGene

I'm not saying anything new at all. Yet I had forgotten how important it is to sleep well and long. I used to sleep 5-6 hours on average until a week or something ago. But I've been in a paid time-off for for the last week and since it's also holidays and no need to wake up early to drive my kid to kindergarten, I regularly have 8+ hours of sleep. Well, I play so much better than before! I just have much greater concentration in reading from scores, I can play what I have memorized in a more fluid way despite having less practice time lately since I was busy at work and with the family here at home.

Sleep well, people! 🙂 And have nice holidays.

Drew-r

CyberGene

Here is hoping that under all the green trees

Father CG found time for necessary, ample zzzzzzzs

https://www.drberg.com/blog/sleeping-detoxifies-your-brain

HZPiano

CyberGene

Hello,

For a whole confluence of reasons and circumstances, I didn't get proper sleep (to put it mildly) for over 25 years.

I can tell you, that in itself can completely derail your life, as it did mine.

It is only since two, maybe three years that I have somewhat normal nights' sleep again. Luckily.

So Sleep, gals and guys, Sleep Well!

Cheers,

H💤

Pete14

You know what they say, “sleep well, play well”, or something like that.

But seriously, I don’t know what “studies have shown”, but for me sleep is everything, and if I could knock myself out for 12 hours a day -without narcotics- I would do it; because I’m sure that the remaining 12 hours would be intensively productive (and not just for piano-playing; you know what I’m sayin’ 😉).

MacMacMac

Drew-r https://www.drberg.com/blog/sleeping-detoxifies-your-brain

That video is suspect.

Detox and cleansing have been popular words for a decade or more in the no-account "medical advice" circles.

Everything we eat contains toxins, they claim. But toxins are mostly eliminated by the liver. So do we need to sleep for the liver to do its job?

Count me skeptical. It may be a long time before the full purpose of sleep is understood.
And any such understanding will come from research, not from you tube videos.

Also ... the video footnote says that the presenter, Dr. Berg, is a chiropractor specializing in ketosis and intermittent Fasting. Are we now getting medical advice from chiroprators?

It also says that he no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.
Remember the phrase "those who can do, those who cannot teach" ?

David B

I try to stay in bed 8 hours, but I actually only get around 6 - 7 hours of sleep. Although I do take a short nap in the afternoon on a fairly regular basis. I actually have a bed in my office at work for such occasions. 😀 The nap might push me closer to 8 hours of sleep a day.

God Bless,
David

MacMacMac

I used to sleep 8 hours each night ... long ago.
But with advanced age I typically sleep 4 or 5 hours, stay up for a while, and take a short nap later in the day.
I'd willingly sleep longer. But the body wakes up when it wakes up, and that's that.

CyberGene

MacMacMac I guess there is some truth that with the age one needs less sleep. I think I naturally sleep about 6-7 hours. It's only this week that after I wake up after 6 hours, I just remain in bed, my two ladies go in the living room and don't bother me and I then fall asleep again for another 2 hours and thus make it 8 or more 🙂 Although it seems 6 are enough, forcing it to 8 like this actually helps the brain a lot.

ClothEaredNincompoop

MacMacMac Detox and cleansing have been popular words for a decade or more in the no-account "medical advice" circles.

Yes, absolutely true.

In case of sleep the "detox" is about some specific chemicals that are part of how the brain works and the cerebrospinal fluid then flushes those away.

So, it's not part of that general "detox" woo-woo.

Here's an NPR (🧐) link: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/31/775068218/how-deep-sleep-may-help-the-brain-clear-alzheimers-toxins?t=1640889823311

ClothEaredNincompoop

MacMacMac Are we now getting medical advice from chiroprators?

No! 😁

(They of course do study human anatomy etc. but the basis of chiropracy is pseudoscience.)

Drew-r

MacMacMac

Health …. Sleep Health …. liver health …. my preferred health approach is better than yours …. all of these are matters obviously as objective/subjective as “ which is the bestest most realistic DP action/feel/sound….. for under X $ “ . Be this as it may, my sleep habit had been stuck on auto-alarm clock mode wake up at 6 hours, reliably, for 20-some years …. but then i tried a suspect, conspiracy-laden thing …. i reduced my insulin load by going against Institutionalized Medicine’s 60-years-old and still running dogmatic approach “heart healthy diet” (sic) , and tried keto, on the advice of a wacko online chiropractic doctor 🙂 …. and after the first week i was regularly sleeping 8 hours over night …. and after 6 weeks my triglycerides were way down, ditto for Blood Glucose, and so called Good Cholesterol was trending up …. all on the advice of a virtual online back cracker who generally is required to complete more official schooling than are garden variety MDs .

