Normally I sleep pretty well, but last night was not normal. I went to bed at around my usual time, but kept waking up after dreams, which is uncommon - both to wake up, and dream. I don't dream as much as I used to before the stroke, but lately I have noticed there is somewhat of an increase. Not sure what that means - likely nothing.
I have an Oura Ring, which has been pretty good at giving insight into a number of areas, including my sleep patterns. I actually had to get a new one though, after mine stopped working properly with the batter going from about 6 days of life, down to 2, and then shutting off randomly despite still having charge. They replaced it and it came in a couple days. I got the replacement Tuesday and all is well again.
As you can see, not a great night's sleep.
I normally get between 5-7 hours sleep a night, with five being a little bit too little, and seven being a great amount. If the sleep quality is good, anywhere over five is enough. I have always been a night owl, but I haven't been a good sleeper since I was in my mid-teens and got ill. However, since I started writing and clearing out my head before bed into posts and articles, I have generally slept pretty well, falling asleep fast and deeply. It is actually possible that the reason I didn't sleep well last night was because I didn't write late, like I normally do, and I have written less in the last few days with so much Christmas activity ongoing.
Not enough thought spent, too much thought left.
People who have trouble sleeping, should probably spend more time thinking. I reckon that for many these days, it is a problem as we consume a lot, but think very little, with the majority of our thought being pretty easy thinking. More mental challenge and the brain burns extra energy, and clears itself out to the point that it requires sleep to function again. Not enough thought and the brain doesn't require as much sleep, yet people are in the habit of getting a lot of sleep, despite not actually burning the different energy types required to need it. Oversleep is just as bad as undersleep.
Too little sleep and we feel tired, but too much sleep leaves us lethargic also. There is a sweet spot in there somewhere so that we have enough energy to perform what we need to do daily, but not too much that we can't spend it in a day. We shouldn't be going to bed full of energy and if we are, we are not active enough. I think it is similar to our dietary habits,, where if we are eating more than we burn, we are going to put on weight. If we aren't burning enough of our mental energy, the weight we put on might not be physical, but it will slow us down just the same. Less capable, less willing, less structured.
Can we think too much?
No. But we can spend too much time thinking about the wrong things that don't help us face the challenges of or life. It isn't only thoughts of trivial content that doesn't help, it is also thinking about circumstances that we can't affect, that are out of our control, that are minor, but we are making mountains from them. The thoughts that can end up being compulsive to the point they are a problem in our daily lives, but seem all so important.
Stop thinking?
No. Instead, we should be working out what are the right things for us to be thinking about, rather than spending our energy on useless thoughts that make us tired, but don't lead to anything positive in our lives. Or are thoughts just to take up space, to take away boredom, to burn opportunity.
We can only think one thing at a time.
Multitasking is bullshit.Yes, we can do a couple tasks simultaneously, but not two things that require simultaneous conscious thought. It is easy to test. Try to work out two very simple maths problems simultaneously. 126/7 and 3.5x40. Not one after the other - at the same time.
So what we think in our conscious awareness is burning the only thought we can have at that moment. When we fill our thoughts with useless junk, it means that for that time, we have lost the potential to do anything useful with our thoughts. When we fill our thoughts with harmful content, it means that during those moments, we are doing ourselves harm. There is an opportunity cost to thought, and every thought we have is costing us every other possible thought we could have at that time.
We should spend our thinking wisely.
But what is wise thinking? For each of us it might be different, but I would assume that all of us have at least some areas of our life that we want to improve. So perhaps it would be wise to spend our thinking energy on how to improve those areas that we want to improve, rather than thinking about whatever entertains our mind. Perhaps if we stopped entertaining our mind and instead used it to solve the problems we face, we would be able to have more time to spend on the things that matter - and what matters might not be what we think matters today.
But what do I know?
I am just a guy who has had less than four hours of broken sleep.
Taraz
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My problem is my "best" thinking happens during those times in the middle of the night when I suddenly wake up, so then it is like pulling a thread that just keeps me awake non-stop! I recently got a Garmin watch that tracks my sleep and heart rate (I mostly bought it for the heart rate). It has been interesting seeing the data it provides each morning.
This is why I go to sleep late and write late. I am far better in the later evening.
Has it influenced your behaviours in any way?
No, not yet. I mean I also have a CPAP machine that I have to wear, so that makes things kind of interesting. I get a lot of metrics from that as well, but on different things.
Yeah, I have a CPAP too. A ResMed one. It gives some data, but not the same.
Yes, that is the same brand I have. Like you said, different data.
I feel for you completely. Sleep is somethig that is always a struggle for me as well. The neiro docs says this contributes significantly to some of my cognitive challenges at times, specifically the brain fog. Is it the same for you?
Yes it is the same for me. However, I think the bigger issue for the brain fog is a lack of use and depression. I think they often go hand in hand. . The writing helps enormously.
It helps me a great deal as well, but I see a point of diminishing returns too where things become sloppy and non-sensical.
I am thinking about buying 1 or 2 plots of Land in 2026. Do you have any idea how much DEC could I realistically expect to get weekly from two plots? I am thinking about buying plots with grain. Also how many cards would I need for 1 or 2 plots? Is there a limit how many cards can work in a plot?
Oh, I have no idea about land stuff at all. Best ask @azircon or I think that @beaker007 has a tool.
to experiment with land and planning on what it cost and what it can potential earn you can use this direct link.
https://land.spl-stats.com/planning
thank you.
It’s variable. Just like any real estate it depends on location and what you are buying.
Cheapest common plot producing grain is the most basic. You can get them for $15. Then you need 5 cards and 50K DEC and a powercore.
