Myth:
Since we feel rested after sleep, sleep must be for resting. Ask anyone,
even a student of medicine: What is the role of sleep? Nearly everyone
will tell you: Sleep is for rest. Fact: Sleep is for optimizing
the structure of memories. If it was for rest or energy saving, we would
cover the saving by consuming just one apple per night. To effectively
encode memories, mammals, birds and even reptiles need to turn off the
thinking and do some housekeeping in their brains. This is vital for survival.
This is why the evolution produced a defense mechanism against skipping
sleep. If we do not get sleep, we feel miserable. We are not actually
as wasted as we feel, the damage can be quickly repaired by getting a
good night sleep. Our health may not suffer as much as our learning and
intelligence. Feeling wasted in sleep deprivation is the result of our
brain dishing punishment for not sticking to the rules of an intelligent
form of life. Let the memory do restructuring in its programmed time
Myth:
Sleeping pills will help you sleep better. Fact: Benzodiazepines can
help you sleep, but this sleep is of far less quality than naturally induced
sleep (the term "sleeping pill" here does not apply to sleep-inducing
supplements such as melatonin, minerals, or herbal preparations). Not
only are benzodiazepines disruptive to the natural sleep stage sequence.
They are also addictive and subject to tachyphylaxis (the more you take
the more you need to take). Sleeping pills can be useful in circumstances
where sleep is medically vital, and cannot be achieved by other means.
Otherwise, avoid sleeping pills whenever possible
Myth:
Silence and darkness are vital for sleep. This may be the number one
advice for insomniacs: use your sleeping room for sleep only, keep it
dark and quiet. Fact: Silence and darkness indeed make it easier
to fall asleep. They may also help maintain sleep when it is superficial.
However, they are not vital. Moreover, for millions of insomniacs, focusing
on peaceful sleeping place obscures the big picture: the most important
factor that makes us sleep well, assuming good health, is the adherence
to one's natural circadian rhythm! People who go to sleep along their
natural rhythm can often sleep well in bright sunshine. They can also
show remarkable tolerance to a variety of noises (e.g. loud TV, family
chatter, the outside window noise, etc.). This is all possible thanks
to the sensory gating that occurs during sleep executed "in phase". Absence
of sensory gating in "wrong phase" sleep can easily be demonstrated by
lesser changes to AEPs (auditory evoked potentials) registered at various
parts of the auditory pathway in the brain. Noises will wake you up if
you fail to enter deeper stages of sleep, and this failure nearly always
comes from sleeping at the wrong circadian phase (e.g. going to sleep
too early). If you suffer from insomnia, focus on understanding your natural
sleep rhythm. Peaceful sleeping place is secondary (except in cases of
impaired sensory gating as in some elderly). Insomniacs running their
daily ritual of perfect darkness, quiet, stresslessness and sheep-counting
are like a stranded driver hoping for fair winds instead of looking for
the nearest gas station. Even worse, if you keep your place peaceful,
you run the risk of falling asleep early enough to be reawakened by the
quick elimination of the homeostatic component of sleep. Learn the principles
of healthy sleep that will make you sleep in all conditions. Only then
focus on making your sleeping place as peaceful as possible. For more
see: Good sleep,
good learning
Myth:
People are of morning or evening type. Fact: This is more of a misnomer
than a myth. Evening type people, with chronotherapy, can easily be made
to wake up with the sun. What people really differ in is the period of
their body clock, as well as the sensitivity to and availability of stimuli
that reset that rhythm (e.g. light, activity, stress, etc.). People with
an unusually long natural day and low sensitivity to resetting stimuli
will tend to work late and wake up late. Hence the tendency to call them
"evening type". Those people do not actually prefer evenings, they simply
prefer longer working days. The lifestyle affects the body clock as well.
A transition from a farmer's lifestyle to a student's lifestyle will result
in a slight change to the sleeping rhythm. This is why so many students
feel as if they were of the evening type
Myth:
Avoid naps. Fact: Naps may indeed worsen insomnia in people suffering
from DSPS, esp. if taken too late in the day. Otherwise, naps are highly
beneficial to intellectual performance. It is possible to take naps early
in the day without affecting one's sleeping rhythm. Those naps must fall
before or inside the so-called dead zone where a nap does not produce
a phase response (i.e. shift in the circadian rhythm)
Myth:
Night shifts are unhealthy. Fact: People working in night shifts are
often forced out of work by various ailments such as a heart condition.
However, it is not night shifts that are harmful. It is the constant switching
of the sleep rhythm from day to night and vice versa. It would be far
healthier to let night shift people develop their own regular rhythm in
which they would stay awake throughout the night. It is not night wakefulness
that is harmful. It is the way we force our body do things it does not
want to do
Myth:
Going to bed at the same time is good for you. Fact: Many sleep experts
recommend going to sleep at the same time every day. Regular rhythm is
indeed a form of chronotherapy recommended in many circadian rhythm problems.
However, people with severe DSPS may simply find it impossible to go to
sleep at the same time everyday. Such forced attempts will only result
in a self-feeding cycle of stress and insomnia. In such cases, the struggle
with one's own rhythm is simply unhealthy. Unfortunately, people suffering
from DSPS are often forced into a "natural" rhythm by their professional
and family obligations
Myth:
People who sleep less live longer. In 2002, Dr Kripke compared the
length of sleep with longevity (1982 data from a cancer risk survey).
