Good sleep, good learning, good life (2012)
by downbad_ on 4/15/2026, 9:11:18 AM
https://super-memory.com/articles/sleep.htm
Comments
by: hnthrowaway0315
I think a lot of it has to do with mental status, which can be concluded with one sentence -- "Are you happy with your life, and if not do you have a clear path to reach that?".<p>People who say no probably has a lot of trouble to get fit, get enough sleep -- sometimes NOT because they do not have the resources, but because they are not happy. They hate life, so why makes it better? I have observed this in myself so I wonder whether it is universally true.<p>I have observed that whenever I have a clear target in my life (e.g. I need to pursue this girl I like, or, I need to figure out Linux 1.0 VFS and I have a clear path before me), I immediately take care to do exercises, eat more healthy food, and try to get good sleep -- but if I cannot find an objective, or I have lost interests and are in the middle of finding a new one, I find myself a lot more obnoxious, and sometimes I "proactively" destroy my health because I don't care about it. Unfortunately I rarely find a clear path before me so the later status is more or less permanent while the former one is rare, maybe once per year -- but when I reach the first status it usually grabbed me for 2-3 months.<p>Mental stability is probably one of the reasons different people have vastly different productivity or achievements. It is mental stability that brings focus, not the other way around.
4/15/2026, 1:49:30 PM
by: sminchev
How can I explain to my 6 months old girl that we all need to sleep :D<p>This is a bug in the universe! We need to sleep so that the levels of dopamine, and hormones of hunger and not hunger are at good levels, so that we can be healthy and strong, so that the immune system is stable and strong... And we need to get good sleep so that we can protect our children and be sane....<p>BUT the nature decided that the kids will wake up 3-4 times per night, and you need to wake up and take care of them.<p>You sleep in best case, on pauses, not more than 4-6 hours, you feel miserable, and at the same time you are THE HAPPIEST PERSON IN THIS WORLD! :)
4/15/2026, 10:52:04 AM
by: gitowiec
The most important thing about sleep I learned is to fall asleep at the same moment of every day. Make it 22:00 or 23:00 or 00:00. Whatever is comfortable for you. But you have to stick to the chosen hour as hard as you can. Every day from now on it has to be that hour. After you get used to that you will notice a much better effect of the sleep.
4/15/2026, 1:00:41 PM
by: ButlerianJihad
I am recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes.<p>The classic symptoms were unknown to me until this point when I researched them.<p>I had previously blamed psych medications for the symptoms, and while they may have exacerbated them, I guess diabetes was the real root cause.<p>One of the symptoms is frequent urination. And so, every night I wake up every 2 hours or so and crawl into the bathroom. It’s legitimately a huge curse.<p>I don’t get enough deep R.E.M. and I remain exhausted just from the physical effort of get-up-and-go.<p>It’s very frustrating and sad to think that even after I’ve got my blood glucose under control, I still have these lingering symptoms that impact my QoL.<p>Eat right, kids; eat well or be cursed for life!
4/15/2026, 10:32:05 AM
by: rustyhancock
The older I get the more sensitive to a single poor night's sleep I become.<p>The most frustrating effect is that even a few drinks in the evening (maybe over 2-3 units). Unsettles my sleep that if I'm in the process of learning something feels like it sets me back several days.<p>That's not even counting the slowed processing I feel, and lower productivity the next day.<p>I genuinely have to revisit old information.<p>A genuine hangover from a heavy night can put me out of action for half a week!<p>When I was younger I'm not sure I had many good nights sleep let alone noticed a bad one!<p>I've heard that small amounts of alcohol can actually improve learning interestingly by preventing interference from events later in the day.
4/15/2026, 10:16:23 AM
by: Antibabelic
> There is only one formula for healthy and refreshing sleep: Go to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier. Not later. Wake up naturally without an alarm clock.<p>This is very easy to say when you're not suffering from insomnia and other sleep disorders.
4/15/2026, 12:50:49 PM
by: vector_spaces
I have a somewhat rarely diagnosed circadian rhythm disorder called delayed sleep phase disorder. It is difficult to get diagnosed, especially as sleep clinics have been targets of private equity firms which convert them to CPAP shops which only diagnose sleep apnea and whose patients never interact with an MD. However it is likely to be underdiagnosed given the stigma around sleep challenges, at least in the sense that if you make any effort to get enough sleep with such a sleep disorder, you tend to be pegged as lazy, irresponsible, unreliable, etc<p>In any event, I agree with something implicit in the article, namely that most people have a degree of this, but the severity is variable. Mine has been fairly extreme, and while diagnosis enables disability accommodations, it is very fraught navigating most workplaces with this particular disability and you are essentially forced to choose between having any kind of upward mobility and getting enough sleep at night.<p>Thankfully the past two years or so I've been getting much more sleep since optimizing more for that. But anyway, if you are navigating sleep challenges you should get a sleep study, sure, but also be aware that your local sleep clinic is in all likelihood only nominally a sleep clinic. That is, it does not know how to diagnose and treat more complex sleep issues and probably doesn't want to.
