I downloaded F.lux a few years back for my computer. Automatically adjusts color for time of day. Works well and was free.

Interestingly, according to this article in The Times this morning, it would seem that too much sleep could also be a problem:

BTW, for those not aware of it, there is a very interesting thread about sleep over in the Paleolithic & Neanderthin forum:

Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival by T.S. Wiley

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=196014

f.lux is great - use it every day.

Very good! He strikes me as a good teacher. He even notes how to pronounce certain words.

It's amazing how complicated sleep is. I'm hoping by the end, I'll pick up some pointers, but already I have a greater respect for the need for quality sleep which is more of a battle when you get older. He says, btw, that it's not true that older people need less sleep.

Thanks!

I have a sleep mask that should be delivered today. It's hard to judge when you'll fall asleep, and how long you've slept, so that you can avoid sleeping too long, as studies have shown is detrimental to longevity. I guess like everything else you do what you can.

When it comes to too much sleep, I think we're too quick to associate it with sloth and not the body's underlying need for more sleep to repair.

Dr. Gominak focuses on the repair aspect of sleep.

Her blog

March 2015 lecture at EtMC Neuroscience Symposium

When I think of too much sleep what comes to my mind is illnesses like depression that drive up apparent sleep needs. Could a fully healthy person really manage to consistently sleep for ten hours a day by lying around extra time in bed trying to? My guess is they'll sleep their normal amount then be done and not be able to do it (unless they were up all night the day before or something). Some people naturally fall outside the typical bell-shaped curve statistically as healthily needing more or less sleep than average, but for the person who didn't used to need as much sleep and is now constantly tired and sleeping ten hours a day, that sounds like a likely marker or warning sign something is wrong. Often enough that lengthier than average sleep statistically correlates with disease. I don't picture lying around in bed being slothful, somehow managing to make one's self sleep longer, is causing the disease or that making one's self get less sleep is the cure for it either.

Unfortunately, I've seen the "make yourself sleep less" as the cure far too frequently. Maybe that's just something that I see because of my baggage.

Thanks!

Correlation between Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Cardiac Disease Severity 2-16-2014

OSA is common and independently associated with hypertension and increased arterial stiffness in consecutive perimenopausal women. 7-2014

BACKGROUND:

Perimenopause is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. OSA is an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease, particularly among men, but the independent contribution of OSA to cardiovascular risk in climacteric women is not clear.

METHODS:

We evaluated 277 consecutive women (age, 56 [52-61] years; BMI, 28 [25-32] kg/m2) without manifest cardiovascular disease (heart failure, coronary disease, or stroke). All women underwent 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring, arterial stiffness evaluation (pulse wave velocity), and portable sleep study.
RESULTS:

OSA (apnea-hypopnea index ≥ 5 events/h) and moderate to severe OSA (apnea-hypopnea index ≥ 15 events/h) were diagnosed in 111 (40.1%) and 31 (11.1%) women, respectively. None of the participants had received a previous diagnosis of OSA. Women with moderate to severe OSA vs those without OSA had a higher prevalence of hypertension, were prescribed more medications for hypertension, had higher awake BP (systolic, 133 [125-142] vs 126 [119-134] mm Hg [P < .01]; diastolic, 82 [78-88] vs 79 [74-85] mm Hg [P = .07]), higher nocturnal BP (systolic, 125 [118-135] vs 115 [109-124] mm Hg [P < .01]; diastolic, 73 [69-79] vs 69 [62-75] mm Hg [P < .01]), and more arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity, 11.5 [10.1-12.3] m/s vs 9.5 [8.6-10.8] m/s, P < .001). Oxygen desaturation index during the night was independently associated with 24-h arterial BP and arterial stiffness (per five-unit increase in oxygen desaturation index, β = 1.30 [95% CI, 0.02-2.54; P = .04] vs 0.22 [95% CI, 0.03-0.40; P = .02] in women with vs without OSA, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS:

OSA is common, underdiagnosed, and independently associated with high BP and increased arterial stiffness in perimenopausal women.

Demi, thanks for this thread. So far I've only read a few of the pages, maybe I'll get to the rest of it later. Haven't read this book, though, so I have nothing to say about it...

Seems a very short window for what is the ideal amount of sleep per day - as a prophylactic against premature mortality from all causes...

Someone actually speculated in one of these links that because of this sort window for ideal amount of sleep, maybe people weren't really meant to live as far North as Scotland (!)

and amounts of sleep vary due to the seasons, based on your location - when it's less than eight hours between when the sun sets and when it rises, in summer, I find it hard to get in eight hours. I don't want to go to sleep until several hours after the sun sets. I don't even want to eat dinner until 21:00 or later.

In some areas of the world, like Spain, people split their sleeps between an afternoon nap during the hottest part of the summer afternoon. Then they stay up late, sleep again, and get up early, so they can get their work done before it gets too hot.

And I do go to bed earlier and sleep later in winter, which I attribute again to the earlier sunsets and later sunrises. This seems normal and natural to me.

*

Taking a total guess, I'd say it's the influence of the old American work ethic of centuries gone by. That getting less sleep and being more productive is valued as more morally right. Can't speak for men since I'm not one, but it seems to me like a lot of ladies think this way. With lack of sleep and general busy-ness seen as badges of honor. Don't get me wrong. Work is good, but so is needed rest.

Cardiovascular risk in patients with sleep apnea with or without continuous positive airway pressure therapy: follow-up of 4.5 million Danish adults 6-9-2014

Conclusion

Sleep apnoea is associated with increased risks of ischaemic stroke and MI, in particularly in patients younger than 50 years of age. In unselected sleep apnoea patients in a real-life setting, CPAP therapy was not associated with a reduced rate of cardiovascular events. Further studies of the association between sleep apnoea and cardiovascular disease risk as well as of the clinical impact of CPAP are warranted.

wow... around the 19 minute mark - bacteria in your colon make B vitamins

When I was metabolically out of whack I was not a sound sleeper. I was easily stirred awake. I could and would stay up late. Going to bed at 1 or 2 AM was not uncommon. I welcomed sleeping in on weekends. I was groggy through a few cups of coffee every morning. A lopsided football game on TV was a welcome opportunity for my usual Saturday or Sunday afternoon nap. That was my life for over 20 years.

After going low carb as a lifestyle 4.5 years ago my sleep patterns changed a lot. I can't stay up late anymore. I sleep deeper at night. I wake up early - perky and ready for the day. Napping during the day is an impossibility. I can lay down and shut my eyes -- but I can no longer fall asleep during the daylight hours.

"They" say that we all need 8 hours of sleep per night. My fitness tracker logs deep sleep (little movement) vs. restless/light sleep. I find that the duration of the sleep does not matter as much as how much deep sleep I get. If I'm hot at night I usually don't sleep as well. If my "deep sleep" number is less than 4 hours I will usually feel a little sleepy at times through the following day. If I get 4 to 6 hours of deep sleep then I am good to go - even if my total sleep is just 7 (or so) hours.

The one thing that I think they miss in these sleep related studies is metabolic health as a driver of good or bad sleep and sleep habits. From what I've discovered about myself eating crappy food that breaks my metabolism leaves me deprived of good, quality sleep. I can't eat poorly and force myself to sleep well. Eating LCHF -- the way I need to eat -- along with daily activity fixes my metabolism, syncs me up with my circadian rhythm, resulting in a better nights sleep. I am now a morning person - which is something that I never thought that I'd be. I don't sleep great every night -- but I do most nights. For much of the past 4 years I've slept better than a baby.