A tired civilization? Sleep deprived people are more likely to be corrupt, deviant, apathetic and free loading

By Jo Nova

We may have to fix the sleep deprivation to fix the cultural apathy

Sleeping on a train.

Listening to a sleep specialist I was struck that so much of our civilizational decline mirrors the effects sleep deprivation has on individuals. The sleep researcher even used the phrases “deviant” and “social loafing”. Tired people free-load on the team and are more likely to make false claims. It amplifies the worst of “The Welfare State”.

A sleep deprived nation is a fatter, less productive, less creative and less motivated country. Sex hormones are reduced, blood sugar is raised, immunity suffers, self control is reduced, and anxiety increases, as does every marker of suicidal ideation. Food choices become more hedonic. Self discipline suffers. Declines in sleep must surely also explain part of the testosterone drop that modern civilization seems to be suffering from. Blood tests show being tired is medically a form of premature aging — albeit, hopefully, temporary.

Professor Matthew Walker argues that sleep is more important than food or exercise and yet we are ignoring it. Every species on Earth needs to sleep. If it were not essential, evolution would have found a way to get rid of it, or reduce it, because it is a costly behaviour. Sleeping animals are more vulnerable, seemingly unproductive, they’re not raising babies, or bringing in food.

Walker doesn’t say it, but what’s good for a corporation is surely good for a nation

All the things that make companies more profitable and reduce their health care costs surely apply to whole countries? NASA research in the 1980s found that 20 – 60 minutes sleep improved productivity by 34%. It increased general alertness by 50%. The results were so stark NASA even transferred these findings to work conditions for people on the ground. “NASA naps” became a thing.

The five reasons a lack of sleep is worse for productivity:

When employees undersleep they choose less challenging problems, they check their emails but they don’t tackle the deep issues. Secondly, tired people produce fewer creative solutions. Thirdly, in teams, those who sleep less slack off, they freeload on other people. Fourthly, they are more deviant, they’re more likely to fudge data, to claim reimbursements they don’t deserve. Finally, the leaders who get less sleep are rated as less charismatic by employees, even though the employees don’t know how much sleep their CEO got that day.

Plus workers who sleep less take about 11 more sick days annually. And they use health care resources 80% more than well rested people. Their obesity and mental health is worse. (This is discussed at 42 – 48 minutes in the video.)

Doctors are only given about 90 minutes of sleep education in their entire degree yet it’s one third of their patients lives. Children aren’t taught much about sleep at school. No nation seems to have a public campaign to increase sleep, yet they have programs to boost exercise, reduce drinking, stop smoking, eat better and drive slower.

Dr Matthew Walker is a Berkley neuroscientist and sleep specialist.


Diary of a CEO interviewer is Steven Bartlett, UK tech entrepeneur.

The video is surprisingly compelling.

He’s an excellent speaker, with lots of research and no finger pointing lectures.  We spend a lot of time here wondering why so many in society seem so apathetic, or careless or corrupt. Maybe a tired population is a compliant distracted one and maybe we should be doing something about that.

If I were an adversary of the West, I would do everything I could to encourage their sleep deprivation.

Night owls and larks are coded in our genes

Chronotypes, meaning whether you are a night owl or a lark —  are built in genetically — probably because tribes were so much better off if they had someone awake at most hours of the clock, rather than all sleeping for the same 8 hours. Tribes with mixed sleeping patterns were less likely to be surprised in a bad way.

Divorce papers suggest that one third of divorcees mention sleep incompatibility. Walker suggests a sleep-divorce (sleeping separately) might be useful before people have a real divorce.

A quarter of couples sleep in different rooms. People sleeping apart from each other report getting better sleep, and probably have higher libidos due to that. But people sleeping together report feeling more satisfied about sleep.

I listened to the whole 2 hours as a podcast, which I almost never do. People interested in Alzheimers may want to listen from 1:30 onwards.

The timeline of topics are listed below (bolding mine).

