Sleep Is the New Status Symbol (nytimes.com) 117
The New York Times has a good story on how sleep is increasingly becoming a big business -- and the tech industry is rushing in to tweak our natural rhythms. From the article: At M.I.T.'s Media Lab, the digital futurist playground, David Rose is investigating swaddling, bedtime stories and hammocks, as well as lavender oil and cocoons. [...] Meanwhile, at the University of California, Berkeley, Matthew P. Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology and the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory there, is working on direct current stimulation as a cure for sleeplessness in the aging brain. [...] In Paris, Hugo Mercier, a computer science engineer, has invested in sound waves. He has raised over $10 million to create a headband that uses them to induce sleep. [...] Ben Olsen, an Australian entrepreneur, hopes to introduce Thim, a gadget you wear on your finger that uses sound to startle you awake every three minutes for an hour, just before you go to sleep. [...] Sleep entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and beyond have poured into the sleep space, as branders like to say -- a $32 billion market in 2012 -- formerly inhabited by old-style mattress and pharmaceutical companies.
Find something ever one needs... (Score:1)
Find something everyone needs, or they will die, figure out a way to sell it back to them, profit.
Re: (Score:3)
It is STAYING asleep that is the tough thing for me....
And if I've been drinking at all, you can almost set a timer to it...4 hours exactly I wake up and often can't go back to sleep.
But even if no alcohol is involved, I find it more and more difficult to stay asleep, you get up to pee 1-2 times a night and can't fall back asleep.
And I really do better on 8 hours of sleep..as I get older it seems more difficult to hit near that mark, 6 hours is often the best I can seem
Re: (Score:3)
I've read somewhere that having some wake-up time in the middle of the night is a natural cycle, and that's how people slept back in the African savannah, in two separate stretches. So maybe you should try to find some other four hours of sleep during the day, which are not right behind the first four hours?
Re: (Score:3)
My doctor said that getting sleep between 10pm and 2am was critical to a long healthy life and preventing deteriotating vision in old age. I'm not sure if that's simply because of getting sleep in dark hours, or there's something physics related about having the Sun behind the core of the Earth.
Norway has no night-time in the Summer months, so it's just permanent sunset/sunrise for three months, so bedrooms have blackout curtains while people are out walking around at 4am in the morning, painting their hous
Re: (Score:3)
I used to have the same problem. My wife noticed that I have sleep apnea and that I sometimes woke up because of it. You don't realize that you woke up because you stopped breathing, but you do notice that you have to pee.
Before doing a sleep study, I decided to try one of the mandibular device solutions and it worked great! No snoring and I can sleep through the night, without waking up multiple times to "pee". If it didn't work I was going to give in and do the "sleep study" and possibly go with a cpap so
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
As somebody who resisted a sleep study for a long time because, "I sleep fine, what are you talking about, I snore?", I can't urge people strongly enough to go get a sleep study done if you're told you snore, or you think you're not sleeping very well.
First, get yourself a fitbit (or similar - something that'll help track your movements during sleep) - use it for a week or two, and notice that you've prob
Re: (Score:1)
You might have late-onset diabetes like I do. I read something about the body waking from distress after 4 hours (sorry can't remember where) and went to my doctor and then for tests (twice) and darned if I'm not scoring a 6 or 7 on the blood-sugar scale.
Re: (Score:1)
It's quite common for me to wake up sexually aroused too.
If I wanted to get more sleep, I'd ask you to tell me more about yourself.
Sleep transferrence (Score:2, Interesting)
If only there was a way to transfer sleep - it would many of the world's problems. Poor people could just sleep and get paid, rich people could produce even more wealth; maybe parents could get a little more personal time away from their children?
Re: Sleep transferrence (Score:5, Informative)
poor people (no money, lots of time) [...] rich people (no time, lots of money)
That's delusional. No one has less time than the working poor, who are often forced to work more than one job. Toss a family in the mix and you'll often see one parent working two jobs, a full and a part-time, with the other just working full time. Why not a fourth job? They don't have the time as they need to handle the kid's schedule, from school activities to doctors appointments. For them, time is at a premium, and sleep is a luxury.
In contrast, wealthy people have nothing but free time. There are exceptions, of course, but those are more often by choice, rather than necessity.