MacMacMac So do we need to sleep for the liver to do its job?

Yes….. healing is not unlike the (long in shambles) age-old American Dream …. you need to be asleep for it to happen.

MacMacMac

CyberGene I think I naturally sleep about 6-7 hours. It's only this week that after I wake up after 6 hours, I just remain in bed, my two ladies go in the living room and don't bother me and I then fall asleep again for another 2 hours and thus make it 8 or more 🙂 Although it seems 6 are enough, forcing it to 8 like this actually helps the brain a lot.

You sleep with two ladies? 🙂

I guess 6 is enough, but some prefer 8. 🙂

n-player

Below is an interesting sleep blog written by a scientist who specialises in memory. It provides practical tips for regular people.

https://www.supermemo.com/en/archives1990-2015/articles/sleep

ClothEaredNincompoop

Drew-r tried keto, on the advice of a wacko online chiropractic doctor 🙂

That was nutritional advice, so the fundamental falsehoods of chiropracy didn't matter. 😉

And chiropracy bashing aside…you got beneficial results and that's what matters.

CyberGene

MacMacMac You sleep with two ladies?

Well, only part of the time, when one of them thinks I’m less scary than the monster in her room… 😈 And sometimes the other one runs away from the snoring monster in her bedroom, so I’m all by myself with all the monsters in my head…

vagfilm

Sleep, and more importantly the need for sleep, is one of the key unanswered question in brain science. Although I don't subscribe to the "brain detox" aspect of sleep (it may be just a coincidence rather than the fundamental reason for sleep as many propose...), sleep is PARAMOUNT to many health areas (all metabolism is linked). Sleep well...

HZPiano

CyberGene 😂 !

EB5AGV

What is IMO still better than sleep enough time is to avoid clock alarms. I have been fortunate enough, working at home for almost 10 years already, to be able to wake up without the stresses caused by clock alarms. And I really wake up at almost same time I would with it (I go bed at about 0:30, after my piano practice session, and wake up at about 7:15-7:45) but it is lots better this way. I understand this can't be done by everyone, as it happened to me when I had to go work outside my home, but it is really a life changer 👍🏻

Jose

ClothEaredNincompoop

EB5AGV What is IMO still better than sleep enough time is to avoid clock alarms.

Yeah, I like the idea and try to wake up before the alarm. I've had a wake up light for many years now. If I don't try to wake up way too early and don't consume too much caffeine during daytime it usually works.

burkey

Interestingly humans are not suited to regular 8 hour sleep blocks. If you look at old literature you will notice everyone slept twice per day:
Sunset to about 11pm, and
About 3am to sunrise

They often said to each other: 'I'll meet you at midnight!'

They were both party animals, and well-rested early in the morning!
Indeed if you're studying something that you need to commit to memory (exams, piano music etc) the fastest way to do so is:
3 hours sleep, then 3 hours study, rinse and repeat (note you actually need to be asleep for those 3 hours - the falling asleep part is not sleep).

burkey

burkey Interestingly humans are not suited to regular 8 hour sleep blocks. If you look at old literature you will notice everyone slept twice per day:
Sunset to about 11pm, and
About 3am to sunrise

'Is it true that we used to sleep in two phases: first sleep and second sleep?
Absolutely, the evidence for which is voluminous. Arguably from time immemorial to the nineteenth century, the dominant pattern of sleep in Western societies was biphasic, whereby most preindustrial households retired between 9 and 10pm, slept for 3 to 3 ½ hours during their “first sleep,” awakened after midnight for an hour or so, during which individuals did practically anything and everything imaginable before taking a “second sleep,” roughly until dawn.'

https://www.news-medical.net/amp/news/20170517/History-of-sleep-what-was-normal.aspx

Another ultra important fact they forgot to teach everyone at school 😀
I believe it's why human intelligence - on average - plateaued in the 19th/20th century. Wrong sleeping patterns playing considerable havoc on our brains.
If we want more Mozarts and Chopins we need to start fixing our sleep patterns. My CEO, a super intelligent Quantative Finance coder, only uses 3-hour sleep blocks. The science - and 99.9% of human history - backs this up.

MacMacMac

My sister-in-law has sleep problems. She need help to sleep. She takes Ambien.

Her brother has that problem too.

Her sister (my wife) has the opposite problem. She sleeps well ... but she needs 9 or 10 hours.

Meanwhile ... I sit here typing this at 4:20 AM after having around four hours of sleep (roughly 9 PM to 1 AM).
I'm yawning as I write this, so I'll probably nap for a bit later in the morning.

But lately I'm only sleeping for around five hours per day ... less than my usual six.
I guess I'll soon become toxic?