Reddit Reddit reviews Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

We found 13 Reddit comments about Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Health, Fitness & Dieting
Books
Diseases & Physical Ailments Health
Sleep Disorders
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
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13 Reddit comments about Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams:

u/complimentaryasshole · 18 pointsr/gatesopencomeonin

No one can survive on 4 hours of sleep or even 6, at least not without dire consequences later in life. If you haven't heard of Matthew Walker's work and his book Why We Sleep I highly recommend you check it out. He's been on a bunch of podcasts too, my favorite was on an episode of Dr Rhonda Patrick's Found My Fitness podcast. Please do yourself and your future health a favor and get your 8. You deserve it!

u/logical_insight · 16 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

I just read Mathew Walker’s excellent book “why we sleep.”

It’s an excellent read and will change the way you think about sleep. Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1549864264&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Why+we+sleep&psc=1

u/phasenine · 13 pointsr/AskDocs

I listened to a podcast with Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep which then lead me to buy the audiobook. One of the first things he talks about in the book is that whether we’re a night owl or morning lark is largely determined by genetics. So, the fact that you have a hard time waking up early is likely going to be hard to change, unfortunately.

The podcast was with Joe Rogan. . It’s quite a good listen!

u/schistaceous · 11 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Yeah, one of these things is not like the others. Just the first few pages of Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep makes that clear. Don't know whether it's a year-long project, but of the items on the list it merits top priority.

u/spit-evil-olive-tips · 6 pointsr/SeattleWA

Sleep.

Add this book to your to-read list for later, it explains why sleep is actually more productive than pulling an all-nighter.

u/CowboyFromSmell · 2 pointsr/compsci

Sleep.

Being totally honest, I try a lot of the stuff in the other top level comments, but for the hard problems, it’s not until the next day that I have a good answer. Rich Hicky’s talk Hammock Driven Development talks a lot about this.

It’s a real thing. REM sleep, which happens mostly in morning sleep, helps us process those hard problems that we’ve been banging on. You can read more about it in this book.

u/StrangeYou · 1 pointr/depression_help

No worries man. I’m glad you read it. And honestly I can’t explain how I’m humbled that you find it actually helpful. Thank YOU for digesting the stuff that I’ve written. It means a lot to me that I could able to feel someone better.

It’s a great thing that you’ve mentioned your needs on therapy. Just 1 thing I’d like to point at. You shouldn’t be labelling ur self in depression. Neither your parents as well. It might be completely different thing. I’m assuming your parents might have told you “you got a warm house so how come you’re depressed” or something like that. Sounds like my parents lol.

In my most honest suggestion that you keep mentioning that you need a therapist. Not in a nagging attitude ofc lol. Just try to communicate this when everyone is having a regular or a normal time. Not when you’re feeling down. In much harsh words, tell u need to talk with a professional when shields are down. Because pretending is way more tiring than just being unhappy. That’s what I’ve did for years and end up hating my self, everyone else and most sadly my parents.

Also meanwhile you’re trying to help yourself I’ve got two suggestions for you.

This book-> https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501144324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_hPx2Db44AP10J (this cover is terrible. if you can find get the penguin release lol)

And start watching HBO’s in treatment. It’s a quite deep series. But it’ll give you an insight how to approach to a therapist. Tbh, I started to get more out of my therapy after watching this. Therapy is not a magic wand. It works when you actually converse with the human that listens you fully at that moment.

u/UpperDiscipline · 1 pointr/NorthCarolina

>Lasik is a horrible example

Fair. I hesitated to use it but decided to use the first medical example that came to mind. I will say though that from everything I've read lately, I don't think the procedure is as dangerous as made out to be. Serious, lasting side effects percentage-wise are still low and improving despite the issues. I also think there needs to be due diligence on the part of the patient. I probably wouldn't get Lasik myself, but if I ever do, I'm going to do my research to find a reputable program for it and understand the risks. I'll also note, there are many 'regulated' procedures done in fancy hospitals that I would never agree to because they also pose a level of risk that I'm not comfortable with. There's risk in any health procedure.