Don't delude yourself in to thinking the poor are poor because they don't work hard. They certainly work a lot harder, for a lot longer, than I do. I'll bet the same is true for you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't delude yourself in to thinking the poor are poor because they don't work hard. They certainly work a lot harder, for a lot longer, than I do. I'll bet the same is true for you.
The original quip was a man referring to himself over time, "When I was young, I had no money and all the time, now I am old I have money, but no time".
It was co-opted by those who like to demonise the poor... Who do work a hell of a lot harder if you've ever seen working conditions in many developing countries.
Re: (Score:2)
People are already selling lifetime to others in exchange for money. It's called a job.
It that sense, sleeping would become a job. In that context, getting the positive effects of sleep out of nothing would be like robotisation. A net benefit but it would put sleepers out of a job.
Re: (Score:2)
Well if you see any think like that in the movies you better sue.
It's hyped and will shift to something else soon (Score:2)
A couple years at most, then the next big thing will be the new "status symbol".
Granted, I'm a morning person, but if you want good sleep, go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time as much as possible. No sleeping in on days off.
Re:It's hyped and will shift to something else soo (Score:5, Funny)
Granted, I'm a morning person,
Oh, go take a long walk on a short pier!
*grumbles and goes for more coffee*
Re: (Score:3)
Sleep restriction. Take your total sleep time, set your bedtime by rolling back from your desired rise time. When your sleep efficiency over a week reaches 90% or more, move bed time back by 15 minutes. If it falls below 80%, move it forward.
I'm an insomniac with a prior ADHD diagnosis. I got Modafinil from a psychiatrist after my attention issues became asinine; it was fucking awesome for 2 weeks, then I got hit with sudden suicide-grade depression. Modafinil doesn't interrupt my sleep; and since I
Re: (Score:2)
Imagine if you only had to eat because you'd become dizzy and weak eventually, and food wasn't really that palatable; eating would be terrible, but necessary.)
That's me about half the time. Eating & food is such a huge pain in the neck. Huge waste of time & money. And yet I get the shakes and fuzzy headed if I don't keep the calories coming in on a regular schedule.
Because it's a social thing, you can't just find a nerd replacement like Soylent or some other "get it out of the way" solution - the wife & kids need & want food too.
The human body is just an awful thing to have to maintain.
Re:It's hyped and will shift to something else soo (Score:4)
Given that you're going to stay with it for the rest of your life, you might want to learn to enjoy it, like the rest of us. Cooking and eating is a ceremony here in Europe, akin to a ritual.
Experimenting with flavours and cooking techniques may be a wonderful hobby, whether you cook yourself or pay someone to do it, although I recognize that it may be quite expensive in that dysfunctional food culture you have over there in the States, where poision is subsidized and quality raw ingredients are more expensive than processed food.
Re: (Score:2)
When I was on amphetamine, I started using soylent because I could only get 1200kcal/day. The original dose (20mg MAS ER) was so powerful I couldn't eat at all: food had a terrible taste and texture, and swallowing felt like an invasion. It was hard to get down. I eventually settled on 15mg MAS ER; 10mg gave me anxiety, and 15mg only made me mildly-depressed. I break over at 20mg like an avalanche effect, complete with a mix of mild and moderate-severe overdose symptoms. The pharmacological window fo
Re: (Score:2)
If you really want good sleep, find work where you can set your own hours and then sleep whenever you like. I never had any luck trying to force sleep, but being able to choose when to sleep works great.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
If you really want good sleep, find work where you can set your own hours and then sleep whenever you like. I never had any luck trying to force sleep, but being able to choose when to sleep works great.
that works in delayed or advanced sleep phase disorders really well if people can manage it. Delayed sleep phase disorders is surprisingly common and advanced not far behind so shifts or odd hour work can be perfect when matched to those. Some things like my own are more disruptive because they are out of sync at the reset point and move. Basically I start at delayed and move through over time to point it hits advanced phase point. Then I stop sleeping completely, even at times where I had weeks I could sle
Re: (Score:1)
A couple years at most, then the next big thing will be the new "status symbol".
