what kind of animal does your sleep say you are?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

A thread to talk about ....S L E E P
-how much do you feel you need? What are your favorite times to sleep?
-we don't want to go to bed and then we don't want to get up, why?

An interesting site I foundfor information about sleep: http://www.howsleepworks.com/index.html

Take this chronotype test to see what kind of animal you are.
http://thepowerofwhenquiz.com

A helpful hint on how foods can affect you:

[+] SPOILER

Make sure your evening meal is not too light and not too heavy, and a good two or three hours before bedtime. High protein foods, and foods containing tyramine (e.g. bacon, ham, pepperoni, eggplant, raspberries, avocado, nuts, soy sauce, red wine), might keep you awake at night, and may be better options for lunchtime. Foods containing tryptophan (e.g. bananas, dates, nut butters, tuna, turkey, yoghurt, milk) and carbohydrates like bread or cereal, on the other hand, may help encourage drowsiness and sleep. As with everything else, a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains will help in the long term.

So, if bread and cereals and banana's can "encourage drowsiness - then why do we eat them for breakfast?

How long do animals need to sleep? check out this link:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animal ... mals-sleep

did you know sea otters sometimes hold hands while they sleep so that they don't drift away?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

savings for stuff later on

[Lemon Cheesecake]

SLEEP CALCULATOR: how much sleep should you get? how much sleep DO you get?

Try these sleep calculator sites and see if their recommendations make any difference and let us know how the experiment went'

http://sleepcalculator.com/

https://sleep-calculator.com/

http://sleepyti.me/

"The average human takes fourteen minutes to fall asleep
Waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle leaves you feeling tired and groggy, but waking up in between cycles wakes you up feeling refreshed and alert!"

[Watery Star]

Fibromyalgia messes with my sleep. It can take me 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep. 7-8 hours sleep normally doesn't feel like enough. But then I never feel well rested anymore. I usually sleep 10-12 hours, which is ridiculous, I know.

My boyfriend on the other hand sleeps 5 hours most nights. He's in his 30's now, how can he still do that?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

so, I have been trying to make this 90 minute sleep cycle thing but I keep messing up and waking up off the cycle in the morning (and feeling groggy btw) but during the night I have been waking up hourly or sometimes after 90 minutes and I do wake up more reefreshed but it is too early to get up. Part of my problem is that it takes me awhile sometimes to get to sleep too and if I check the sleep calculator and it tells me a set time to be in bed by if I want to get up at - say 8 am- and then I am stressing if I don't go to sleep by then that I have to wait like another hour.

So yeah, I am still trying to figure it out but it seems like there is some sense to the sleep calculator- I just haven't gotten it worked out yet.

I heard something about an app for your phone that monitors you while you sleep. That will be my next thing to try I guess. Anybody have any good tactics for making sure you get a good nights sleep?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Take this quiz to find out what kind of animal you are: -< I'm a bear!!!> but I think it depends on how you answer the questions and some I didn't feel applied to me. Se what yours says!

http://thepowerofwhenquiz.com

[+] SPOILER

BEAR

Four Key Personality Traits: Cautiousness, extroversion, friendly and easy to talk to, open-minded
Four Key Behaviors: Avoiding conflict, aspiring to be healthy, prioritizing happiness, taking comfort in the familiar
Sleep/Alertness Pattern: Bears wake up in a daze after hitting the snooze button once or twice, start to feel tired by mid- to late evening, and sleep deeply but not as long as they’d like. Most alert: mid-morning into early afternoon. Most productive: late morning. Naps: Bears catch extra hours on the weekends, on the couch.
When bears in nature are not hibernating, they are diurnal—active in the day and restful at night. Grazers, they forage for food continually and will eat regardless of when they had their last salmon. They are playful and affectionate within the family unit, and form close friendships within their larger society.

Human Bears’ sleep/wake patterns match up with the solar cycle, which is fortunate for them. With their high sleep drives, Bears would prefer to sleep for at least eight hours per night, if not longer. It takes them a couple of hours to feel fully awake in the morning. They are often hungry upon waking, and may be hungry all the time. If food is available, they’ll probably eat it, even if it’s not a meal or snack time. Their diet isn’t particularly good or bad; they may or may not be dedicated exercisers. Bears self-report their general health as fair. If they make an effort with diet and exercise, they do so sporadically, with mixed results. Bears’ BMI tends to be average to high.

In the professional realm, Bears are team players, balanced thinkers, worker bees, and middle managers with good people skills. Affable Type B personalities, Bears don’t do drama often. They’re not likely to scheme to get a colleague’s job or to blame others for their mistakes. In school, they were solid students, and the same can-do attitude applies on the job. They aspire to do decent work and then go home and put their feet up. Risk-averse, Bears are unlikely to put themselves out on a limb professionally or personally, unless they think they are a shoe-in or something happens organically.

Bears like to be around other people and grow restless and bored if they’re alone for too long. At a party, the gregarious guy manning the bar or flipping burgers at the barbecue is probably a Bear. In their personal relationships, Bears can be easygoing to a fault. They tend to rate low in both emotional repair (the ability to “fix” problems) and clarity (understanding what’s really going on). This can be frustrating for their partners, especially insightful Wolves and anxious Dolphins.

Bears don’t have high highs and low lows. If they do get knocked off their even keel emotionally, it’s a direct reaction to a real-life crisis. When the issue passes, so will their anxiety or depression. Their overall life satisfaction is good.

Wonder if you fit into other categories? Below you will find a brief description for each of the main chronotypes...

DOLPHIN — Real dolphins sleep with only half of their brain at a time (which is why they’re called unihemispheric sleepers). The other half is awake and alert, concentrated on swimming and looking for predators. This name fits insomniacs well: intelligent, neurotic light sleepers with a low sleep drive.

