The myth of the eight-hour sleep Image copyright Other We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural. In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month. It took some time for their sleep to regulate but by the fourth week the subjects had settled into a very distinct sleeping pattern. Though sleep scientists were impressed by the study, among the general public the idea that we must sleep for eight consecutive hours persists. In 2001, historian Roger Ekirch of Virginia Tech published a seminal paper, drawn from 16 years of research, revealing a wealth of historical evidence that humans used to sleep in two distinct chunks. Image copyright bbc "It's not just the number of references - it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge," Ekirch says.
Are humans supposed to sleep for eight hours straight every night? - Healthy Sleeping This question really has two parts to it. First, yes, adult humans are supposed to sleep straight through the night. It is clear that 8… More This question really has two parts to it. First, yes, adult humans are supposed to sleep straight through the night. The second part of this question is: Do all humans need 8 hours of sleep? Less 80/While On The Path /Refreshing Meditation Is Better Than Deep Sleep ☆Refreshing Meditation Is Better Than Deep Sleep /By Brother Initiate Lu Ren, Taipei, Formosa In the past I held very deep rooted concepts, thinking that a human being could only feel good if one has a full eight-hour sleep. Also that working through the night, sleeping too late or poor quality sleep would adversely affect one's mood and work the next day. These concepts did not changed until I served in the army. There was more time for sleep after leaving the military service. After initiation, Master only asks us to do a little "homework" -- keep the five precepts and meditate for two and half hours every day. So, brothers and sisters, meditation does not rob us of sleep but instead enhances the state of rest, making us feel more satisfied.
How Much Sleep Do You Really Need? Sleep is one of the richest topics in science today: why we need it, why it can be hard to get, and how that affects everything from our athletic performance to our income. Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, Calif., has looked at the most important question of all. In 2002, he compared death rates among more than 1 million American adults who, as part of a study on cancer prevention, reported their average nightly amount of sleep. Q: How much sleep is ideal? A: Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. Morbidity [or sickness] is also "U-shaped" in the sense that both very short sleep and very long sleep are associated with many illnesses—with depression, with obesity—and therefore with heart disease—and so forth. I think we can speculate [about why people who sleep from 6.5 to 7.5 hr. live longer], but we have to admit that we don't really understand the reasons.
Think Your Eye Muscles Are Too Weak? Think Again Open Your Eyes to Better Vision As we get older, most of us find that our eyesight starts to weaken. License plates lose their clarity… digital clocks get fuzzy… and sometimes it’s even hard to make out faces when they’re across the street. There are plenty of reasons why this happens to us as we age… but half of the ones we accept as fact are little more than myths. Weak vision is linked to weak eye muscles… true or false? It’s actually false… In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. So if this is not the cause of poor vision… what is? In this issue – exclusive to Natural Health Dossier – Sussman shares key insights into the real cause of failing vision… busts popular myths about vision… and reveals exclusive remedies and strategies for improving eye strength. In this issue you will learn: Detailed do-it-yourself eye testsSelf-help eye stretching exercisesTips on picking the right contact lenses You’ll find all this and more in today’s issue of Natural Health Dossier. To your health, 1. 2. 3.
How long should I meditate each day? Bodhipaksa I often get asked variants on the question, “How long should I spend meditating each day, and is there any benefit to meditation if you can’t manage forty minutes?” Some people notice distinct psychological benefits in the forms of reduced stress and greater happiness with only ten minutes of meditation daily, although most people seem to require around twenty minutes to experience benefits. One well-known study trained people in meditation for eight weeks. Through my own experience I’ve found that any amount of meditation is better than none. So my advice is, just do it. And just do it every day, and have a minimum commitment for yourself of something like five minutes a day.. The amount of time you’ll have will vary. What about a maximum? Comments
How Much Sleep Do You Need View Larger >> Sleep is a vital indicator of overall health and well-being. We spend up to one-third of our lives asleep, and the overall state of our "sleep health" remains an essential question throughout our lifespan. Most of us know that getting a good night’s sleep is important, but too few of us actually make those eight or so hours between the sheets a priority. To further complicate matters, stimulants like coffee and energy drinks, alarm clocks, and external lights—including those from electronic devices—interferes with our "circadian rhythm" or natural sleep/wake cycle. Sleep needs vary across ages and are especially impacted by lifestyle and health. To get the sleep you need, you must look at the big picture. How Much Sleep Do We Really Need: Revisited The National Sleep Foundation released the results of a world-class study that took more than two years of research to complete – an update to our most-cited guidelines on how much sleep you really need at each age.
Men Who Skip Breakfast Have a Higher Risk of Developing Heart Disease Not so fast, guys. Running out the door in the morning without eating breakfast is causing some serious damage to your health. So grab a bowl of steel cut oats and listen up. A recent study out of Harvard points out that men who forego breakfast have a 27% higher risk of developing heart disease than those who start off the day with something in their stomachs. Check out these quick and easy breakfast ideas: Bite into hard-boiled eggs. No time to fix anything? The benefits of breakfast are far-reaching. Now if that doesn’t make you want to sit down and nosh a bowl of Wheaties before you head out the door, we don’t know what will. Eating a diverse diet that includes 4 servings of fruit per day can make your RealAge as much as 4.4 years younger if you’re a man.
Sleep Hacking: 1 Million People Prove Sleeping 5 Hours is Healthier Than Sleeping 8 Hours You know how everyone says that 8 hours is the amount of sleep you need every night? Well, there was a study at UCSD that showed that as far as health benefits are concerned, 8 hours isn’t the ideal; it’s actually 6.5. The study looked at 1.1 million people’s sleep over the course of 6 years, and looked at the relationship between amount of sleep and patients’ longevity. The study found that sleeping as little as 5 hours per night is better for you than sleeping 8, and it even determined that insomnia is better for you, long-term health wise, than taking sleeping pills. Have you been stressing about getting more sleep? It turns out that, statistically speaking, if you sleep 5 hours each night, you’re better off than if you’d have slept 8. It’s hard to argue with him. American Cancer Society. The data is impressive. According to Dr.
Dr. Christopher Winter: Stop Trying to Get Eight Hours of Sleep You have messages. Inbox (1) Subject: "I told you so!!!" A lone message sat in my inbox last night as I checked my phone before bed. The email was from an unfamiliar sender. Clicking on the link, I was immediately confronted with a picture of Dr. "Once upon a time, you could sleep like a baby. Instantly I knew where this message had come from and what it was about. "Why do you go to bed at 9:00 p.m. if it takes you an hour to fall asleep?" "Because I need my eight hours." Eight hours. Where did this number come from? Sadly, the answer to that question is far from simple. So how much sleep do you need? So how can you figure out how much sleep you need? How long does it take you to fall asleep? So with that, I hereby grant anyone reading this article (including the patient who sent me the misguided email) absolute and complete permission to not sleep eight hours every night so long as you feel like your sleep is healthy, and you feel energetic and awake the following day. Can't sleep?