Sleep or die early?

mercalia
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Sleep or die early?

Post by mercalia »

An interesting article in the Guardian on Sleep

" I take my sleep incredibly seriously because I have seen the evidence. Once you know that after just one night of only four or five hours’ sleep, your natural killer cells – the ones that attack the cancer cells that appear in your body every day – drop by 70%, or that a lack of sleep is linked to cancer of the bowel, prostate and breast, or even just that the World Health Organisation has classed any form of night-time shift work as a probable carcinogen, how could you do anything else?” ”

:shock:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=245051&subid=23601318&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

■ An adult sleeping only 6.75 hours a night would be predicted to live only to their early 60s without medical intervention.

■ A 2013 study reported that men who slept too little had a sperm count 29% lower than those who regularly get a full and restful night’s sleep.

■ If you drive a car when you have had less than five hours’ sleep, you are 4.3 times more likely to be involved in a crash. If you drive having had four hours, you are 11.5 times more likely to be involved in an accident.

:?
Last edited by mercalia on 25 Sep 2017, 11:33am, edited 1 time in total.
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meic
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by meic »

How am I going to manage to get to sleep tonight, worrying about that.
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PH
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by PH »

If I get this right, sleep less and you die sooner?
Has anyone done the sums? 2 hours a day less sleep equates to an extra 30 days a year awake.
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Mick F
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by Mick F »

Yes, do the sums.
Two hours less sleep means two more hours awake. Equals fourteen more hours a week equals just over 30days a year.
So dying at three score years and ten, you have lived the equivalent of 76years.
Mick F. Cornwall
mercalia
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by mercalia »

PH wrote:If I get this right, sleep less and you die sooner?
Has anyone done the sums? 2 hours a day less sleep equates to an extra 30 days a year awake.


not just a matter of sums if you read the article is all about all the health problems you are at a higher risk of getting, so quality of life is an issue, even if the sums mean you have nearly "lived" the same as some one who has slept the 8 hours a night?
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Won't bother reading and worrying about this, that would be a waste of good sleeping time :wink:
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axel_knutt
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by axel_knutt »

Mick F wrote:Yes, do the sums.
Two hours less sleep means two more hours awake. Equals fourteen more hours a week equals just over 30days a year.
So dying at three score years and ten, you have lived the equivalent of 76years.

But a day is either 16 or 18 waking hours, not 24.

If you live to 60 with 6.75 sleep & 17.25 awake, and say 75 with 8/16 hours, then
75*16/17.25 = 69.57
so by getting 8 hours sleep instead of 6,75, you're living an extra 9.57 years, or a total of 16% more waking hours in your life.
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AlaninWales
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by AlaninWales »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Won't bother reading and worrying about this, that would be a waste of good sleeping time :wink:

Maybe good for "When you're lying awake with a dismal headache and Repose is taboo'd by anxiety" :lol: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/toddrundgren/lordchancellorsnightmaresong.html
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by bikepacker »

This has now got me worried. From the age of 28 to 55 I rarely slept more than 5 hours a night. In fact when I retired at 55 as I had no business to go to, I had to train myself to sleep longer as I hated lying in bed awake. I now sleep about 7 hours a night and so far I have managed to live to 74. Hopefully I am one of the exceptions etc.
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mercalia
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by mercalia »

bikepacker wrote:This has now got me worried. From the age of 28 to 55 I rarely slept more than 5 hours a night. In fact when I retired at 55 as I had no business to go to, I had to train myself to sleep longer as I hated lying in bed awake. I now sleep about 7 hours a night and so far I have managed to live to 74. Hopefully I am one of the exceptions etc.


Are you on any medications though?
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by bikepacker »

2mg prednisolone a day and reducing for PMR.
There is your way. There is my way. But there is no "the way".
ianrobo
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by ianrobo »

bikepacker wrote:This has now got me worried. From the age of 28 to 55 I rarely slept more than 5 hours a night. In fact when I retired at 55 as I had no business to go to, I had to train myself to sleep longer as I hated lying in bed awake. I now sleep about 7 hours a night and so far I have managed to live to 74. Hopefully I am one of the exceptions etc.


you will be, often these studies are pointless as can be so many other factors and esp stress, I rarely sleep more than 6 hours a night and doubt that impacts me at all.
Flinders
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by Flinders »

Some people I know don't need very much sleep, but have good health and are not young things.

I need a lot.
The last 4 nights I have had very poor sleep - broken sleep and long patches of not sleeping, or sleeping badly, complete with back pain, blistered skin which itched and was painful, and other stuff due to circs. beyond my control, and I feel lousy.

I can hardly wait for tonight, now it is all sorted, when I should be able to sleep properly (with a bit of luck) for the first time since last Wednesday. It is going to be such a treat..... :D

When I used to have to work through occasional overnights after a full working day, it was truly horrible (and so was I when at my low point- about 3-4am). But as I did them only occasionally, I never got into a pattern, which is I suppose how people who do permanent nights deal with it.
sjs
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by sjs »

I heard Matthew Walker on the 9 o'clock slot on Radio 4 yesterday (Start the Week?) talking about the same stuff. It seemed so extreme, and his tone so salesman-like and un-academic, that I googled him to check for quack status. Didn't find anything conclusive.
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Mick F
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Re: Sleep or die early?

Post by Mick F »

Flinders wrote:Some people I know don't need very much sleep, but have good health and are not young things.
I need a lot.
Me too.

I need eight hours ........................... and any I can get at night is a bonus.
Mick F. Cornwall
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