The Myth of 8 Hours
Although 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night is widely promoted as necessary for optimal health and functioning, new research casts some doubt on this assumption. About a decade ago, a rare genetic mutation was discovered that allows people to function as well on 6 hours of sleep as those without the mutation do on eight hours. But short-sleepers may be less rare than initially believed.
In 2019, Fu and Ptacek discovered two more genes connected to natural short sleep, and they’ll soon submit a paper describing a fourth, providing even more evidence that functioning well on less sleep is a genetic trait.
If you think you don’t sleep enough, but otherwise feel fine, don’t stress. That will only cause a problem where there isn’t one.
There’s also promising news for those who do need those extra hours. The researchers believe that if they can understand why the mutations cause more efficient sleep, they can use that knowledge to help everyone sleep more efficiently.
Here’s to hoping.
Individual Circadian Clocks Might Be the Next Frontier of Personalized Medicine | Time
Lower Impact
Does your shift work schedule have you exercising at strange times? If you aren’t the only one in your building, you may be concerned about late night or early morning workouts annoying your neighbors. Fortunately a good workout doesn’t have to involve slamming weights and high impact moves.
Or, more than likely, it’s you who is annoyed and suffering from disrupted sleep. In that case, maybe print this article out and slide it under the offending neighbor’s door.
Quiet please! How to exercise in an upstairs flat – without annoying your neighbours | The Guardian
Emergency Room to Grow
This pandemic has shed a lot of light on the importance of having an emergency fund. The problem with emergency funds, however, is that you have a large sum of money just sitting there, earning essentially zero interest. But if you’re willing to shop around and devote more time, you could earn up to 5% from your savings accounts.
Getting More From My Emergency Fund With 3% and 5% Interest Savings Accounts | Financial Panther
Time isn’t Just Money
Being “time smart” means not overscheduling ourselves, avoiding things that suck our time but provide little happiness or meaning, and making everyday decisions (and bigger, life-changing decisions) while keeping in mind the costs of lost time—from how we interact with our devices to which jobs we choose.
How to Feel Like You Have More Time | Greater Good
Careful with Comparisons
One interview question that has grown extremely popular in recent times is “what does your morning routine look like?”. We believe that, if we replicate the routines of successful people, we too can succeed in life. Although routines are useful for productivity, copying others is unlikely to yield the results you’re after. Not only are their descriptions more likely to be idealistic than realistic, but everyone is subject to different constraints.
While everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, not everyone has the wealth to make time for an hour on the treadmill by delegating tasks to personal assistants, nannies, and chefs.
Further, what does “morning” even mean for a shift worker? My day can start at 4:30 am, 3:30 pm, and anywhere in between.
The False Promise of Morning Routines | The Atlantic
Anxiety Resistance
These days, you don’t have to look far to find cause for anxiety. While we can’t control what happens to us, we can control how we respond. And, as a new study suggests, one great response is resistance training.
The study, which involved healthy young adults, barbells and lunges, indicates that regular weight training substantially reduces anxiety, a finding with particular relevance during these unsettling, bumpy days.
Weight Training May Help Ease Anxiety | New York Times
Beyond Sleep
Melatonin is often called the sleep hormone. When the body’s melatonin production is suppressed with shift work, our sleep suffers. But recent research suggests this hormone does much more than help us sleep.
The surprising discoveries have revealed that melatonin influences disease and boosts the strength of our immune system in some very unique ways.
Melatonin Benefits Go Beyond Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Regulation | Chronobiology
Stay healthy-
Jason Glenn