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Why You Probably Need More Sleep
Plus: how to know the ideal workout frequency for you
The 10almonds Team
September 16, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Loading Screen Tip: be content to seem what you are
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Most of us are not getting enough sleep
“Enough sleep”, for most of us, means 7–9 hours per night
Some (very few) people have a mutated ADRB1 gene, which reduces the need for sleep… But see our main feature for the litmus test of whether you have it or not (without getting genomic testing to be sure)
There are other factors besides duration that are important, though, including:
regularity / usual hours
satisfaction with sleep
alertness during waking hours
timing of sleep
efficiency of sleep
Napping can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on how we go about it
No, we don’t need less sleep as we get older (and in fact, reduced sleep increases Alzheimer’s risk)
As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily
Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints
Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Crack the code: how often should you exercise?
The ideal training frequency depends on individual goals, schedule, and ability to recover, but it can be demystified:
Exercise menu:
⏰ MAIN FEATURE
Sleep: yes, you really do still need it!
We asked you how much sleep you usually get, and got the above-pictured, below-described set of responses:
A little of a third of all respondents selected the option “< 7 hours”
However, because respondents also selected options such as < 6 hours, < 5 hours, and < 4 hours, so if we include those in the tally, the actual total percentage of respondents who reported getting under 7 hours, is actually more like 62%, or just under two thirds of all respondents.
Nine respondents, which was about 5% of the total, reported usually getting under 4 hours sleep
A little over quarter of respondents reported usually getting between 7 and 8 hours sleep
Fifteen respondents, which was a little under 10% of the total, reported usually getting between 8 and 9 hours of sleep
Three respondents, which was a little under 2% of the total, reported getting over 9 hours of sleep
In terms of the classic “you should get 7–9 hours sleep”, approximately a third of respondents reported getting this amount.
You need to get 7–9 hours sleep: True or False?
True! Unless you have a (rare!) mutated ADRB1 gene, which reduces that.
The way to know whether you have this, without genomic testing to know for sure, is: do you regularly get under 6.5 hours sleep, and yet continue to go through life bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? If so, you probably have that gene. If you experience daytime fatigue, brain fog, and restlessness, you probably don’t.
About that mutated ADRB1 gene:
Quality of sleep matters as much as duration, and a lot of studies use the “RU-Sated” framework, which assesses six key dimensions of sleep that have been consistently associated with better health outcomes. These are:
regularity / usual hours
satisfaction with sleep
alertness during waking hours
timing of sleep
efficiency of sleep
duration of sleep
But, that doesn’t mean that you can skimp on the last one if the others are in order. In fact, getting a good 7 hours sleep can reduce your risk of getting a cold by three or four times (compared with six or fewer hours):
^This study was about the common cold, but you may be aware there are more serious respiratory viruses freely available, and you don’t want those, either.
Napping is good for the health: True or False?
True or False, depending on how you’re doing it!
If you’re trying to do it to sleep less in total (per polyphasic sleep scheduling), then no, this will not work in any sustainable fashion and will be ruinous to the health. We did a Mythbusting Friday special on specifically this, a while back:
PS: you might remember Betteridge’s Law of Headlines 😉
If you’re doing it as a energy-boosting supplement to a reasonable night’s sleep, napping can indeed be beneficial to the health, and can give benefits such as:
However! There is still a right and a wrong way to go about it, and we wrote about this previously, for a Saturday Life Hacks edition of 10almonds:
As we get older, we need less sleep: True or False
False, with one small caveat.
The small caveat: children and adolescents need 9–12 hours sleep because, uncredited as it goes, they are doing some seriously impressive bodybuilding, and that is exhausting to the body. So, an adult (with a normal lifestyle, who is not a bodybuilder) will tend to need less sleep than a child/adolescent.
But, the statement “As we get older, we need less sleep” is generally taken to mean “People in the 65+ age bracket need less sleep than younger adults”, and this popular myth is based on anecdotal observational evidence: older people tend to sleep less (as our survey above shows! For any who aren’t aware, our readership is heavily weighted towards the 60+ demographic), and still continue functioning, after all.
Just because we survive something with a degree of resilience doesn’t mean it’s good for us.
In fact, there can be serious health risks from not getting enough sleep in later years, for example:
Want to get better sleep?
What gets measured, gets done. Sleep tracking apps can be a really good tool for getting one’s sleep on a healthier track. We compared and contrasted some popular ones:
Take good care of yourself!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
NativePath: Your New Secret Weapon Against Aging*
*Parts of aging, anyway! We’ve written before about the importance of collagen for far more than just youthful skin—it’s also critical for the health of joints and bones!
Most collagen supplements on the market are made from industrial by-products of animal agriculture, and contain artificial ingredients. What NativePath does differently is focus on keeping things as close to nature as possible, with the highest quality (and purest) ingredients.
As a bonus: with 18 grams of protein per serving, their collagen powder also supports muscle growth and maintenance, keeping you feeling energized and strong throughout the day!
Please do check out our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌏 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
COVID’s back, you say? As disabled and vulnerable people know all too well, it never went away
Irisin-based therapies may help combat Alzheimer’s disease
Mediterranean diet supercharges skin treatment, clears up atopic dermatitis
Can fluctuating hormone levels cause mental health conditions?
Targeted diet and exercise intervention could improve chemotherapy outcomes for breast cancer patients
Exploring the anti-cancer potential of dark tea
Blood test for chronic fatigue syndrome found to be 91% accurate
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Do Breathe: Calm your mind. Find focus. Get stuff done. – by Michael Williams
Have you ever felt you could get everything in your life in order, if you could just get a little breathing room first?
Notwithstanding the title, this is mostly not a book about breathing exercises. It does cover that too, but there's a lot more.
The author's advices draw from a variety of high quality sources. Well-read readers will certainly recognise sections that are straight from David Allen's "Getting Things Done", and Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi's "Flow", for example, as well as Francesco Cirillo's "Pomodoro Technique", and James Clear's "Atomic Habits".
We also learn about how even simple yoga can help us, and good sleep, and a healthy diet.
In short, if you've been reading 10almonds for a while, you might not actually learn much new! But it's very nice to have all these things in one book, for sure, and it's a pleasant, easy read too.
Bottom line: if you'd like to streamline your life and not have to buy a whole stack of different books to do it, this book is a great composite that will enable you to get the job done efficiently.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
May today see you well-prepared for the coming weekend,
The 10almonds Team