Humans 'May Need More Sleep in Winter', Study Finds (theguardian.com) 32
For those of us who struggle to leave our beds in the winter, taunts of "lazy" could well be misplaced. From a report: New research suggests that while humans do not hibernate, we may need more sleep during the colder months. Analysis of people undergoing sleep studies found that people get more REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in the winter. While total sleep time appeared to be about an hour longer in the winter than the summer, this result was not considered statistically significant.
However, REM sleep -- known to be directly linked to the circadian clock, which is affected by changing light -- was 30 minutes longer in the winter than in summer. The research suggests that even in an urban population experiencing disrupted sleep, humans experience longer REM sleep in winter than summer and less deep sleep in autumn. Researchers say if the study's findings can be replicated in people with healthy sleep, this would provide the first evidence for a need to adjust sleep habits to season -- perhaps by going to sleep earlier in the darker and colder months.
However, REM sleep -- known to be directly linked to the circadian clock, which is affected by changing light -- was 30 minutes longer in the winter than in summer. The research suggests that even in an urban population experiencing disrupted sleep, humans experience longer REM sleep in winter than summer and less deep sleep in autumn. Researchers say if the study's findings can be replicated in people with healthy sleep, this would provide the first evidence for a need to adjust sleep habits to season -- perhaps by going to sleep earlier in the darker and colder months.
Ahem... (Score:2)
For some reason our biology that is adopted to day night cycle fights back against artificially increasing daylight.
(Whether you think this was due to evolutionary adoption, or a higher power does not matter in this case).
We have f'ed around with our food, and found that trans fats and processed ingredients are really bad for us.
We did the same with medicine, and found that heroin is not actually a good cough syrup for children.
And looks like it is time to "find out" about our daily routines, and even maybe
Factors affecting sleep... (Score:5, Interesting)
Definitely a topic of personal interest. I've even read a number of books on the topic, collected my own data, and even consulted physicians about various aspects of sleep... I'm inclined to think the temperature is more important than the light because electric lights have been wreaking especially great havoc on our circadian rhythms for a long time already.
However from a historical perspective it may have been candles? Going back a few centuries they thought the normal sleep pattern was first sleep for a few hours, then a period of being awake (often used for reading or writing), followed by a second sleep until morning. There are also age-related variations. From memory (perhaps Mathew Walker?), I think it was heavy, almost continuous sleeping in infancy, then long sleeping switching to night owl style for teenagers, followed by what we regard as the regularly scheduled 8-hour sleep for adults, and finally some years of early morning wakefulness, when it might have been helpful for some old timers to be up and patrolling around the neighborhood for potential problems...
But I still want that modular sleeping belt from my Tech Santa wish list. New wrinkle: You could use it during the day as a supplemental power supply for your smartphone... Especially if it has wireless charging capability and can be topped off while you're sleeping. (Someone recently told me that Philips might be selling something like this? However mostly I want a module for more accurate blood pressure data...)
Hmm... And is this topic open enough for sleep meters? I've mostly been using Huawei, but because of the software war I'm going to have to switch brands soon. I didn't like Fitbit and I hate the new owners, so that popular option is out for me. Epson actually made one of the best ones, but they have completely abandoned the market, as far as I can tell. I used a Garmin for a while, and it had some of the best hardware features, but the software was gawdawful. From about 15 years ago, Omron tried several different approaches, but they also seem to have backed out of that market. Small experiences with Xiomi (Mi) and a no-name "smart watch". I was just looking at a new brand the other day... There are also some smartphone apps that are supposed to measure various things about sleep... (But I haven't tried any of the fancy high-end stuff, such as the iWatch.)
Problematic sleep? I actually don't think so. Just a normal LOB thing, not a problematic TMB thing. (I propose LOB for the natural changes that come from Lots Of Birthdays, while Too Many Birthdays is a morbid joke from the doctors. TMB gets everyone in the end...)
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Let's just jet south for the winter, and jet back when it goes winter there, eh.
Why would you head south? That's bonkers. Everyone knows Antarctica is the coldest place in the world. You head *north* for the warmth, dingus.
