Slashdot Mirror
Sleep Is the New Status Symbol (nytimes.com)
The New York Times has a good story on how sleep is increasingly becoming a big business -- and the tech industry is rushing in to tweak our natural rhythms. From the article: At M.I.T.'s Media Lab, the digital futurist playground, David Rose is investigating swaddling, bedtime stories and hammocks, as well as lavender oil and cocoons. [...] Meanwhile, at the University of California, Berkeley, Matthew P. Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology and the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory there, is working on direct current stimulation as a cure for sleeplessness in the aging brain. [...] In Paris, Hugo Mercier, a computer science engineer, has invested in sound waves. He has raised over $10 million to create a headband that uses them to induce sleep. [...] Ben Olsen, an Australian entrepreneur, hopes to introduce Thim, a gadget you wear on your finger that uses sound to startle you awake every three minutes for an hour, just before you go to sleep. [...] Sleep entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and beyond have poured into the sleep space, as branders like to say -- a $32 billion market in 2012 -- formerly inhabited by old-style mattress and pharmaceutical companies.
If only there was a way to transfer sleep - it would many of the world's problems. Poor people could just sleep and get paid, rich people could produce even more wealth; maybe parents could get a little more personal time away from their children?
No need for market research, just note the television ads. So many for pillows, mattresses, pharmaceutical sleep aids, etc. Now I can start my pyramid scheme of having people sleep under pyramid tents that focus the "somnorific rays."
I (40 year old single male) recently griped at work that I only got 6 hours of sleep, and my coworkers who are parents got a good laugh out of that one, saying if they are able to get 6 hours of sleep it's a luxury.
As somebody who resisted a sleep study for a long time because, "I sleep fine, what are you talking about, I snore?", I can't urge people strongly enough to go get a sleep study done if you're told you snore, or you think you're not sleeping very well.
First, get yourself a fitbit (or similar - something that'll help track your movements during sleep) - use it for a week or two, and notice that you've probably got a very restless sleep pattern, meaning you're moving a lot during the night.
Second, get yourself a sleep study. It's a pain in the ass, but it's worth doing. My sleep study determined I was having apnea episodes approximately 50 times an hour (an average of nearly one every minute).
Third, if the doctor recommends one for you, get and use the CPAP machine.
The first night I tried mine, it was uncomfortable and weird, and I slept badly. The second night, I slept for 10 hours uninterrupted, and woke up feeling like I was 20, had fucked my brains out the night before with a hot co-ed after a college party, and then slept in until 2 pm on a Sunday, woke up with no hangover, and with the same co-ed giving me wake-up head. I literally can't recall having slept so well in years. I'm still using it, and have noticed that:
1) My snoring is largely gone; My wife appreciates it, that's for sure;
2) I sleep with less restlessness, as shown by a movement tracker;
3) My 2 pm "drowsy hour" is completely *gone* - I'm more productive and focused at work;
4) I have way more energy when exercising in the morning and playing with the kids at night;
I was resistant to it initially, but I'm an enthusiastic convert. It's really been a godsend. If you're hearing complaints about your snoring, or you have a lot of afternoon drowsiness, or your movement tracker shows you're tossing and turning constantly - give it a try.