  • 0:00   Intro
  • 02:25   Why is your work so important?
  • 05:15   Work and research life
  • 10:07   Why do we sleep?
  • 18:14   Chronotypes/sleep deprivation
  • 24:42   Will sleep get worse as we go on through life and society as we know it?
  • 30:44   How many of us are getting the right amount of sleep?
  • 34:43   Redesigning society to get better sleep
  • 48:57   Napping
  • 56:16   Caffeine
  • 01:09:51   Ads
  • 01:10:51   Sleep medication
  • 01:14:02   CBT for sleep
  • 01:16:16   What to do when you’re struggling with sleep
  • 01:19:23   Listening to something before bed
  • 01:26:06   Can you make up for lost sleep on the weekend?
  • 01:30:47   Sleep deprivation consequences
  • 01:37:45   Actionable things to improve your sleep
  • 01:42:06   Being on my phone before sleep
  • 01:47:18   Sleep & weight lose
  • 01:54:53   Dreams
  • 01:59:25   The last guest’s question

Are we sleeping less?

The interview doesn’t discuss whether we are sleeping less than we did 100 years ago, but a search doesn’t turn up a lot either. One review of research papers suggests we’re not, but most of the data comes from sleep labs, not people at home in their daily lives.

Apparently there is very little data about how many hours of sleep people got in 1920 or 1950 and so on, and “hours in bed” is not the same as “hours asleep” which is hard to get without a sleep tracker. At least one Gallup poll suggests people thought they got more sleep in the 1940s.

Eighty percent of people in 1942 said they slept more than 7 hours a night. But now less than 60% percent at most say that. Four times as many people now say they are sleeping six hours or less.

Gallup poll, American, Sleep hours. Graph.

Gallup poll numbers suggest people are sleeping less.  Vox.

Sleeping man on train image by abdulla binmassam.

9.9 out of 10 based on 36 ratings

64 comments to A tired civilization? Sleep deprived people are more likely to be corrupt, deviant, apathetic and free loading

  • #

    Sleep deprivation is torture.

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    David Maddison

    I haven’t yet seen the video but I disagree with the summary of findings, at least for my case. Certainly sleep deprivation is a bad thing, even torture as Krishna states above. I am sleep deprived myself due to an inability to effectively sleep. I may be immune to melatonin as that hormone has no effect on me. Nevertheless, I manage to be not lazy, I am considered highly productive in whatever tasks I do, and am absolutely not a free loader among other deficiencies mentioned. My mother and her mother are or were unable to sleep, so presumably there is a genetic component. Maybe I have the genes for a night-time guardian of the tribe as mentioned in the article. Anyway, the times I am awake when most people are asleep, I don’t waste and devote to learning or other activities.

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    • #

      The so called bio clock is different from person to person. Everybody has his own rythm. Not everyone sleeps 8 hours/day.
      To generalise isn’t a good option. But if persons usually sleep 7 – 8 hours, to deprieve them may show the mentioned symptoms.
      And it’s a quetion of custom and age.

      60

      • #

        He is talking about research on the effect of undersleeping-employees who work in teams. They goof off.

        I’m talking about a civilization that doesn’t value sleep.

        The video is surprisingly compelling.

        He’s an excellent speaker, with lots of research and not a teachy, preachy guy at all. And I’m hoping people might see the bigger picture — which they didn’t discuss — we spend a lot of time here wondering why so many in society seem so apathetic, or careless or corrupt. Maybe a tired population is a compliant distracted one and maybe we should be doing something about that.

        If I were an adversary of the West, I might want to do everything I could to encourage sleep deprivation. Perhaps we should pay attention to the science?

        — I’ll add some of this to the post. Perhaps I didn’t make the point clear enough?

        PS: I added “more likely” into the headline so it’s more accurate. Thanks.

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        • #
          KP

          “If I were an adversary of the West, I might want to do everything I could to encourage sleep deprivation. ”

          I’d sell them millions of TVs and show semi-erotic programs late at night so they would stay up until midnight waiting to see if the main characters ever got to have sex.

          Then I’d sell them millions of computers and release thousands of computer games designed to keep them up all night playing.

          Then I’d sell them millions of ‘smart’ phones and form social media sites that kept them up all night showing cat videos and stupid people doing stupid things to each other…

          Simple really!

