Sleep Science Guy's FAQ paste

/cfg/ - Cerebral Fitness General

Ask questions, discuss and tell stories about
>Sleep Health
>Lucid Dreaming
>Meditation
>Brain Supplements
>Mental Exercise

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Pastebin updated at the end of each thread. And if you are reading this, and it's past midnight, go to bed now.

Sleep Hygeine Basics
>if you are overweight then lose weight, BMI has a big impact on sleep quality
>cure common deficiencies: improve diet, take multi + mag chelate until you fix it
>keep stable blood sugar throughout night (slow carbs/protein)
>take 3mg melatonin 1h before sleep
>get red colored bulb for bedside lamp and use 30-60min before bed
>use f.lux or redshift on computer/phone
>get a white/blue lamp and timer to turn on 15-30min before getting up in the morning
>2000iu vitamin d with breakfast

General sleep hygeine
>no computer screens, tvs, leds, lamps other white/blue/green light-emitting electronics on while you are sleeping, they stop your natural production of melatonin, clearance of cortisol and change your brainwave activity
>no computer games 30mins before bed, they raise your heart rate and cortisol giving you terrible sleep quality
>keep bedroom cool, you get more SWS and hgh when sleeping in a cooler environment
>cold shower water below 15C an hour before bed will increase certain brain activity that prepares you well for SWS
>conversely, keeping feet warm helps you fall asleep faster, so if it's too cold put a heat pack on your feet

If addicted to caffeine
>taper back to below 500mg/day
>take l-theanine to counteract negative effects on sleep
>consider switching to tea

If you want wicked dreams
>wake up after 5-6h sleep
>take supps, meditate/dream-diary, go back to sleep
>CDP-choline or citicoline
>uridine can help too
>huperzine can be taken intermittently
>fish oil and iodine worth trying

Night shift
>stop doing night shift, its worse than a poor diet and no exercise, it will accelerate aging and give you cancer
>if you can't quit your night job then fix your environment
>blackout curtains for your bedroom, NO DAYLIGHT let into your bedroom as if night-time
>3mg melatonin an hour before sleep each morning, even if you are going to up awake during that day (if you have a day off or something)
>2000iu vitamin d when you get up
>get as much artificial light as you can during your night shift, to ward off mental disease
>avoid changing shifts, rotating rosters, etc... stick to a regular shift (don't switch from 1st to 2nd to 3rd shift every few days)

Best Sleeping Positions
>stomach (prone position) sleeping opens up airways the best and reduces risk of disease the most
>left side sleeping can relieve heartburn symptoms, and may lead to better circulation vs right side
>anything in between somach and side sleep is ok too, whatever is most comfortable is probably best
>back sleeping (supine position) causes poor sleep architecture, higher risk of disease and less gains, so is not recommended (see below for more info)

Beds and Pillows
>no *strong* evidence any bed, mattress or pillow is better than any other (objectively)
>whatever is comfortable for you is best for you, might be cheap or expensive price doesn't matter
>most complaints about beds come from fatties, and no bed is going to help you lose weight, stop being fat and you will sleep better
>if your arms go numb it is probably because you have poor sleep posture, or you're hyper/hypo flexible
>RAISE YOUR BODY so your arms and legs can sit BELOW your body (for better movement and less joint impingements)

If you suffer from light sleep (often if are old and overweight or in menopause)
>losing fat and increasing insulin sensitivity will fix many sleeping problems
>some supplements worth trying, but unlikely to do much: glycine, taurine, sublingual 5-HTP, valerian, phenibut

if that fails then
>get vitamin/mineral panel done, check for deficiencies
>get hormone panel done, check for testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, dhea, evening cortisol. Restoring hormone levels to the median improves sleep
>talk to your doctor about low dose (30mg) baclofen and higher dose melatonin (5mg+) combo
>talk to your doctor about injectable picamilon to restore GABA reception, about DSIP or GHRH or a growth hormone secretagogue (e.g. MK-677) prescription to restore endocrine production
>ketogenic diet if suffering from insufficient deep sleep (only for extreme cases of sleep quality problems like diabetics)


OTHER QUESTIONS

>How important is sleep important for my gains?
Sleep is when most of your hormones are produced. Growth hormone secretion and insulin sensitivity modulation occur during SWS and testosterone secretion occurs during REM sleep. Obviously, if you take hormones exogenously you don't need to worry about this as much, but you will still need quality sleep for long term mental health: sleep is also a time wherein toxic proteins are cleared from your brain and memories are consolidated. The easiest way to give yourself acutely low testosterone, or to make sure you don't consolidate a memory you attained that day, is to pull an all nighter (or two).