>but your argument breaks down when early detection and payment of say heart medications would increase quality of life and make patients live longer and overall be cheaper to everyone, insurers and providers.

  1. I recommend the book "Overdiagnosed" by Dr. Gilbert Welch. Not part of this conversation, but thought provoking on the issue of early detection.
  2. We can have 'free market' healthcare with out of pocket expenses for medication and still cheap costs. Here I suggest reading into a relatively new field in healthcare called "direct primary care". It's essentially a primary care service that covers normal doctor visits, all kinds of minor procedures, and basic medications for a single monthly subscription. They can do stitches, BP or heart medication, etc all under that subscription since they can buy the stuff wholesale. It's really interesting stuff that skirts insurance companies.

    >Same with diabetes. Figure it out very early, start treatment and get people healthier, because now many who can barely afford to see a doctor are doing just what you say, having catastrophic insurance and waiting until there is a problem not easily fixed.

    Agreed, people need to focus on prevention. But I think the current mentality is misguided and focuses on band-aid fixes instead of correcting the root cause. The western lifestyle is horrible for our health. Very little sleep (another good read), very little exercise, and a horrendous diet. Get people 8+ hrs of sleep, get them moving around more, and get them eating more veggies seems like a much better plan than "here's a pill that will help your BP but will also give you bad side effects". Not against pills entirely, but it should be reserved for when lifestyle improvements aren't enough; supplemental use. These changes would free up healthcare resources which also lowers costs since we have an increasing amount of people in poor health and a healthcare system struggling to keep up with demand. Insulin is a different topic that I can't accurately explain in short, but here are 2 articles that begin to break into that discussion: 1, 2.

    >Much like a dentist. See one twice a year, catch things early and saves a ton of money compared to waiting until something hurts and spending a metric ton and going into debt.

    The experience may vary persons to person, but I personally don't have dental insurance (not saying it's for everyone). I pay out of pocket for yearly cleanings and it ends up costing less than dental insurance (tell them you'll pay cash upfront). I also focus on a good diet without lots of sugar and processed foods to support teeth health. Both are preventative measures, neither require insurance, and both will save me money in the long run.

    >On top of all that, prior to WWII, if you could see a doctor which was not nearly as readily available now, you didn't have expensive tests, or medications. The doc knew from what experience they had or it was simply palliative care.

    You are correct. However tech tends to improve in service and cost over time so while it may be more expensive, I don't think it has to be extraordinarily more expensive. Look at electronics. We get crazy new tech every year with all these new features, and every year, that same tech goes way down in cost, even after inflation. Many things we take for granted today were unattainable to everyone but the rich back when they first came out (cars, phones, computers, AC, etc).

    >but it simply is just a conservative vs liberal argument and goes no where.

    It often is, I'll agree there as well. I wish it wasn't, and I personally do not argue for either side because I have disagreements with both sides. I just want to provide a viewpoint not many people hear because I passionately believe that we're better off fixing our problems on our own (or at least at the local govt level) than relying on a massive bureaucratic central govt.

    >the overhaul of healthcare in the US which you or I are def not intelligent enough to do alone.

    I think the fact we can both dig in this deep and not resort to insults represents a minimum level of intelligence. And maybe this is blind optimism, but I also think the solutions aren't as complex once we start really digging into the root cause of the problem and fixing things little by little (easier said than done). I'm also willing to bet we have plenty of common ground, maybe not as much on solutions, but on what the issues are. I find that promising.
u/manova · 1 pointr/answers

I don't have a good treatment book to recommend. Sitting on my desk next to read is Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker. We overlapped in training and he is brilliant so I look forward to reading this. I enjoyed Dreamland by Randall as an easier to read lay book. Bill Dement is the father of sleep medicine and his last book, The Promise of Sleep, is a nice call to arms for better sleep, though it is almost 20 years old now. I'm a sleep researcher, not a clinician, so the books I'm reading are not really clinical guides, though they contain good information.