Granted, I'm a morning person, but if you want good sleep, go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time as much as possible. No sleeping in on days off.
that is an over simplification sadly and not true for many who have problem just because it is for you. There are a lot of causes of sleep problems and insomnia is more of a catchall generic term. I have disruptive sleep phase disorder myself and my "natural" peak and trough alertness times (associated with sleep ease) linked to circadian rhythm changes as it doesn't map neatly to the normal 24 hour ; in environmental queues present every day environments, I mean I know it goes longer for the typical folks
And people wonder why. . . (Score:2)
. . . . I do my best to spend weekends and days off, sleeping in. Because, between the job, the commute, and everything else I'm committed to, I'm currently booked at 25+ hours on a GOOD day.
8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is pretty much a luxury to me. . .
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Define "productive".
Maybe your definition is flawed.
Re: (Score:2)
Clearly there's some kind of "design flaw" in human biology then. Probably something that evolved since the industrial revolution. [reuters.com] We should find a way to correct it so that we can get back to working stupid hours for our flawless, benevolent economic system.
Re: (Score:2)
Except "reducing my load" would drop my income, which is already stretched with the care of a handicapped daughter's expenses that insurance and SSI don't cover. . .
High-status kids (Score:5, Funny)
Sleep is the new status symbol
My teenagers have unbelievably high status, then.
Re:High-status kids (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, he's tired from day of sleeping all day...
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, he's tired from day of sleeping all day...
Damn straight, if he doesn't get at least 8 naps he doesn't have the energy for the main snooze.
Re: (Score:2)
In ancient Egypt, cats were revered as demigods.
They have never forgotten.
Go low tech... (Score:2)
I prefer to keep it old-school ... (Score:3, Insightful)
--
Carpe noctem!
Re: (Score:2)
Would that it were so simple! I love a nice single-malt, but have been advised that whiskey before bedtime is not conducive to good sleep hygiene. For reference, consider this review [sciencedaily.com] that purports to have "for the first time consolidated all the available literature on the immediate effects of alcohol on the sleep of healthy individuals".
Quoting from the linked article:
... short-term alcohol use only gives the impression of improving sleep, and it should not be used as a sleep aid.
... alcohol on the whole is not useful for improving a whole night's sleep. Sleep may be deeper to start with, but then becomes disrupted. Additionally, that deeper sleep will probably promote snoring and poorer breathing. So, one shouldn't expect better sleep with alcohol.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I understand that was how my father preferred to handle baby teething. Just smear a little on the baby's gums, and the pain would subside enough for everybody in the house to get a little sleep.
Wait... if sleep is a status symbol... (Score:3)
Hey, ladies! I'm well rested... every... day. ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Ladies? I see you're new here.
When we're required to work Seattle hundreds... (Score:1)
Not having to sleep would be a huge competitive advantage. I know my coworkers are lazy and start to drag after about eighty hours. Many of them complain about not being able to sleep when they can. If they worked harder, then they would be more tired so they would be able to sleep. That or exercise which would be better for them, but not as good for the team.
Re: (Score:1)
This. So many of my coworkers complain about not being able to sleep. If they could sleep when they have a chance, then they would not have an excsue to be so damn lazy and screw-over their team. So many of those lazy people screw us and make our lives shit. I haven't had a sick day in over thirty years, but lazy people keep taking them. That was the reason I left Microsoft. Most of the people were so lazy they'd whine constantly about sixty hours. I now work 50% more than that since I'm not lazy, an
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
What's been proven is that 8 hours in one block is far too much. The natural sleep cycle is 7 hours, with about 1.5 hours spent awake just past the halfway point. It's also seasonal, requiring a bit more sleep in winter than summer. Your data is out of date.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Looks like I'm good there. I get up at 5:00am.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought we did away with kids having coworkers with modern employment law...
Re: (Score:2)
Not having to sleep would be a huge competitive advantage.
The longest I stayed awake was 168 hours (seven days) when I was a teenager during a summer break. Worse than masturbating 27 times in 24 hours. I literally felt like I was burning both ends of the candle. I sleep for the next three days to recover.
I know my coworkers are lazy and start to drag after about eighty hours.
When I was a lead video game tester at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder), I worked 40 hours straight to prepare for a code release meeting, took Wednesday through Sunday off to recover, and my boss was pisse
Re: (Score:1)
Kind of sad when actual UW Seattle research shows 7-8 hours is optimal.
Look, it's all the blue screens. Turn them off an hour before bed. And stop doing "work" in bed.
Seriously, anything to avoid dealing with reality ....
Sooo..... (Score:2)
... when you say you "slept" with that hot girl from biology class, you actually mean you slept with her? And that's a status symbol?
