One thing that stuck with me from the book Stroke of Insight (memoir of brain scientist who has and recovers from stroke) was how intently she prioritized sleep when everyone else kept trying to drag her out of bed.
In a more mundane context, I've been fortunate to organize my schedule such that I don't use an alarm to get up in the morning. So I can let my body figure out how much sleep I need.
In this day and age where you have limitless distractions/entertainment we often ignore our "less sexy" biological needs to the detriment of our mind and body. We need to treat Sleep/Nap/Rest as a "job" and not as something extraneous.
Instead of the current practice of arranging our biological needs around our work we should revert back to pre-industrial era practices where our work was arranged around our biological needs and nature's rhythms. A good way to start is to eat only when feeling hungry, nap/sleep when feeling tired/sleepy and in general listen to the body/mind needs irrespective of context.
I had a minor accident on my second day in the US and had bruises and cuts on my arms and shoulders. Did not go to the doc since my insurance was not yet covered (at a university).
I felt really sleepy after and my roommates told me I slept for 24 hours straight. For me, that sleep was the deepest I have ever slept. Felt like I had lost time. I felt much better after and the body had begun its job of healing and at some places almost healed it. That was at 22. I miss that level of healing now after 20 years.
One can see this effect also by observing an little flesh injury like a cut while staying awake. Even after 48h of staying awake the little cut will hardly have any healing and likely even more inflammation. One round of sleep and the healing is immediately there.
Also interesting: deep sleep therapy where you keep the patient asleep for days or weeks. Mixed results back then; I imagine they didn't have good ways to differentiate the patients who would be helped vs harmed by the therapy.
I've found that after a hard workout at the gym I sleep better and longer. That's certainly not a life-threatening injury but working out to exhaustion does create micro-injuries to muscle tissues which then have to heal (leading to growth).
Has someone suffered sleep interruptions for months (or years) after having COVID [0]? I don't think it is studied too much. I have seen studies about Long Covid [1] which it doesn't seem to be the same.
> Given the findings, [...] clinicians need to inform patients [...] after a heart attack, says Rowe. This should also be considered at the hospital, where tests and procedures would ideally be conducted during the daytime to minimize sleep interruptions.
#1 - For most patients, it ain't merely "tests and procedures" which interfere with sleeping in a hospital at night.
#2 - After a major injury, it ain't just nighttime when you need to sleep. Again, most hospitals seem determined to make that as difficult as they possibly can.
What about sleeping more than 8 hours? Is there any research done on this? Will this affect negatively? I sleep 8-9 hrs most days. (No, I am not depressed or anything but I don't drink coffee or any stimulant to keep me awake so I get really tired at the end of the day.)
The brain summons deep sleep for healing from life-threatening injury
(nature.com)366 points by gmays 10 November 2024 | 249 comments
Comments
In a more mundane context, I've been fortunate to organize my schedule such that I don't use an alarm to get up in the morning. So I can let my body figure out how much sleep I need.
In this day and age where you have limitless distractions/entertainment we often ignore our "less sexy" biological needs to the detriment of our mind and body. We need to treat Sleep/Nap/Rest as a "job" and not as something extraneous.
Instead of the current practice of arranging our biological needs around our work we should revert back to pre-industrial era practices where our work was arranged around our biological needs and nature's rhythms. A good way to start is to eat only when feeling hungry, nap/sleep when feeling tired/sleepy and in general listen to the body/mind needs irrespective of context.
It was really tough. I was suicidal. My only reprieve from pain was falling asleep.
I saw a neurologist and he told me that two most important things for your brain are:
- consistent sleep schedule
- regular exercise
Once I got those two under control, the headaches finally went away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sleep_therapy
TNF-alpha promoting sleep is a surprise but it… makes sense. Somehow.
[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10870...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_COVID
#1 - For most patients, it ain't merely "tests and procedures" which interfere with sleeping in a hospital at night.
#2 - After a major injury, it ain't just nighttime when you need to sleep. Again, most hospitals seem determined to make that as difficult as they possibly can.