14 Comments

Very important and my biggest remaining risk factor. Despite being in bed ~8 hours almost every night, my Apple Watch indicates 6.5-7 hours of sleep at the most. No alcohol at all and no caffeine after 9 am. A hard problem to solve.

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I have had similar results recorded also.

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Aug 31
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Good point ... Apple's algorithms are sometimes suspect, which I've noticed in the way it calculates VO2Max in certain circumstances.

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Aug 31
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The algorithm also doesn’t seem to take weather into account. In the dog days of summer, my runs are slower at my target heart rate and my VO2 max drops. In a few weeks, with fall coming, the algorithm with reward me with a higher number.

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I am concerned about Dr. Barrett's header: "Poor Sleep Might Eliminate The Benefits Of Exercise & Dementia." That suggests there are benefits to dementia. If so, what are they? Thank you.

James G. Tappan, M.D.

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This is was an interesting read. I have had extreme struggles for years with sleep due to my allergies. I am allergic to so many household allergens, I wash my sheets regularly and have an air purifier right next to my bed. I also take allergy medicine, yet wake up multiple times with sneeze attacks. I wonder what I can do because this worries me.

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If you think it might be dust mite allergy there are additional steps you can take which might help.

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I couldn't agree more 👍👍👍

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Thanks for this. It's impossible to disagree with this but I don't know how to fix my sleeping.

I don't smoke, don't drink, I eat enough fruit and vegetables.

I do 10,000 steps every day at least. Often bouncing over 20,000 a day.

I do other exercise in the form of bodyweight and kettlebell stuff.

But I very rarely get eight hours of sleep a night. I think I average out at about 6.5 hours a night. Sometimes I get periods where sleep is often disrupted and I sleep in two sessions.

What to do?

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Some people (rare) just need less sleep. If bothering you best to try CBT for insomnia or speak with a sleep physician.

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I couldn't t agree more. A must read!

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There was some interesting work on this from the Zoe research. Less sleep was linked to poorer food choices and also worse blood sugar control. The key problem was going to bed late/later, more than getting up early.

Summary and link to peer reviewed paper here: https://zoe.com/learn/sleep-blood-sugar-control

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This is a must read article Paddy, thank you.

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Very important article, an eye-opener! Thanks for sharing. ✅️

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