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          • #
            Kalm Keith

            🙂

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          • #
            StephenP

            In the UK the timing of the evening news was put back some years ago from 9pm to 10pm which had an immediate effect on sleep deprivation as people still had to get up at the previous time.
            I found Walker’s book “Why We Sleep” fascinating and the discussion has added to my respect for him. It still begs the question of whether society is going to the dogs as a result of sleep deprivation.

            00

    • #
      Old Goat

      David,
      I suspect that during sleep your subconscious is more active and you may be more integrated between conscious and subconscious . The brain is an amazing thing and getting the best out of it is not always easy as it doesn’t come with an instruction manual .

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  • #
    John Robertson

    Ahh.
    So now we know why Daylight Savings has never gone away.

    90

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      The list of qualities demonstrared by the sleep deprived:

      “more corrupt, lazy, deviant, apathetic and free loading”

      It’s maybe a chicken and egg thing.

      Over the last six decades Australia has switched from a hard working, ethical society to one of government created indolence and dependence.

      The modern system encourages people to beg rather than look after themselves and the hidden secret is that those who do go to work are now supporting those who are government sponsored as well as their own families.

      But governments just don’t want to face the human damage they’ve created.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    List of successful people that sleep or slept little. Note that I wouldn’t regard all these people as “good” e.g. Obama, Clinton and Dorsey, but they are nevertheless regarded as successful.

    Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO
    Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder and Square CEO
    Donald Trump
    Kelly Ripa, host of “Live! with Kelly and Michael”
    Jay Leno, host of ‘The Tonight Show’
    Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
    Dominic Orr, president and CEO of Aruba Networks
    Willie Gest, MSNBC host
    Sergio Marchionne, Fiat CEO
    Steve Reinemund, former PepsiCo CEO
    Tom Ford, fashion designer and director
    Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines
    Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods
    Martha Stewart, chair of Martha Stewart Omnimedia
    Condoleeza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State
    Stanley McChrystal, former U.S. general
    Barack Obama
    Bill Clinton
    Ma Ying-Jeou, president of Taiwan

    Historic Figures

    Benjamin Franklin
    Thomas Edison
    Nicola Tesla
    Margaret Thatcher

    Reference: https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-who-barely-sleep-2012-9#now-learn-more-about-the-lives-of-ceos-21

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    • #

      Are they now better people ? what were, if they slept more.

      30

    • #

      And as he said David, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were renown for their short sleep, but he doesn’t think it was an accident that they both were lost to dementia.

      You could always watch the video (or a bit of it)… it might surprise you. I’ve read books on sleep and the effect it has, but even I found it fascinating.

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      • #
        Harves

        Joe Biden is the exception. Sleeps more than the average sloth, yet still corrupt, deviant and suffering dementia.

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Do sloths sleep more? I know they are very slow moving, rarely changing direction, and look at the world from a strange possition and response to outside influences is slow (although direct threats will provoke aggression).
          Sort of like Public Servants. Do the latter suffer from sleep disorders?

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      • #
        GreatAuntJanet

        Quite right Joanne, well worth watching. Thanks.

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    • #
      evo of gong

      I think that you could include Winston Churchill in the list.

      00

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    Occasionally I will be out in the car during peak periods when people are going to and from work.
    The difficulties seen being experienced by regular drivers is scary and little wonder they eventually get home feeling a bit anxious.
    Then they try to go to sleep and instead rerun some of the anxiouness of their days drive.

    Our lifestyle is not conducive to sleep.

    180

  • #
    tonyb

    I think our ‘civilisational decline’ can be traced directly to the internet and what has arrived with it. 24 hour working and 24 hour hour gaming and 24 hour access to entertainment. Social media. Continual insults. The rise of fringe groups, hacking, fraud on companies and individuals. The net effect in the meantime is that the screen has our constant attention and reducing our sleeping hours and harming our sleeping patterns

    Undoubtedly there have been benefits. I started my first internet company in 1995. I think an Oxford style debate on whether the Internet has been good or bad for society would be interesting. On the whole I would vote it has been bad. It is only a mater of time before hackers take down our infrastructure and clean out our bank accounts and our banks.

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    • #
      Frederick Pegler

      Disagree more good than bad. We have access to the combined knowledge of humanity, the value of that can’t over stated.
      There is alway and adjustment period, as society ‘gets used to something’. And humans have always found ways to ‘misuse’ things.
      I do agree that cyberwar is a very real threat.

