I’d rather stay up anyway

nifty@lemmy.world to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 639 points –
53

You have to wake up at the end of a REM cycle, or you'll wake up feeling groggy and tired.

I've given up giving people sleep tips on Lemmy. You go into any detail or suggest they have to change their habits, and they react like you killed their dog.

It's like giving people depression tips.

"Oh you're depressed? Haven't you tried eating healthy and exercising?"

Or do you think your words are so unique and profound you actually expect people to change their lives over your internet comment?

No sleep tips I followed ever made me feel rested if I went to sleep before 12PM. The only way is to take a nap and sleep from 1AM to 7AM. Nobody suggests doing that though, for some reason...

Gotta acknowledge that these tips work for people who have average sleep habits, ones least likely to have bad sleep habits.

Such a pattern is common in Spain, called "Siesta".

I used to do this before my days got busier, now I aim for one 6-8 hour block at night.

You can also look into "polyphasic sleep" - which doesn't actually work unless you get enough sleep though.

Siesta, and what you do is "biphasic sleep" - two phases.

This is it, with a REM cycle lasting about 90min, I find 7 REMs (7h30m~ 8H) to be the perfect lenght especially if I went to bed at 23h00.

I get ten hours of sleep. I wake up feeling tired and have to go to work.

I get three hours of sleep. I wake up feeling tired and have to go to work, but I got an additional 7 hours of gaming in and extended my free time. Win.

Probably not a win in the long run though. But I'll take it too.

The "long run" sounds like a future me problem, not a right-now me problem. Therefore, no problem!

And then people complain that “you’re not healthy”. I feel way healthier and happier with more free time thank you very much.

I mean, I still average out to 7-8hrs of sleep over the entire week... I just make it up on Friday thru Sunday nights.

I know right? I feel better when im drunk but when I try to stay up all night drinking I get lip from everyone!!

The trick is a consistent sleep schedule. Consistently getting sunlight within the first hour of waking up helps a lot too, and taking time to wind down, dim lights, like an hour before bed

How am I supposed to get sunlight when I start work at 6:00 but sunrise isn't until 8:00

Get a sunrise alarm, I bought one half a year ago and it works wonders, waking up is so much easier. (I also have to wake up before 6)

What’s a sunrise alarm

An alarm clock with a warm-colored light on it, that slowly turns on over a period of time leading up to your alarm. Some smart lightbulbs can also be set to do the same thing, which is what I use.

Also have a bottle of water in your bedroom near you that you can drink in the morning, it helps you wake up

Why ia this a thing can anyone sciency answer ?

It's a matter of timing your waking up with the right part of your sleep cycle. If you sleep through the "wake up window", which I think is right after REM sleep, then your reenter deeper sleep which is harder to wake up from.

Yeah, it’s about getting enough REM and SWS cycles. The effect decays over time, though. If you time your wake up to a full sleep cycle (around 2.5-3 hours) one night, you may wake up feeling fine. If you do this multiple nights in a row, however, you will build up a REM/SWS debt. So on day one it feels fine, on day two it feels less fine, and on day three you’re dragging.

I have no idea what you are talking about can you ELI5 it a bit

Think of your sleep as reading a series of engaging books, where each book represents a sleep cycle, including chapters of both deep sleep (SWS) and dream sleep (REM). When you finish a book (sleep cycle), you reach a satisfying conclusion to that story arc—this is akin to waking up after a full sleep cycle. You feel refreshed because you’ve concluded the narrative neatly, without interrupting a tense plot twist or leaving a storyline unresolved.

However, just finishing one book doesn’t mean you’ve completed the whole series. If you stop after one book each night, you’re missing out on the depth and development that comes from reading more of the series (accumulating more sleep cycles). Initially, you might feel okay because you’ve concluded a story (cycle) properly, avoiding the grogginess of waking up mid-chapter (mid-cycle). Yet, this approach doesn’t give you the full, enriching experience (or rest) your body and brain need over time.

As days go on, if you continue this pattern, you accumulate a ‘reading debt’—akin to sleep debt. You’ve missed out on the broader, deeper insights and the full narrative arc that only comes from reading (sleeping) the whole series or book. This debt reflects not fully recharging your brain and body, leaving you progressively more tired. While you might feel a temporary refreshment from completing a cycle, without the full, restorative rest of multiple cycles, you’re not truly at 100%—you’re running on the satisfaction of a finished story, not the full restoration that comes from a complete series.

That's what happens to me when I don't shove enough water into my throat before bedtime. Your body flushes all the bad stuff out and has no water left in the morning. You can either stop eating salty foods (or food in general) before bedtime, or split your sleep into several parts.

I have a window of perfection. If I sleep less the 4 hours I'm dead tired in the morning, if I sleep more then 7 hours I am dead in the morning, but for some reason if I get 5, 6 or 7 I'll be up and at em no issue at all

Yeah, for me it's 6 the perfect amount (altho i sleep more on the weekends)

Yeh but if I wake up tired after 2h sleep, I have limited energy and an more quickly exhausted. And I'll likely suffer the more for it the following day.

If I wake up tired after 10h sleep I actually have more reserves of strength, and can do better that day - or more (I think), can do better the next day.

I do pretty much always wake up tired, but I also can't make myself stay awake past 9 most of the time any longer. Not since I hit 40 or so (46 now). I used to be able to stay up all night if I wanted to. This is the first year in a while I was able to stay up until midnight to see in the new year. And just barely.

The only time I get 10 hours and wake up tired is after a lot of drinking, so maybe you have other issues.

My sweet spot really seems to be 6hrs. I feel most alert and functional. At least for the past 5 years or so.

Prior to that I worked 2 x 24hr shifts, many times 3 x 24hrs, per week. My sleep was a significantly different pattern.