New essay: Theses on Sleep
Summary of the essay:
In this essay, I question some of the consensus beliefs about sleep, such as the need for at least 7 hours of sleep for adults, harmfulness of acute sleep deprivation, and harmfulness of long-term sleep deprivation and our inability to adapt to it.
It appears that the evidence for all of these beliefs is much weaker than sleep scientists and public health experts want us to believe. In particular, I conclude that it’s plausible that at least acute sleep deprivation is not only not harmful but beneficial in some contexts and that it’s that we are able to adapt to long-term sleep deprivation.
I also discuss the bidirectional relationship of sleep and mania/depression and the costs of unnecessary sleep, noting that sleeping 1.5 hours per day less results in gaining more than a month of wakefulness per year, every year.
The theses are:
- Comfortable modern sleep is an unnatural superstimulus. Sleepiness, just like hunger, is normal.
- Depression <-> oversleeping. Mania <-> acute sleep deprivation
- Occasional acute sleep deprivation is good for health and promotes more efficient sleep
- Our priors about sleep research should be weak
- Decreasing sleep by 1-2 hours a night in the long-term has no negative health effects
See the essay here: Theses on Sleep
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