The Mind-Blowing Science Of Sleep
We do spend about a third of our lives asleep. Or trying to sleep. Increasingly we're turning to prescription meds to help us sleep.
In the interest of sharing things with you, I thought I'd share my "sleep" file.
We still don't understand much.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Sleep is more important than food.
Sleep is more important than food when it comes to improving performance.
Sleep improves thinking.
Via Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School:
Sleeping makes you happier.
Via NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children:
Napping is normal.
Via Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School:
Napping and sleeping make you make you smarter: "sleep is needed to clear the brain's short-term memory storage and make room for new information."
Sleep on it.
Sleep improves your ability to make decisions:
"There is something to be gained from taking a night to sleep on it when you're facing an important decision. We found that the fact that you slept makes your decisions better."
How much sleep do we need?
More than Napoleon famously advised: "Six hours' sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool."
Is it just me or has the ability to function on less sleep become some cultural badge of honour these days? The assumption that whoever can still 'do their job' on less sleep wins? I'm as guilty as anyone.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Teenagers need more sleep.
Via Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired:
Are early risers better people?
Via Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired:
Stress impacts your ability to sleep.
Via Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School:
But, I can't sleep.
When you can't sleep, should you lie in bed with your eyes closed? No.
Brian Fung answers in the Atlantic.
Does jet-lag affect performance?
In a word: yes.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Why do we dream?
Via The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives:
Daylight savings time.
Via Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing:
What causes insomnia?
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Good sleepers have an active mind.
Via The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives:
Ok, ok, I hear you saying. Get to the tips already.
How you can sleep better:
First, we need to understand what goes into a good night of sleep?
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Mattresses don't matter.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Help your circadian rhythm by knowing when to use light and when to avoid it.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Cold showers and why we stick our feet out.
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
Exercise helps. "Those who exercised reported a better quality of sleep than those who remained sedentary."
Via Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep:
The age of always on
The most important point in Dreamland might be that our round the clock non-stop world is throwing ourselves into.