4/15/2026, 6:19:05 PM
by: sudosteph
I think nearly everyone should be screened for sleep apnea. The at-home test you wear on your finger is so cheap - it doesn't make sense not to do it for anyone who has any issues with sleep or tiredness in the day.<p>I always thought that due to being female and a healthy weight, it wasn't something I needed to think about. I also didn't think I snored more than anyone else, so it took me years of poor sleep before a Doctor finally recommended I get tested.<p>Turns out OSA also can be caused or aggravated by: the size and shape of your mouth, the position you sleep in (I have twice as many events on my back vs side), and whether you tuck your chin in near your test (soft cervical collar helped for that). There are devices that alter how your mouth rests when sleeping (easier to breathe if your front teeth are forward) but they're possibly not good for your bite. CPAP/APAP is still the gold standard for a reason.<p>The coolest thing about CPAP though, is a lot of them have amazing metrics recorded if you pop in an SD card. And there's a big community built around open source software to analyze those metrics and tune the settings to minimize apnea events overnight.<p>Also, a cpap with a humidifier is amazing if you're prone to nose pain / nose bleeds due to dry air.
4/15/2026, 11:09:46 AM
by: Anonyneko
If only I knew how to have full non-interrupted restorative sleep. It seems that my body started losing that skill about 20 years ago, and lost it altogether about 6 years ago. The falling asleep time is a lottery and I'm always waking up after the first stage, often a few more times after that.<p>Tried all kinds of sleep medication, but by now I've forgotten what it's like to not be half-asleep and unable to concentrate throughout the day (with loud tinnitus and a soupy feel in the brain to boot). Really sucks out any and all enjoyment from life, I can't even find the energy to watch TV shows anymore, let alone read books. I haven't learned anything fundamentally new at work for years too (inertia helps with daily routine).
4/15/2026, 2:05:25 PM
by: amunozo
As a Spaniard I am trying to honor my ancestors and nap when I can, but man, it feels almost impossible most of the days. It could be that I am having too much anxiety/stress, too much coffee in the mornings, lack of practice, or maybe all of them. Any experiences related to learning to nap or what worked for you over here?
4/15/2026, 11:13:15 AM
by: djeastm
How are we meant to read and discuss this page? It's huge!<p>It seems like we're all just looking at the title and talking about our sleep habits.
4/15/2026, 2:15:56 PM
by: xiphmont
Hm, no, non-24 is not just a severe version of DSPS. Or rather he seems to be saying DSPS is really just a less severe version of non-24.<p>I have it. What I've learned from my doc (a researcher in the field):<p>It's primarily a specific genetic mutation that affects many of they body's cyclic timers, but relevant here is that the circadian feedback loop is no longer able to lock to a 24 hour day/night cycle at all. The timer technically works. You're perfectly sensitive to light/dark, but you're hitting a PLL with inputs faster than its ability to make meaningful adjustments. That's not the case with DSPS.<p>Sleep apnea diagnosis is relevant here, it also breaks the breathing reflex timer. Imagine finding out at age 40 that you've not, in fact, slept more than a few minutes at a time your entire life, because you wake up just enough to take a breath every 3 minutes or so when a secondary suffocation reflex goes off.
4/15/2026, 8:22:50 PM
by: rsanek
So funny to see the recommendation here (track bedtime/wake-time, compute your average cycle length, predict the next bedtime from it, and don't deviate in either direction) be similar to how spaced repetition is typically sold to people: high expectations from users, no affordances for flexibility. These kinds of systems are just not realistic unless you are willing to be a loner that can never deviate from their routine.<p>I do agree that caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, sleeping pills, and (as much as we can) alarm clocks are all things to stay away from.
4/16/2026, 2:02:07 PM
by: otikik
> Go to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier. Not later. Wake up naturally without an alarm clock.<p>If I did that I would go to bed a 5 in the morning and wake up at 2pm, sir.
4/15/2026, 10:16:47 PM
by: dysoco
I've never had sleep issues but lately I've been in a bit of a rut. I've always maintained a sleep schedule of going to bed around 00/01hs (not that uncommon in my country) and waking up around 8/9am. However lately I've been arriving VERY tired from work around 19hs.<p>It's very easy to fall asleep right after work and some days I go to sleep for a few hours but then I wake up super late for dinner around 10/11pm and completely screw my schedule, last night I couldn't sleep until 4am or so.<p>Most days I don't sleep and power through since I need to buy groceries, cook, do other stuff around the house etc. but even so after dinner around 9/10pm or so I become very active, I don't get sleepy and I can't easily sleep until 2/3am. I've tried with a bit of melatonin, magnesium, etc.<p>Moreover I've bought an apple watch and discovered I have quite some interruptions during the night, so I'm sleeping around 5-6 hours if I don't sleep at a crazy time, a bit less than what I expected.<p>Any suggestions? I don't know if taking that nap when I come back from work is helpful or not, usually I don't but I do feel quite tired during that time so I wonder if it's the natural stuff to do to try and go to sleep.