As for insomnia, it is best treated by behavioral interventions. The research clearly shows that sleep medicines are only good for acute insomnia (maybe you just had a surgery and the pain is keeping you up at night) and not chronic insomnia. One place to start looking for someone to help would be to check out the Society for Behavioral Sleep Medicine provider list. Most sleep disorders clinics should either have a psychologist on staff or a referral to one.

This is what they will basically have you do. First, you should only go to bed if you are sleepy. If you do not fall asleep within 15-20 minutes, you need to get out of bed, and do something boring under low lights. Do not get on the computer or watch TV, turn on a lamp and read a boring book until you are falling asleep. Then go to bed and if you are not asleep within 15-20 minutes, do it all over again. It may be that you stay awake all night or until 4am the first few times you do it. That is fine, it will actually help you. Do not take a nap, be dead tired because that will help you fall asleep normally after a few days. Also, you need a consistent wake time, no matter your job or school or whatever. Pick a time and wake up everyday (even weekends) at that time.

You also need to look up best practices for sleep hygiene. Most importantly, do not use your bed for anything other than sleep or sex. Do not read, watch TV, play on your tablet, etc. in bed. You want to train your body so that it knows when your head hits the pillow, it is sleep time not thinking or doing time. If you have problems with intrusive thoughts as you are trying to go to sleep, download a guided meditation or progressive muscle relaxation and listen to it while trying to go to sleep (if you are concentrating on the meditation, you can't think about all of the things you were supposed to do that day). Also make sure you can't see the time. You do not need to know what time it is in the middle of the night. Seeing that it is 3am and knowing you have to be at work at 7am causes anxiety which makes it harder to go to sleep.

Do the routine where you get up if you can't fall asleep within 15-20 minutes for week and see if that does not help. The information I gave you are two components of CBT treatment for insomnia (Stimulus control therapy and relaxation). Now going to a sleep disorders clinic can be good because they will rule out other possible causes of your sleep problem other than regular insomnia. You can also try something like melatonin. The clinical evidence really says that it is only good for circadian rhythm issues like jet lag (there is some limited evidence that it can help with insomnia), but many people swear by it and it will most likely not hurt anything. Once again, do not get on ambien, lunesta, etc. for long-term insomnia. They will make it worse.

As I said before, I am a sleep researcher, not a clinician. Everything I told you can be googled so please read up on behavioral treatments of insomnia.

u/jambr0sia · 1 pointr/sleep

I feel that. 11-8 is probably what all of your peers should be doing. School is a serious problem.

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If school starts at 9, can you get up *any* later than 6? You mentioned that you lay in bed on your phone for a while... maybe if you showered the night before, you'd have more time to sleep during your "golden hours" of 11-8?

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I wish there was a better answer. I think there will be a time when the education will reform it's schedule after they're convinced of the consequences of messing with teenagers sleep. In fact, I would even say that early high school depriving teens of sleep could be one of the major causes of all the developmental disorders that are so common now. Anxiety, depression, etc.

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If you want to learn more, pick up a copy of Why We Sleep and start there.

u/dwsmithjr · 1 pointr/TheMindIlluminated

Agreed. Daytime sleepiness is a definite sign you are not sleeping enough or well enough at night. it is true that sleep pressure builds over a period of 16 hours from the time you wake up. But if you are sleepy during the day and need caffeine to manage it, you're not sleeping enough.

If you want to understand why that is so critical, read this book. You will never see sleep the same way again. Or, if you don't have time to read the book, watch Joe Rogan's interview with Matthew Walker on The Joe Rogan Experience..

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=78477646311922&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=why+we+sleep&qid=1569147331&sr=8-1