>How much melatonin is too much?
3mg is not too much. Some people who claim they are groggy from taking too much melatonin (normal doses) usually just don't get enough light in the morning to trigger enzymes that break melatonin down, or activate quicker clearance by the kidneys... if you are groggy in the mornings then have a timer+ lamp turn on 30 minutes before you plan to get up.

>Is there melatonin dependency?
There is no evidence that you become chemically dependent on melatonin. Often people who start taking it sleep quicker (shorter onset) and better than previously, there is a subjective shift toward the new sleep onset time and quality as 'normal'. When they stop taking melatonin there is a slight drop in sleep quality and they take longer to get to sleep again, so they compare their melatonin-less sleep onset and quality against the 'normal' melatonin-supplemented sleep onset and quality. If they are prone to anxiety then they will worry they are dependent and this will keep them up for even longer.
So it's not a chemical dependency, but a mental dependency can occur (in a way it's a nocebo). I agree with Gwern, melatonin is so cheap and healthy that most first worldersshould be able to stay on melatonin for life.

>Is melatonin appropriate for everybody?
The most common melatonin side effects include: Daytime sleepiness, Dizziness, Headaches. Other, less common melatonin side effects might include abdominal discomfort, mild anxiety, irritability, confusion and short-lasting feelings of depression.
In addition, melatonin supplements can interact with various medications, including: Blood-thinning medications (anticoagulants), Medications that suppress the immune system (immunosuppressants), Diabetes medications, Birth control pills. You may also want to lower your dose or stop melatonin if trying to get pregnant.

>What's with using red lights at night?
Firstly, there are cones, rods and pRGC in your eyes. Now, while cones and rods have very mild clock-entrainment abilities, the pRGC are the main clock-entrainer cells. They respond well to blue and green spectrum light, but do not respond much at all to red light. Red light will effectively be the same as darkness as far as your pRGC's are concerned, so they will think it is night. Your body clock will then remain stable and your sleep quality will improve.
Secondly, wake-inducing hormones and enzymes are produced by the body when the eyes detect blue, green or white light. Meanwhile, your cones will pick up the red light and you will be able to see, so red spectrum light is ideal for night time.

>Can I just use f.lux on my computer at night?
F.lux certainly doesn't block out all white light, you can quickly tell how much white light your monitor is emitting by facing the screen against your (white painted) wall and sitting perpendicular to the monitor (so little monitor light gets into your eyes). You will see lots of white light reflecting off the wall, this is all going into your eyes when you look at the screen.
If you have a bright computer screen in your face all night you won't get sleepy because the brightness is going counteract any melatonin with cortisol and adrenalin. F.lux is better than nothing, but if you want to upgrade to a filtered light-view of your screen you can
>a) buy some red coloured laser protection sunglasses
>b) buy a rubylith sheet to cover your monitor with, and stick it there with some valcro stickies
Playing computer games will make getting to sleep even harder by raising your heart rate and brain-activity, as well.

>I have slept on my back for my whole life, why should I switch?
"Back sleeping is healthy for adults" one of the internet's biggest falsities. Sleeping supine makes your far more likely to suffer from slow wave sleep reduction which causes insulin resistance (and higher rates of type 2 diabetes), greater subjective day-hunger, poor memory consolidation, higher rates of sleep apnea, sleep paralysis and snoring. Babies are recommended to sleep on their backs because this reduces Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Babies suffering from the same sleeping position have slower motor development, worse social skills, weaker posterior chain muscles, greater risk of spinal deformity and again all the same problems I listed above for adults. But it is offset for babies because they are better having all those risks than randomly and suddenly dying before they mature! Adults don't suffer from SIDS, so why would you sleep on your back?