Based on the cards you can get 70dec/hr to 3000dec/hr; you do the math.
https://land.spl-stats.com/
This website can help you prepare and optimize.
thank you.
Interesting that you have discovered writing as a way to relax and get ready for sleep. Perhaps, the holiday madness threw off your schedule more than you thought.
Yeah it definitely did. I think the biggest issue with the holidays was not being able to write enough. Weird, considering I should have "more time" during a holiday :)
I have been going though a phase some unwanted thoughts keep striking my mind now and then...it was something personal related with broken trust and promise. But i never let them to disturb my sleep....i take a good tight sleep at night.....in beginning the thought came back to haunt early thing in the morning...but i slowly coped with them by distracting myself with other stuff...now after reading this, it came back for a while but writing this comment help in letting it go.
t let things go - especially when it comes to broken trust. Remember that what we are trusting is our own opinion, so when it is broken, it is our illusion that shatters.
Saying is easy but practically it takes time...the people for whom you did so many things without expecting anything and then they betraying you in tough times is hard to digest...but this is life, not meant for simple mand...and I cant end up cunning ,shrude or selfish....let it be...this is how inised to console myself.
I like to remember my dreams (usually fragments) and then reflect on the dream world. If I don't get enough sleep at night, I absolutely need to take an hour and a half nap during the day, otherwise I can't think clearly. Now that the kids are on vacation, I sleep for nine hours, from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m.
I know a guy who sleeps 2 hours in total a day, in 30 minute shifts. He seems to do fine in life. :)
Napoleon slept four hours a day, two times a day for two hours. Up until a certain point, everything in his life was fine :)
He achieved more than most of us in this world, with far less information than we have today :)
He also achieved more than the vast majority of his contemporaries. Life is such that only a few reach such heights through their own efforts.
Sleep is very important for a human being. I have noticed that when I sleep less, my mood becomes irritable during the day and my eyes burn during the day. Moreover, if I sleep less for a few days, I feel restless. Although I always try to get enough sleep and I think that at least six hours of sleep is the most beneficial for a human being. So I try to sleep at least six hours every day, although there are exceptions sometimes.
I think this is because the brain hasn't had a chance to clean itself well enough. Supposedly and as I predicted when I was a kid, the main purpose of sleep is to clean brain cells :)
I cant remember the last time i slept throughout the night and woke up in the morning, my sleep habit is terrible, i always wake up in the middle of the night and i believe its the years of reading at night in the university that caused this, whether this affects my productivity during the day, i honestly dont know.
Depends on you. But if we don't have enough sleep, it is not great for our thoughts.
On consuming vs thinking
The point about consuming a lot but thinking very little is powerful. We scroll, watch, listen all day, but rarely challenge our minds in a meaningful way. Then we wonder why we feel foggy or unfulfilled. It makes sense that the brain needs real work, not just noise, to feel “done” for the day.
We also wonder why we don't have the kind of life we want.
I like the idea that every thought has an opportunity cost. That’s something we don’t usually consider. If my mind is busy replaying small worries or things I can’t control, I’m actively choosing not to think about growth, solutions, or creativity. That reframing alone feels like a mental wake-up call.
I usually get 8 to 10 hours a night of sleep, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and my mind starts to wander and I cannot get back to sleep as I cannot shut down the mind and often it is those non-important things in the grand scheme of things...
It's been a few years full of stress for me and the result is early wakes and a lot of dreams which I never used to do...
I have read that dreaming a lot means your mind is "in alert" for something, like if you are worried for something, have anxiety etc...
Or being allowed to sleep at whatever is the correct time for them not whatever time society deems is the correct time for everyone no exceptions (and if it doesn't work for you the only option is you're not trying hard enough).
I am currently still trying to "fix" my sleep schedule XD (which is to say I'm trying to make myself sleep by 10:30-11 when I really want to sleep by 1-2am, I did actually manage bed by 10pm and sleep not long after last night coz I was exhausted but how I came by that exhaustion was probably not healthy)
Can you not backburn? I used to be able to multitask things that were closely related enough but I can't seem to do that anymore. I could relegate some things to the backburner and subconsciously work on them while consciously doing something else and eventually a solution to the subconscious problem would present itself (either useful as is or developed enough but needed to come forward for refining).
I'll have to see if I have gotten worse at that though (sometimes the backburned thoughts kind of force their way up to consciousness which means I just kind of stop whatever I was consciously doing which is annoying) or whether it's just because I've been operating extremely suboptimally for a while and my useless excuse for a brain has decided it's just straight up done.
I can't remember when you got the ring, is it old enough for those types of problems to start happening to it? I'm guessing there was something unusual going on if you got sent a replacement though.
Hope you've been able to get more sleep :)
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Here is a very intelligent ancient philosopher: [Literature] Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Sun-Clear Statement #2/41
I think, perhaps, that it is less what we think and more how we think?
Totally agree with you on getting those thoughts "processed" and filed away or discarded (although I'd like a gazillion terrabyte SD in my head so that I can keep it ALL to refer to!).
I find movement (conscious dance, for example) that is meditative and reflective really sorts it all out - without me having to do much thunking. (Typo intended)
It's kinda like sleeping but you drain the muscles etc of the tension associated with the thoughts as well. It "loosens" the mind and the thoughts by rote. See?
More - the thoughts become a "free-flow" live stream of what the brain needs to address to feel at ease. With less stress and trauma addressing the deeper stuff.
EMDR does this. Conscious / dance with self-awareness of how the body is feeling and reacting to musical prompts does the same thing.
p.s. it works for kids too!
Worth a try if you're struggling through a stage of a something.
At the very least, it helps with mood and happy factor :)
Thanks