4/15/2026, 9:55:28 PM
by: dang
Related. Others?<p><i>Good sleep, good learning, good life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24737026">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24737026</a> - Oct 2020 (121 comments)<p><i>Good sleep, good learning, good life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20650647">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20650647</a> - Aug 2019 (4 comments)<p><i>Good sleep, good learning, good life (2012)</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18241135">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18241135</a> - Oct 2018 (254 comments)<p><i>Good Sleep, Good Learning (2012)</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10782443">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10782443</a> - Dec 2015 (27 comments)<p><i>Good Sleep, Good Learning, Good Life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446903">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446903</a> - Oct 2015 (1 comment)<p><i>Good sleep, good learning, good life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5244619">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5244619</a> - Feb 2013 (121 comments)<p><i>Good sleep, good learning, good life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1207945">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1207945</a> - March 2010 (61 comments)<p><i>Good Sleep, Good Learning, Good Life</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=126982">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=126982</a> - March 2008 (1 comment)
4/15/2026, 8:55:12 PM
by: glerk
I got 4h of sleep last night which is about my normal average at this time of the year, and I have 0 regrets about it. I also don't sleep at a regular time every day. If I have no other obligations, I naturally let it shift forward (what the article calls "delayed sleep phase"). I am most unhappy when I HAVE TO use an alarm clock and break my own patterns. Last night, I naturally went to sleep right before sunrise and I woke up 4 hours later.<p>To pre-empt a few objections: I did not need an alarm clock to wake up. I am not taking heavy stimulants other than caffeine at this time. I am not stressed. I am not unhappy. I don't have memory issues (in fact, I am cursed with a very good memory and it is usually harder for me to forget than to remember). I can score above the Mensa bar on an IQ test. I can take an interview. I can give a demo. I can run 10km. I do not have "bipolar disorder" or any such nonsense. I don't need medication. I don't need therapy. I don't need a better mattress. I'm not already in a mental asylum. I'm married with kids, I work a high-paying job, I give to charity and I pay my taxes. In fact, today is tax day, I should probably take care of that instead of getting upset at hacker news comments.
4/15/2026, 5:48:15 PM
by: logicprog
I'm extremely sensitive to poor sleep. I also have nothing in my schedule that really prevents me from going to sleep early and sleeping late most of the time, and generally I at least achieve the former. The problem is that I have unbearable horrible nightmares every time I sleep. To the point where going to sleep is akin to going to hell itself, and I generally choose to forcibly wake myself up around like 6 a.m. just to get away from it all. I haven't really figured out a way around this.
4/15/2026, 11:03:46 AM
by:
4/15/2026, 1:41:38 PM
by: ItsClo688
I am running a three-person team across three timezones has taught me that the hardest part isn't writing code at odd hours, it's the context-switching cost of partial sleep. You don't feel tired, you just feel slightly wrong all day. Decisions that should take 5 minutes take 30. The mental stability point rings true. When the product direction feels uncertain, sleep gets worse. When sleep gets worse, product decisions get fuzzier. Haven't fully solved this one.
4/16/2026, 5:25:18 AM
by: LZ_Khan
Is the author suggesting people to have to live with going through a phase of being nocturnal? In the free running algorithm, we're supposed to sleep 15 minutes later each day until we're falling asleep at like 9AM?<p>That's just incompatible with modern life right?
4/15/2026, 10:48:08 AM
by: apt-apt-apt-apt
Who else constantly pushes their sleep time by 1-2 hours a day, and likes 9-10 hours of sleep?<p>Also, these days it's nearly impossible to stay awake watching a show for more than 10-15 minutes while lying down in bed before a powerful wave of sleep knocks me out, which can be annoying when I want to watch a show.
4/16/2026, 1:57:06 AM
by:
4/15/2026, 2:00:13 PM
by: downbad_
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10782443">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10782443</a>
4/15/2026, 9:11:31 AM
by: NolanMarrow
I really liked the idea of "Free running sleep". Not sure how feasable would be to make it part of my routine TBH. I need to adhere to external schedules (job, family). Maybe someday I'll give it a honest try!
4/15/2026, 11:56:19 AM
by: itissid
Has someone found that they have better alcohol "recovery" if they are pursuing intense or at least regular(at least 3x a week) stamina building exercise like running/swimming?
4/15/2026, 1:27:48 PM
by: block_dagger
Biphasic/polyphasic sleeper here (not by choice). Makes the work week a lot trickier. I will be reading through this article for insight on how to get the most out of my situation.