>I struggle with energy and wakefulness in the morning
You need light, and the more light you get the better. Hormone secretions and enzymes that regulate your sleepiness and wakefulness are dependent the environment's light/dark signals. Clock-Healthy people can wake up fine with just a little bit of light, Clock-Sick people will struggle to wake up even with lots of light. Matching sleep with darkness and wakefulness with light with regularity will strengthen the clock. At the start you might need to use a big row of daylight lamps to turn on in the morning UP TO 2h before you want to get up. When your clock becomes healthier you might only need a few minutes of light from a single lamp to wake up.

>Will Vitamin D wake me up or give me energy?
No, vitamin D is not a stimulant, nor is there evidence it's a chronibiotic. It IS however required in adequate levels for sleep quality. Vitamin D is a complex hormone and describing it's actions goes beyond /fit/. I do recommend taking 2000-5000iu per day, at breakfast, because it hasn't been proved that D3 has NO interaction with the clock.

>I become anxious at night and this keeps me awake
If it's mentally driven sleeplessness then mentally driven change is what will fix it. Perhaps learn to meditate or learn how to relax. If you can't you may need to see a psychologist to sort something or other out. Taking melatonin can slow your reaction time, and marginally reduce ‘mental talk’, but if you are feeling adrenalin you need to learn to focus on silence/breath.
If it is chemically driven (no anxiety or mental talk) then you should see an endocrinologist, you may have high night time cortisol or something like that.

>I wake up with hunger pangs in the middle of the night
You should probably eat most of your daily kcals for dinner so you go to bed full. IF you already do this and still wake up, I can give you some starting points for your own experiments... if your liver/gut clock is not synchronized with your brain clock, this might cause strange hunger pangs. When eating at night stick to only protein and fat , as glucose signals to the clock that it's day time. Maybe boil a half dozen eggs and eat that when you wake up, eat less and less each night until you are down to 1 egg and see if the hunger pangs stop eventually.

>I get lots of nightmares, what do?
Nightmares a fairly common, if you remember them you might have overactive systems related to choline. Try an anticholinergic drug to help settle you down. If you have legal access to medical marijuana, this is one of it's medical uses, THC reduces REM and dream recall.
A last resort would be for an adult to try a ketogenic diet, as this can reduce REM and increase SWS. If you are unsure about any of this just talk to a trusted doctor.

>I wake up because of dry throat
This could be any number of things, you could be suffering from allergies (dust or pollen) and there are many strategies for reducing that which I won't discuss here. Otherwise you could simply be dehydrated from low liquid consumption, or be backsleeping (which can lead to mouth-breathing/snoring, which dehydrates the mouth and nose.)

>I wake up randomly after 4h sleep is this normal?
Yes, humans CAN be monophasic sleepers, but some human phenotypes want to sleep biphasically or even triphasically. It really depends on epigenetic factors, habitual learning, and environmental cues. Ideally most people fit into the category of biphasic sleepers (6-8h night sleep, 20min-1.5h day sleep), and a minority fit into the category of triphasic sleepers (2x 3-4h night sleeps, 20min-1.5h day sleep). Drinking coffee can override the need to sleep during the day, but most people become substance dependent to caffeine which makes this a less than ideal 'fix'.
There is no inherent modern benefit to waking up in the night. It is just an evolutionary adaptation some genepools developed to handle long nights, before we had electrical lamps to light up our evenings. The quirk is hypothesised to stop is from sleeping for too long, which can be dangerous and unhealthy, humans would wake up for a few hours in the middle of the night, eat left overs, keep the fire going, have sex etc, go back to sleep. Don't try to wake yourself up to kickstart this habit, unless you can think of some benefit to being awake in the night (alone-time? reading/studying?)

>How does SSG sleep?
I get anywhere from 6.5-8.5h and my sleep is dependent on my lifestyle at the time, just like anyone else. Sometimes I sleep triphasically, other times I sleep segmented or biphasically, other times I sleep monophasically.