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      • #
        James Reid

        Well we wouldn’t be chatting with Joanne and others from all around the world without it would we?

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        • #

          Agreed. But whilst we chat millions of accounts are hacked. Your account detais may be traded on the dark web at the moment. . Criminals extract $1 .5 trillion from accounts every year

          https://dataprot.net/statistics/cybercrime-statistics/

          Determined hostile hackers will likely dismantle our digital infrastructure and cause our society to disintegrate. So yes, many benefits but the Internet of everything makes us very vulnerable

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  • #
    bobby b

    Work changed.

    Used to be, we banged hammers or installed parts or shoveled cow poop, and then we went home and lived our lives. Now, there’s less of a distinction – we can worry about and ponder our programming, our briefs, our written products, our planned presentations, no matter the time of day or our location. And so we do.

    The nature of work now has lead to a culture that rewards the people who take the work home with them, who stay later and arrive earlier, who worry about work as they go to bed.

    And so sleep has suffered.

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    • #
      Frederick Pegler

      There is a strong link between physical work and good sleep, as opposed to mental work and poor sleep. As a farmer whos is also responsable for the financial over sight ad budget of 2 other farms. My time is about 50/50 outside/office. I preferr outside, even tho at 60 I’m starting to struggle a bit in mid summer. I fall asleep quicker sleep sounder and wake earlier feeling more refreshed. With office work I have trouble sleeping and wake feeling like crap.

      200

  • #
    Doctor T

    As with diet, measuring sleep duration and quality is incredibly difficult. Diaries for both are unreliable and only a handful will ever get to have a night in a sleep lab.
    There is, however, good evidence in certain areas that sleep deprivation causes pathology.
    In sports and exercise medicine there is data to suggest it is a factor in stress fractures.

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  • #
    anne simon

    Check out the research on the sleep benefits of Earthing (grounding oneself electrically in earth). There are some good docs available on YouTube, and doing it need not be expensive. Also .. I wonder how “5G” and all the other communication pulses affect our sleep ?

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    • #

      I wonder how electro magnetic pulses now coming from so many sources affect our heart rhythms

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    • #
      KP

      Find “The Invisible Rainbow” by Arthur Firstenberg on the net and read it.

      Perhaps he is quite wrong about how the radio fields we are using affect our health and diseases, but his stories about bees and radio towers, or villages and radar stations are very convincing.

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    • #
      bobby b

      “Also .. I wonder how “5G” and all the other communication pulses affect our sleep?”

      Top scientists have been researching this, and now that the 5G tech is fairly ubiquitous throughout the urban world, the answer is, they have no idea.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBsP-bmDLOo

      10

      • #
        tonyb

        The EU commission did a study of 5G a couple of years ago and came to the same conclusion and expressed caution pending more research. Because of the nature of 5G the relays need installing every third lamp post or at regular intervals along shop front or street furniture. 3, 4 and 5g and mobile p[hones in general have always evoked conspiracy theories but if people want the ‘internet of everything’ (Which I don’t) then we will have a dense coverage of these relay points.

        20

  • #
    Lawrie

    I was most interested in his segment referring to the causes of Alzheimer’s. My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years ago and is now in residential care. She simply does not check any of the boxes that doctors say are precursors to the disease. She raised four children and me but was always asleep by 2100 and up at 0630. She slept soundly. She was not overweight, she was always active (we had a farm and she worked in a bank), she quilted and read, keeping her brain active, she did not drink alcohol and she never smoked. She was physically very fit through work rather than exercise. BUT her twin sister also has the disease yet no one that we know of in the family had it before. Strange.

    I don’t want to bore you with my situation but it is an observation that other factors must be at work. Some we know nothing about. Much like climate I would suggest.

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    • #
      anne simon

      Some experts now say brain deposits of sugar is a/the base cause. There is a large nursing home that offers a strict carnivore diet. It has had excellent results, and some dementia patients have improved so much they were sent home.

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      • #
        Ross

        Yes, we should all eat less carbohydrates as we age. Mind you that’s really difficult when your are a sweet tooth, but I have done the Atkins diet a couple of times and after a few days those sugar cravings do dissipate.