Not gonna happen (Score:3)
Being glued to ones phone is more important than sleep. Who knows what funny video or scathing remark one might miss if they go to bed earlier. Better to stay up longer and complain how tired you are the next day than do something simple as going to bed earlier.
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Who knows what funny video or scathing remark one might miss if they go to bed earlier.
Not to mention that someone is wrong on the Internet [xkcd.com].
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I work at a company where a number of my co-workers have to work odd hours like overnights or early AM shifts regularly and I occasionally need to as well. In my experience you're always a bit tired and out of it on an overnight shift regardless of how much you sleep, especially when it starts getting to around 3-4 in the morning. On the other hand, those who are the most tired almost never were in their bed for enough hours to ever possibly get enough sleep.
Weasel words = clickbait (Score:4, Insightful)
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Daylight saving time. (Score:3)
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The best way is permanent daylight saving time, and everybody starts work/school an hour later (but finish at the regular time, so you have a seven hour workday) during the winter. Then we get some afternoon sun and enough sleep. Not gonna happen without sufficient demand though.
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> The best way is permanent daylight saving time
Setting 'noon' to be 1PM doesn't help anything.
Getting up later and going to bed earlier does help.
I like your idea about a 7-hr workday in the winter. That's a smart addition to the conversation as I've heard it.
The current system contributes to teen suicide but almost noone cares.
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Setting 'noon' to be 1PM doesn't help anything.
Having it before 12 is much worse. Better to bias it a little later, anywhere between 12 and 1 will work.
Shorter work/school days during winter (above about 35 - 40 degrees latitude) should be a fundamental concept. I hope I'm not the first or only one to think about it.
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But permanent daylight saving time works less and less well in winter, if you go further north. If school starts at 7 am. (old naming), because 7 am. is now permanently renamed to 8 am., you will get up in utter darkness for a longer time of the year. The Sun does not rise earlier j
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I'd love to be rid of the biannual clock fuckery. I sleep when I sleep regardless of what the daystar [penny-arcade.com] is doing. That's why curtains and artificial lighting was invented. Also air conditioning.
Error Bars (Score:2)
It's an interesting line of research that makes some sense, from an evolutionary perspective it would certainly be logical to go into a lower-energy state in the winter.
I was surprised that with a 60 minute difference the results weren't statistically significant but it makes more sense when you look at the data [frontiersin.org].
Agreed (Score:2)
Every winter, I struggle. One of the symptoms is needing more sleep.
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> Every winter, I struggle. One of the symptoms is needing more sleep.
I built a 150K lumen light fixture for myself this winter.
It helps to get morning light, even artificially.
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True. I've got something similar, and it does help. Vitamin D too (after a blood test revealed a severe deficiency), and long walks at lunchtime. Still not as good as summer, though.
can we eliminate the need to sleep altogether (Score:3)
hopefully we can eliminate this huge waste of time and productivity. the idea that workers need to go home 8 hours a day for rest is really holding the economy back.
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I would rather have as much sleep as possible, maybe up to 20 hours, to match my cat. What do we need to be awake for besides eating, shitting, pissing, and a wank or three? 4 hours ought to be enough for anyone to be wakey wakey and exercise their sphincters.
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Your cat doesn't contribute positively to the GDP.
It's what people did 100 years ago (Score:2)
There was no snow-plow, but lots of snow, no Jeep, no tractor, people stayed at home and usually in bed, since only the kitchen had heat.
Also, if it gets dark at 4:30 and you can't afford lighting, what else could you do?
Maybe, just maybe (Score:2)
If you stopped messing with the clocks, my internal system would just get the amount of sleep I need. I know, we can't have that though. Likely someone somewhere is making money so change the clocks we must!! Regardless of how the population votes.
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For the past few years, I've tried to adapt to the clock change slowly: instead of getting up an hour earlier on the first day of summer time, I'll move my wakeup time in 10 minute increments over 2 weeks. This seems to help.
I didnâ(TM)t need a study to tell me this. (Score:1)