>Is it true that sleep cycles go for 1.5h at a time and I should sleep in multiples of 1.5h?
This is bullocks, sleep cycles don't occur exactly in 1.5h blocks, they range from 60-120 minutes and vary from cycle to cycle, and vary from person to person. 90 min cycles are the average/mean, for sure, but this isn't useful and I will tell you why:
Most people wanting to sleep 7-9h are going to have a sleep architecture that loads large portions of REM in the mornings, so waking up and feeling tired in the morning doesn't usually mean "you are in deep sleep", because deep sleep all occurs in the first 5 hours. You are likely in either REM or light sleep, and just sleep deprived. And if this ins't the problem you probably just have low cortisol from low-light environmental conditions, increasing the amount of light in your morning environment will raise your cortisol and help you wake up.

>how does sleep deprivation work? can I catch up on sleep by sleeping in on the weekend?
Think of it like this:
Acute sleep deprivation can be fixed easily, but must be within 48 hours of the deprivation. If you deprive yourself for more than 2 days then it slips over into chronic deprivation and cannot be fixed by sleeping longer in one sleep.
>Example 1: do an all nighter, then sleep in the next day until you naturally wake up, this will delete most of the deprivation, and if you sleep until natural wake again the next day it will be fully deleted.
>Example 2: if you sleep 6h one night then 6h the next night then sleep in on the third day you will delete most of the sleep deprivation accumulated in those 2 days before hand.
>Example 3: if you sleep 6h for 5 days in a row then sleep in on the weekend your body will only recover 2 out of 5 days of deprivation, you will effectively have accumulated 3x1.5h chronic sleep deprivation. To delete this accumulated chronic deprivation you must sleep in an extra 1.5h (without having previously accumulated further acute deprivation) for 3-4 days in a row.
So you can see how people can accumulate 4-5h of chronic sleep deprivation a week for years and years and never ever pay it off because they only ever sleep in when they become acutely deprived. By the end of their life they have hundreds or thousands of hours of chronic deprivation accumulated and this shows in their risks of disease (diabetes, heart disease, cancer and overall mortality).
Of course you can offset non-mental disease risks by eating healthy and doing exercise, but you can't offset all the risk of mental diseases (like alzheimer's) with food and exercise, because there is literally junk protein stuck in your brain cells, that you never cleared out, that only clear from your brain when you are sleeping.

>What do you think about Proviigil (modafinil) and Adderall (methylphenidate)?
The latest NIH funded review published in the Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience says there are novel risks for developing brains using one or both of these drugs. Brains can continue to develop pubescently up until the age of 25, so brain stimulant drugs like these should be considered potentially as dangerous to males under 25 as steroid use is to their developing endocrine system. It was found any short-term boost in mental performance due to usage of these drugs may decrease long-term brain plasticity, reduce nerve activity and working memory. Overuse may over-excite the nervous system, damaging or killing nerve cells.

>What do you think about choline like Alpha-GPC, Citicoline, Choline Bitartrate?
Usually doses between 200mg-800mg are beneficial for all normal peoples. Too much choline can cause problems, nothing lethal though. Having said that, many people are choline deficient. You can get concentrated lecithin from natural sources such as few eggs a day, or a spoonful of soy lecithin in your daily shake may be cheaper, but these are not good if you have an egg/soy allergy or intolerance. In the case of no soy lecithin, I would recommend citicoline (cdp-choline) over alpha-gcp because it has more peripheral benefits and is cheaper/g too, meanwhile bitartrate is commonly irritable and with poor bioavailability.

>What do you think of Huperzia?
It is basically in there for the active ingredient Huperzine A. It definitely effects the brain, increasing brain choline by stopping the enzymatic breakdown, this is good in the short term, but I would not take it every day because, as with many receptors when they become saturated, choline receptors will reduce over time to compensate. This doesn't happen with basic choline consumption (from egg, soy, citicoline). You can use Huperzine A to improve dream recall, and ameliorate reduced performance from sleep deprivation. It acts in the same way as Galantamine except it has a much quicker elimination half life, so you don't get poor sleep quality (reduced slow wave sleep) for several days in a row.

>What do you think of Bacopa?
It has quite a bit of evidence backing it up, it can mildly reduce anxiety and increase memory function. Depending on the price vs your income, it may or may not be worth buying. It effects both young peoples and old, almost everyone would benefit by taking it.