        40

        • #

          Lawrie, there are other theories too, some which involve viruses. Especially Herpes (cold sores) with inflammation by VZV (chicken pox / shingles) and even severe influenza.

          Has she or her sister been genetically tested for APOE 4?

          https://www.todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/archive/JF19p20.shtml

          “As far back as the 1990s, several studies demonstrated that HSV1 DNA is present in latent form in the brains of a high percentage of older adults (about 60%), including those with AD and those without.6-8 It’s not commonly found in the brains of younger individuals, however.9,10 Thus, it’s been hypothesized that the virus tends to enter the brain in older age as a result of age-related weakening of the immune system.

          Although the virus commonly is present even in the brains of older adults who are cognitively normal, there are intriguing links between HSV1 and AD. First, in herpes simplex encephalitis, a rare but serious disease typically caused by HSV1, the virus infiltrates the hippocampus and frontal lobe in particular, causing memory loss and cognitive deficits similar to those seen in AD.11 Even when it does not cause encephalitis, HSV1 is closely linked with AD pathology: Studies of cultured cells, including human neural cells, have shown that infection with HSV1 causes the accumulation of both Aβ and P-tau, which are the main components of the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles characteristic of AD.12-16 Furthermore, in mouse models, infection with HSV1 leads to formation of Aβ deposits in the brain.12

          Another intriguing connection between HSV1 and AD is that in human AD brains where HSV1 is present, the virus’s DNA is preferentially located within amyloid plaques. In one autopsy study of AD patients, 90% of amyloid plaques contained HSV1 DNA, and 72% of HSV1 DNA was found within amyloid plaques.

          In the case of herpes viruses, genetic factors (specifically, the APOE genotype) appear to influence susceptibility to herpes—and to AD. Carriers of the APOE-E4 allele are more likely to become infected by and more likely to experience severe herpes labialis (caused by HSV1),8 as well as several other infectious disorders…

          See also https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/could-viral-illness-increase-chances-developing-alzheimers-or-other-neurodegenerative-disease

          Individuals who had viral encephalitis were at least 20 times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s than those who did not experience that virus.

          Severe cases of influenza were linked to the widest range of risks. Influenza and pneumonia exposures were associated with all the neurodegenerative disorder diagnoses except multiple sclerosis.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    During and after covid the perception became that work of many office-type jobs could be done at home 24/7 and you could meet via Zoom etc. and didn’t ever have to physically attend the office or see colleagues.

    Being at home, and being able to (and expected to) work at any time or any day of the week erased boundaries between “work” and “life” and made it much harder for many to achieve an appropriate work/life balance.

    And these arrangements seem to have become permanent for many. Many companies have permanently reduced the amount of office space they lease or own.

    Also, there is an additional problem of constant employee or employer stress because there is no concept of permanency of employment or employee or employer loyalty, like there was until about 30 or 40 years ago, and you can lose a job or a valued employee at any time.

    Additionally, no one (or few) seem to have deep learning about anything any more, there are no (or few) genuine experts, although plenty who claim to be. This means many individuals and corporations work at a very superficial level and tend to repeat mistakes over and over, especially coupled with the lack of loyalty meaning residence times in jobs are short.

    Beyond that, there seem to be pleny of psychopathic managers but I’m not sure if their numbers have increased or not. There are certainly plenty of victims of psychopath managers, that’s for sure.

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  • #
    Neville

    I’m not a good sleeper but I try to compensate by taking a nap during the day.
    But I think their so called dangerous CC is the greatest, most dangerous and most expensive con and fraud EVER.
    This takes just a few minutes online to find the Human data since 1800 or 1900 or 1950 etc so I don’t know why our govts, so called scientists and most of the MSM etc are so stupid or corrupt.
    It’s obviously not about co2 emissions because some of the worst offenders are happy to ignore China, India and developing countries soaring emissions over the last few decades.
    So are all of the above people delusional or stupid or do they just suffer from too little shut eye?
    I’m sure I’d be better off if I slept 7 hours a night but I do try to have a nap during the day when I can.
    BTW I’m way past retirement age, but I like to do my own research about their CC BS and fraud etc and I know how to define a Woman, so I don’t think I’m as stupid as some of our pollies and so called experts.