Re: (Score:3)
Student 2: No, you didn't. You just fell asleep in biology class.
Student 1: Totally counts!
--
Carpe noctem!
Snake Oil Is The New Snake Oil (Score:2)
Snake Oil is the new Snake Oil.
Television Ads (Score:2, Interesting)
No need for market research, just note the television ads. So many for pillows, mattresses, pharmaceutical sleep aids, etc. Now I can start my pyramid scheme of having people sleep under pyramid tents that focus the "somnorific rays."
The "Thim" (Score:3)
How is waking you up every three minutes supposed to help you sleep?
Re: (Score:1)
How is waking you up every three minutes supposed to help you sleep?
You got it wrong, it helps the guy selling it sleep at night, not you. Huge piles of money is apparently very comfortable.
Re: (Score:2)
Literally the next sentence in TFA:
"Sleep disruptions, apparently, can cure sleep disruption (and Mr. Olsen, like all good sleep entrepreneurs, has the research to prove it)."
Lipstick on the pig (Score:2)
Like many other recent "tech fixes", this one attempts to paper over fissures in society that have quite different causes. More and more people are "badly off", however you measure it. They have less money, they are deeper in debt, even while they spend less; and increasingly, they have to work longer hours and have several earners per household. One of the obvious consequences is that people have less time for sleep, and more worries to distract them from it.
If you are doing something you find enjoyable or
From 'Known Space' (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
"Two hours in the dream machine keeps me sane": Gustav Graves, Die Another Day.
Sleep machines were also used by the Judges of Mega City One (and others) so they could get back out on the streets and deal with perps.
Re: (Score:2)
There is a drug that can do this, can't find info on it now but I read an article on it in Wired a few years ago. People testing it were sleeping for just 2-3 hours a night and woke up feeling like they'd slept 8. There are other drugs that can defer the need to sleep. I think the only reason it hasn't caught on and made 13-hour work days the new normal is the overabundance of labor.
Re: (Score:2)
It might Morphogen. From Isaac Asimov's "Fantastic Voyage". Thirty minutes of solid dreaming and then you're set for a day!
In that case, I'm the king (Score:2, Interesting)
I (40 year old single male) recently griped at work that I only got 6 hours of sleep, and my coworkers who are parents got a good laugh out of that one, saying if they are able to get 6 hours of sleep it's a luxury.
Re: (Score:2)
Um. No. (Score:1)
Look, you can't "create trends".
This is not a trend.
Hashtag that.
Already got one (Score:1)
" Ben Olsen, an Australian entrepreneur, hopes to introduce Thim, a gadget you wear on your finger that uses sound to startle you awake every three minutes for an hour, just before you go to sleep. "
Got one - it's called a cat, though generally she wakes me for three minutes every hour, either by walking on my head, or sticking a paw in my mouth.
I hope people are taking sleep more seriously (Score:4, Insightful)
Being proud of your lack of sleep is like being proud of the monthly balance that you've been carrying on your high interest credit card for the past decade. You're not more successful due to your lack of sleep - you're successful despite it.
Sleep more and see how the speed and quality of your work improves, thus making more time for the very sleep that enabled such work (not to mention the overall quality of life improvements).
Irony that Silicon Valley Disrupted Sleep First (Score:2)
Only in America... (Score:2)
This problem already has a solution, it's called: LESS STRESS
But no because America is a culture of burnout referring to other countries as slackers, we have to innovate to sell you more crap to solve a problem that was the invention of that very same society!
8 hours never felt like enough to me (Score:2)
I honestly don't understand how people manage on such little sleep, even 8-hours seems marginal. It seems to me that I need 80 hours total per week (average 10 per day). If I skimp on that by sleeping "only" 8 (or fewer) hours a day, I just end up sleeping in even more on the weekend to make it up.
I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and putting me on a CPAP eliminated my snoring but did nothing for the duration of sleep I seem to desire. I typically wake 2-3 times in the early morning (that I am aware of) but
Wait, what? (Score:2)
I've already started my happy hour, so can someone please explain to me how having a gizmo on your finger that startles you awake every three minutes is going to help with sleeplessness?
Actually, the REAL reason... (Score:1)
Wait a minute! Where was I yesterday?!
Didn't I used to hate that politician?!
Why does scientific fact no longer matter?!
And I digress from there.