He figured out that those who sleep 6-7 hours live longer than those who
sleep 8 hours and more. No wonder that a message started spreading that
those who sleep less live longer. Fact: The best longevity prognosis
is ensured by sleeping in compliance with one's natural body rhythm. Those
who stick to their own good rhythm often sleep less because their sleep
is better structured (and thus more refreshing). "Naturally sleeping"
people live longer. Those who sleep against their body call, often need
to clock more hours and still do not feel refreshed. Moreover, disease
is often correlated with increased demand for sleep. Infectious diseases
are renowned for a dramatic change in sleep patterns. When in coma, you
are not likely to be adding years to your life. Correlation is not causation
Myth:
A nap is a sign of weakness. Fact: A nap is not a sign of weakness,
ill-health, laziness or lack of vigor. It is a philogenetic remnant of
a biphasic sleeping rhythm. Not all people experience a significant mid-day
slump in mental performance. It may be well masked by activity, stress,
contact with people, sport, etc. However, if you experience a slump around
the 5th to 8th hour of your day, taking a nap can dramatically boost your
performance in the second half of the day
Myth:
Alarm clock can help you regulate the sleep rhythm. Fact: An alarm
clock can help you push your sleep rhythm into the desired framework,
but it will rarely help you accomplish a healthy sleep rhythm. The only
tried-and-true way to accomplish a healthy sleep and a healthy sleep rhythm
is to go to sleep only when you are truly sleepy, and to wake up naturally
without external intervention
Myth:
Being late for school is bad. Fact: Kids who persistently cannot wake
up for school should be left alone. Their fresh mind and health are far
more important. 60% of kids under 18 complain of daytime tiredness and
15% fall asleep at school (US, 1998). Parents who regularly punish their
kids for being late for school should immediately consult a sleep expert
as well as seek help in attenuating the psychological effects of the trauma
resulting from the never ending cycle of stress, sleepiness and punishment
Myth:
Being late for school is a sign of laziness. Fact: If a young person
suffers from DSPS, it may have perpetual problems with getting up for
school in time. Those kids are often actually brighter than average and
are by no means lazy. However, their optimum circadian time for intellectual
work comes after the school or even late into the evening. At school they
are drowsy and slow and simply waste their time. If chronotherapy does
not help, parents should consider later school hours or even home-schooling
Myth:
We can sleep 3 hours per day. Many people enviously read about Tesla's
or Edison's sleeping habits and hope they could train themselves to sleep
only 3 hours per day having far more time for other activities. Fact:
This might work if you plan to party all the time. And if your health
is not a consideration. And if your intellectual capacity is not at stake.
You can sleep 3 hours and survive. However, if your aspirations go beyond
that, you should rather sleep exactly as much as your body wants. That
is an intelligent man's optimum. With your improved health and intellectual
performance, your lifetime gains will be immense
Myth:
We can adapt to polyphasic sleep. Looking at the life of sailors,
many people believe they can adopt polyphasic sleep and save many hours
per day. In polyphasic sleep, you take only 4-5 short naps during the
day totaling less than 4 hours. There are many "systems" differing in
the arrangement of naps. There are also many young people ready to suffer
the pains to see it work. Although a vast majority will drop out, a small
circle of the most stubborn ones will survive a few months and will perpetuate
the myth with a detriment to public health. Fact: We are basically
biphasic and all attempts to change the inbuilt rhythm will result in
loss of health, time, and mental capacity. A simple rule is: when sleepy,
go to sleep; while asleep, continue uninterrupted
Myth:
Sleep before midnight is more valuable. Fact: Sleep is most valuable
if it comes at the time planned by your own body clock mechanism. If you
are not sleepy before midnight, forcing yourself can actually ruin your
night if you wake up early
Myth:
The body will always crave excess sleep as it craves excess food. Some
people draw a parallel between our tendency to overeat with sleep. They
believe that if we let the body dictate the amount of sleep, it will always
ask for more than needed. As a result, they prefer to cut sleep short
with an alarm clock to "optimize" the amount of sleep they get. Fact:
Unlike storage of fat, there seems to be little evolutionary benefit
to extra sleep. Probably, our typical 6-8 hour sleep is just enough to
do all "neural housekeeping". People with sleep deficit may indeed tend
to sleep obscenely long. However, once they catch up and get into the
rhythm, the length of their sleep is actually likely to decrease
Myth:
Magnesium, folates, and other supplements can help you sleep better. Fact:
Nutrients needed for good health are also good for sleep. However,
supplementation is not likely to play a significant role in resolving
your sleep problems. Vitamins may help if you are in deficit, but a vast
majority of sleep disorders in society come from the lack of respect or
understanding of the circadian rhythm. Only wisely administered melatonin
is known to have a beneficial effect on the advancement of sleep phase.
If you are having problems with sleep, read Good sleep for good life.
As for supplements, stick to a standard healthy diet. That should suffice
Myth:
It is best to wake up with the sun. Fact: You should wake up at the
time when your body decides it got enough of sleep. If this happens to
be midday, a curtain over the window will prevent you from being woken
up by the sun. At the same time sun may help you reset your body clock
and help you wake up earlier. People who wake up naturally with the sun
are indeed among the healthiest creatures on the planet. However, if you
do not wake up naturally before 4 am, trying to do so with the help of
an alarm clock will only add misery to your life
Myth:
You cannot change the inherent period length of your body clock. Fact:
With various chronotherapeutic tricks it is possible to change the
period of the clock slightly. It can be reset or advanced harmlessly by
means of melatonin, bright light, exercise, meal timing, etc. It can also
be reset in a less healthy way: with an alarm clock. However, significant
lifestyle changes may be needed to resolve severe cases of DSPS or ASPS.
The therapy may be stressful, and the slightest deviation from the therapeutic
regimen may result in the relapse to an undesirable rhythm. Those who
employ free-running sleep may take the easiest way out of the period length
problem: stick to the period that is the natural outcome of your current
lifestyle