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    • #
      tonyb

      A famous chef over here had an article whereby he said he changed into his pyjamas, went to bed and slept between 2 and 4pm each day then had a shower on waking up and treated it as a new day with refreshed vigour.

      10

    • #
      Yonason

      “So are all of the above people delusional or stupid or do they just suffer from too little shut eye?”

      It’$a my$tery to me.

      There are those who, no matter how much sleep they get, will be psychos. And there are those who, even on minimal sleep will be honorable. Sure sleep is essential, but if the primary focus isn’t on integrity then the result will be a healthier person who’s more efficient at being good or the opposite.

      Also, as important as what the video was saying, there are essential biochemical considerations. If not included, then his approach will probably fail, IMO.

      10

  • #
    David Maddison

    Sleeping patterns have also changed.

    People, at least Europeans, used to practice “biphasic sleep” until a few centuries ago, they had what was called a first sleep and second sleep with a break in the middle.

    Perhaps that’s what some of us sleepless ones lean towards.

    This was only recently documented. See:

    https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep

    And even today, Latin and some Mediterranean countries still practice the siesta and day time sleeps are also practiced in China and elsewhere.

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    • #
      Lion heart

      I worked for sometime in the 1980s in Taiwan. First day at noon lunch was around the common table that they all worked at then off to sleep.
      They were fascithatnated i was surprised. They thought evreybody worldwide did the midday sleep as they had alwys done. Even schhols had sleep programmed.
      They wondered how we managed to work pm without a midlde of the day sleep.

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  • #
    John Hultquist

    Just finished reading; to this point.
    I’m going to take a nap. 😊

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  • #
    Penguinite

    Too much crap on the visual media. Read more books and watch only real stuff. Propaganda is everywhere! JoNova excepted!

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  • #
    Simon Thompson ᵐᵇ ᵇˢ

    I suggest people stop struggling with insomnia.
    2500 years ago, the Buddha established a religion
    based on meditation. The current vogue is hypnotism
    with “Binge” watching of woke propaganda. Psychology
    went rogue in the early 20th century forming the basis
    of advertising an “PR” industries, to the point
    where FTA TV is seamless continuous propaganda and
    negativity to engender the desired consumerist behaviour.

    Meditation is very beneficial and conducive to sleep.
    Just don’t nod off in a Zen temple!

    The vicious cycle of obesity with sleep apnoea/hypopneas
    leading to daytime lethargy & obesity (Pickwickian syndrome) is
    affecting more people.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      “Binge” watching of woke propaganda.

      The woke propaganda also causes people not to think, it is like an opiate and its consumers, mostly younger people, already among the most mal-educated people ever, gleefully absorb it. And politicians and the Elites exploit their consequent ignorance.

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      • #

        Towards the end of the interview Walker discusses meditation which he was skeptical of, but said the data was so strong he now does it himself for 10mins every night before sleeping.

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  • #
    James Reid

    I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea 20 years ago. Have been using a CPAP machine since then. I reckon it’s added at least 10 years to my life. Will let you know when I find out how much!🥴😵‍💫
    If I don’t use it life is not worth living.
    I try telling my left leaning highly educated friends and they just look at me with blank faces. Same look if I say anything at all negative about Climate Change or mRNA vaccines!

    Some folks just don’t want to open their minds to paradigm change?

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  • #

    This is some of what William Shakespeare has to say on sleep.
    From: Macbeth,(Act 2, Scene 2).

    Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleve of care,
    The death of each day’s life,
    Sore labour’s bath,
    Balm of hurt minds,
    Great nature’s second course,
    Chief nourisher in life’s feast.

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  • #
    Old Goat

    There are a number of factors that have affected sleep . We now have a society that runs 24 x 7 and lots of people work shifts and sleep patterns get smashed by the necessity of working one pattern and living another . Anxiety is also a factor – most people have trouble sleeping when worried . Exercise (as stated above) also helps us to sleep and I sleep way better when exhausted .

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    • #
      KP

      “Exercise (as stated above) also helps us to sleep and I sleep way better when exhausted”

      But.. but, we’ve spent 100years designing, building and selling machinery to make life easier and remove hard work from our lives.. The goal of civilisation was a life of George Jetson, pushing buttons and getting paid for it! No need to get out of your Lazyboy chair!