LION — Real lions are morning hunters at the top of the food chain. This name fits morning-oriented driven optimists with a medium sleep drive.

WOLF — Real wolves are nocturnal hunters. This name fits night-oriented creative extroverts with a medium sleep drive.

If you don't recognize yourself in the short descriptions above, perhaps you recognize one of your parents.

Remember, your chronotype is genetic – determined specifically by the PER3 gene.

If you have a long PER3 gene, you need at least seven hours of deep sleep to function, and tend to be an early riser. If you have a short PER3, you can get by on light or little sleep, and you tend to be a late riser. It's likely that at least one of your parents had the same chronotype as you.

Why so many types?

Why is there variation at all? Since the dawn of man, a range of chronotypes has been necessary for species survival. Each chronotype had its purpose and contributed to the larger group's security.

Bio-time had to be diverse for the larger group to stay safe over the long night. Although we don't stand watch over the cave opening anymore, our genetic structure hasn't changed all that much since prehistoric times, and neither have the following ratios:

Dolphins account for 10 percent of the population. Light sleepers, they rouse at the smallest noise to wake and warn the group of danger.
Lions account for 15 to 20 percent. They rise early, taking the morning shift of guarding the group and watching out for roving predators.
Bears account for 50 percent. Their cycles matching the rise and fall of the sun; they hunt and gather in daylight.
Wolves account for 15 to 20 percent. They take the late shift to guard the group, drifting off when the most extreme Lions start to stir.

[Mousy]

There was a free app a few years ago for sleep and I loved it!! You put it on your mattress and it measures how much you toss and turn and could tell when you entered your deep rem sleep based on your movements and stuff. One time, my husband (boyfriend at the time) was so exhausted that he just didn't move all night. When he woke up, the app told him to go get emergency help. I guess it thought he was dead or something. Nope. He was just dead tired. Haha! I never downloaded it back after I got a bed that doesn't transfer movement. I didn't think it would work as well. :/ I do use my sleep tracker and calculator on my iphone though. it's in the alarm clock section now.


Also, I am a Dolphin and this was a little too accurate. ouch. Haha!

[+] SPOILER

So.... What does this mean?

Real dolphins sleep with only half of their brain at a time (which is why they’re called unihemispheric sleepers). The other half is awake and alert, concentrated on swimming and looking for predators. This name fits insomniacs well.

DOLPHIN

Four Key Personality Traits: Cautiousness, introversion, neuroticism, intelligence
Four Key Behaviors: Avoiding risky situations, striving for perfection, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, fixating on details
Sleep/Alertness Pattern: Dolphins usually wake up feeling unrefreshed and are tired until late in the evening, when they suddenly hit their stride. Most alert: late at night. Most productive: in spurts throughout the day. Naps: They try to nap to catch up on sleep but can’t quite make it happen.
Dolphins in nature are unihemispheric sleepers. One half of the brain shuts down while the other half stays alert to prevent drowning and being eaten by predators. Their feeding pattern is flexible, and their metabolism is rapid.

The human equivalent is a light sleeper, easily roused by slight sounds and disturbances. Dolphins have a low sleep drive, and struggle with waking up multiple times over a long night. Being a light sleeper and having a low sleep drive can cause anxiety-related insomnia[JB3] . As they lie awake at night, Dolphins can ruminate about mistakes they’ve made and things they’ve said, how they would redo their mistakes and misstatements if they could, what they can expect to deal with in the future, and how they’ll accomplish anything on so little rest. When Dolphins do sleep, they skim the surface and often claim that they don’t know whether or not they actually slept at all.

Out of bed, Dolphins are generally anxious as well. They tend to have Type A personalities—nervous, irritable, and worried—and are highly intelligent. Their attention to detail and perfectionism are ideally suited for precision work—copy-editing, coding, engineering, chemistry, composing or performing music. Their obsessiveness and perfectionism do not equip them for teamwork. They are happiest (or least irritable) when left alone to work by themselves and do what they need to do. They often get mired in the details—to the point where they become paralyzed and get little done.

Dolphins tend to be less guarded in their relationships, and they tend to demonstrate exceptional emotional attention (listening and being present), repair (the ability to fix problems), and clarity (understanding what’s really going on). Confrontation-averse, Dolphins don’t enjoy arguing, but at times they are so sleep-deprived that they may have marital conflict anyway. Lingering emotional tension is even more troubling than arguing and is to be avoided at all costs. In my clinical observation, Dolphins might not be the easiest people for Bears and Lions to live with, but they make attentive, caring, dedicated partners. I’ve noticed that Dolphins and Wolves seem to make a good combination.

Regarding their health, Dolphins are usually eat-to-live types with a naturally fast metabolism. Some are obsessive exercisers, but most Dolphins don’t really care about fitness and don’t need to exercise in order to lose weight, since their body mass index (BMI) tends to be low to average. Although Dolphins will try any over-the-counter or prescription medication for their insomnia or hypochondria, they can be obsessively careful about what they eat, drink, and purchase. They rate themselves low in overall life satisfaction. At the same time, being vocal about their dissatisfaction mitigates that.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Mousy: I think sleepcalculator.com you can download an app to monitor your sleep like that? I haven't done that yet, maybe it was like sleep bot or something? Anyone know for sure what its called?

the sleepcalculator does help you to determine when to go to bed for maximizing your sleep cycles

[Watery Star]

I'm a dolphin too. It fits me except for the Type A perfectionist part.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

the funny thing is that if I am really a bear then it tells me I don't do well with dolphins and wolves - but that is what most of the people I know seem to be!

[Watery Star]

You're special! ^.^

[Lemon Cheesecake]

and you are sweet, Watery !