Comments on: Too Much, Too Little Sleep Bad for You

By: tom p

tom p — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:09:15 +0000

ooooohhhh...yaaaaawwwwnnnnnn... jeez i'm tired.... why can I never get enuf sleep?

By: R. Alex

R. Alex — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:50:44 +0000

Did the study speak to how often someone smokes? I thought it focused on whether they do or don't smoke. It's certainly true that if you're up for 20 hours a day instead of 17 that you will likely smoke more cigarettes.

In any case, this is exceptionally obvious stuff.

On the other hand, I am a firm believer that there is a cause/effect relationship of sleep deprivation and obesity. I further think that much of it is metabolic rather than simply eating more because you're awake more.

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Wed, 07 May 2008 22:08:48 +0000

By raising more questions the authors of the study have clearly laid the groundwork for asking for more money to study this further.

I think we can all see a pattern emerging in modern research and funding. The less you answer the more funding you need.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:29:25 +0000

Sure. And drinking too much alcohol can disrupt one's sleep, too. The problem is that the opposite can be true, too: You're unable to sleep, so you drink alcohol to help you get drowsy. Or you're up and have more cigarettes than you would if you were asleep.

By: R. Alex

R. Alex — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:20:26 +0000

Such surveys can’t prove cause-effect relationships, so — for example — it’s not clear if smoking causes sleeplessness or if sleeplessness prompts smoking, said Charlotte Schoenborn, the study’s lead author. Is this a joke? Any chemist, doctor, or smoker will tell you what late-night cigarettes can do to one's ability to sleep. It's possible that there is some causality that runs in the opposite direction (exhausted people less capable of resisting temptation) and that they are both caused by a third source, but one component (I'd say the most significant component) is very well known.