      What could go wrong?

      90

  • #
    Ross

    Amazing when you go camping and minimise screen time how your circadian clock clicks back in. Apparently that effect, even after a couple of nights sleeping under the stars can persist for weeks.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    I’ve pretty much always got by on 3 hours of sleep.
    Go to bed around 11pm, lie awake with the old brain thinking about everything imaginable until about 3-4am then doze off.
    2:30am – do penguins have kneecaps? 😁
    Wake up around 7am and prep for the idiotic 9-5 routine, just like oh so many bleary-eyed others.
    This 9-5 routine works in opposition to the circadian rhythm, which is why everyone’s a coffee addict.
    You’re tired when you wake up and through the day because you didn’t get enough sleep!
    Like DM above, I am unaffected by sleep aids and techniques.
    Now that I am no longer bound by 9-5, I sleep through to 10am as nature intended, because my body wants to sleep in that time range. The old owl/fowl syndrome maybe.
    Countless studies for years have shown the sleep issue affects work performance. This idiotic daylight saving scheme just compounds the problem. We don’t have a nation of fit & healthy people so scrap it. Car and other accidents jump markedly once daylight saving starts & school student performance goes off a cliff as numerous studies have shown.
    End the 9-5. Make it 11-7 instead and see the difference.

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    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Might work for you John, but would not work for me. 10:30 to 7, no problems and after about 24 hours daylight saving makes no difference.

      When I was milking a herd of 52 cows way back in 1960, we changed their milking time by 30 minutes each day for two days. They adapted very quickly and so did I!

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  • #
    Mark Kaiser

    “The video is surprisingly compelling.”

    You are right Jo. Maybe even a bit of an understatement.

    I watched the 15 minutes on Caffeine and found valuable information regarding coffee intake and sleep that I believe can help me with my Type 2 diabetes.

    If you don’t have time to watch the full 2 hours, pick a topic or 2 to watch. Easy to do as Jo has so graciously provided a list of topics.

    And Professor Matthew Walker is very easy to listen to. No lecturing, just solid information.

    Thank You for this Jo!

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    Clarence

    I like this thread because it reminds me of a recent discussion between the most loveable conservative and James Delingpole. Is it a case of the West being exhausted in a civilisational sense?

    Spengler and others were talking about this a long time ago. Mark Steyn talked about us being exhausted as a culture. To my mind I think we were right to project a libertarian society as one with potentially not much overhead. But the problem was we confused a putative end state with a program of reform. In the extreme antithesis we may have been better off using communist industry plans to move to a Demi-libertarian future.

    We can reduce commute times if we decide that’s what we want to do. We can make more sleep a goal of policy as any just God would wish for us.

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    PeterPetrum

    Gee, Jo, what an absolutely splendid presentation. My wife and I watched it right through on a rainy afternoon up here on the Blue Mountains. Fascinating and a tremendously logical and erudite analysis from a profoundly expert and experienced person. The questions from the presenter were considered and helped the flow of information. His answer to what he would do if he was the world ruler was an absolute eye opener.

    My wife does have trouble at times getting to sleep, or getting back to sleep if she wakens up and much of what he blames for this condition she is guilty of, especially waking up and planning her next days chores, or worse!

    Thank you for an excellent article.

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    Yonason

    Here’s what may be a very important piece of the puzzle.

    https://doctorstevenpark.com/?s=Gominak&submit=Search

    Dr Gominak has other videos snd a website with more information.

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    I have always been a light sleeper – wake at anything.
    Have always read myself to sleep – keep a book by bedside –
    Frequent vivid dreams on variety subjects that I reprise on waking.
    Some dream themes have appeared over years such as a scary sequence with car out of control in bush.

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    Jim Fairgray

    Hi Jo, l was wondering if sleeping less was just another bad behavior amongst corruption, deviancy, and the others and not causative? You have to make an effort to do these things. You decide “this is a better way to live” and incorporate them into your life. All discipline l say!

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    RoHa

    “Sleep deprived people are more likely to be corrupt, deviant, apathetic and free loading”

    Great! That’s going to be my excuse from now on.

    “I’m sleep deprived.”

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