4/15/2026, 10:26:58 AM
by: AheadFin
The explanation of the memory consolidation process during sleep was surprising and made me rethink my habit of using alarms and cutting back on sleep for overtime work.
4/15/2026, 1:07:16 PM
by: profstasiak
I stopped drinking caffeine and sudenly I remember everything
4/15/2026, 6:00:23 PM
by: alvsilvao
Putting my laptop to sleep unfortunately didn't increase its memory
4/15/2026, 11:43:19 AM
by: pedalpete
I haven't had a chance to read the entire article, but I can already tell that much of how the author viewed sleep in 2012 is not inline with current understandings in sleep science, though much of the wearable and sleep industry still promote this outdated view.<p>Disclosure: I am the co-founder & CEO of neurotech/sleeptech company <a href="https://affectablesleep.com" rel="nofollow">https://affectablesleep.com</a><p>The post talks about "sleep deprivation" which most people, and most studies, view as reduced sleep time.<p>The latest research shows that sleep regularity is a better predictor of health (via morbidity) than sleep duration, even when sleep duration is taken into account. This is on our blog with links to research [1]<p>I have a few issues with the "sleep more" concept, and I often say that you wouldn't measure your diet based on how much time you spend chewing, so why do we think this is a good measure for sleep. The methodology for measuring sleep, particularly deep sleep, was defined in 1968 by the sleeping pattern 28 college aged men and 5 college aged women [2].<p>We are able to show that decreasing the Neural Function of Sleep, the vital processes of the brain that make sleep restorative, and specifically slow-wave activity, reduces the effectiveness of sleep without altering sleep time. We can also enhance the Neural Function of Sleep to improve health outcomes measured by memory, HRV, cortisol, immune function, and more [3] links to research.<p>This isn't just limited to a bunch of lab studies. As we age, the Neural Function of Sleep naturally declines, and this decline is linked to age related metabolic health, cardiac health, and of course neurological diseases and particularly dementia and Alzhiemer's. Overly focusing on "just get more sleep time" doesn't solve the problem.<p>To further the problem, people often blame sleep for their tiredness, when they have poor diet, don't exercise, and/or poor mental health (stress, burnout, depression, etc). You can complain all you want about the gas mileage on your car and try tuning your engine, etc, but if you've got flat tires, you're not going anywhere.<p>Our work in neurotech and specifically sleep is focused on some of these issues, though I think the more important thing is for people to<p>1) Understand what sleep schedule works for YOU and focus on consistency and regularity. 2) If you're "tired" ask yourself if you are "tired" or "lethargic" is sleep really to blame? Or could there be other things that are impacting how you feel, or impacting how well you are sleeping.<p>I equate what we know about sleep and the brain today as similar to what we knew about diet and exercise in the 70s. We knew it was important but we really didn't understand how it worked. What we will learn in the next decade will upend our current understanding and have a significant impact on health and longevity.<p>[1] <a href="https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/the-hidden-work-of-sleep-doesnt-depend" rel="nofollow">https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/the-hidden-work-of-sleep-...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/sleep-sciences-blind-spot-how-outdated" rel="nofollow">https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/sleep-sciences-blind-spot...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://affectablesleep.com/how-it-works#research" rel="nofollow">https://affectablesleep.com/how-it-works#research</a>
4/15/2026, 10:28:53 PM
by: slowhadoken
I see a lot of people that smoke marijuana being off balance psychologically and I believe it’s because weed inhabits R.E.M. and they smoke it to go to sleep which creates a viscous cycle.
4/15/2026, 8:45:29 PM
by: tsumnia
justgetflux.com<p>Helped me start going to bed at 10pm
4/15/2026, 12:49:01 PM
by: 3l3ktr4
eat sleep rave repeat
4/15/2026, 8:55:55 PM
by: fnord77
this is the 'spaced repetition' guy?
4/15/2026, 10:36:26 PM
by: mannanj
Best bullshit and industry cutting phrase for better sleep: Follow the sun. Follow the sun for a fixed reference point for when to wake up, and for when to sleep, and guard yourself from artificial lights like it's your professional job. Bryan Johnson says to treat sleep like a professional job, and I take it further: break the standard industrial-factory based paradigm around sleep, work and life and say no to the clock based wellbeing-adversarial system.<p>edit: hours and minutes cannot replace our natural light-based circadian rhythm that evolved for millions of years entraining our hormones and energy cycles around the sun's light.
4/15/2026, 4:10:27 PM
by: laughing_abder
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4/15/2026, 10:47:00 PM
by: gstrike
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4/15/2026, 2:49:48 PM
by: hani1808
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4/15/2026, 2:22:28 PM
by: laxpri
is this jesus of sleep
4/15/2026, 11:29:50 AM