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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery Post Reply
48 messages over 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Sean Heiss
Newbie
United States
Joined 5364 days ago

6 posts - 6 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian, Icelandic, Irish

 
 Message 41 of 48
24 July 2009 at 11:23am | IP Logged 
J-Learner wrote:

Over stimulation with tv, lights, junk food, music, etc, just before bed really creates disturbances in ones sleep. Even reading, audio-books and other things can make the mind too active in the evening.

Well, then what do you suggest we do? Staring at the wall for an hour or 2 before I go to bed doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. :/

I have had a very long sleep latency for a long time, as long as I can remember. During the school year I lay in my bed, with everything turned off and my eyes closed at around 10 or 11pm (depends if anything is on TV at 10 that night :D ) and on a good day it'll only take 30-45 minutes to fall asleep, at worse 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Several times I've gone to bed at 10, and didn't fall asleep till around 1 or 1:30 in the morning. Lately, since it's summer and I can go to sleep and get up whenever I want, I've noticed that going to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning and waking up at 11 that it only takes me 5 to 10 minutes to fall asleep (although a few nights my brain just doesn't want to stop thinking about something/anything, and it took around 90 minutes to fall asleep) and I'm not tired during the day, whereas during the school year it I have to force my self to get up so I'm not late, and was always tired for the first half of the school day. Perhaps I am meant to be a night owl. It seems that way to me, since I can sleep the same length on summer time and be fine, but on school time I am always tired.

Although, in a week or two, I am going to try going to bed at 9 or 10 and waking up at 6 or 7 and see how that goes. I'd love to be able to wake up a couple hours before school (I normally wake up at 6:45am) to study my languages and do whatever else, so I hope it'll work! Unfortunately, I need many hours of sleep. :(

Also, while talking about sleep, for people that have pulled all-nighters, have you felt like your brain has seemed to slow down the following day? When I don't get any sleep, or just a couple hours (either I can't sleep or staying at a friend's house and playing games all night) I feel my reactions are waaaay slower than they normally are, almost like my brain has slowed down it's "processing", but everything else is going normal speed.

And yes, I am a horrible procrastinator. Fortunately, I remember most of what I learn, without taking notes, and pass most tests without ever studying. :)
But on the other hand, I hate doing homework and don't get very good grades. I'd rather be learning languages, or about history or science or programming. ><

Edited by Sean Heiss on 24 July 2009 at 11:38am

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krog
Diglot
Senior Member
Austria
Joined 5809 days ago

146 posts - 152 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Latin

 
 Message 42 of 48
24 July 2009 at 12:54pm | IP Logged 
Teenagers need more sleep anyway. There was an article somewhere recently about
teenagers having demonstrably more difficulty concentrating in the morning, and that
it would be better to start the school day later.

I think one thing that can help you if you have trouble sleeping is exercise e.g.
jogging.
1 person has voted this message useful



J-Learner
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5790 days ago

556 posts - 636 votes 
Studies: Yiddish, English*
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 43 of 48
24 July 2009 at 9:56pm | IP Logged 
Sean Heiss
For me, meditation and just sitting quietly in the hour before bed are the most beneficial things I can do. The benefits of a good pre-sleep routine can't be easily measured but are easily noticeable once developed.

A lot of people seem to think that meditation is some kind of new age fad with little application in the real world but it's simply not true. It's a systematic training of the mind in relaxation, focus and alertness and understanding of internal mind processes simultaneously.

I get off to sleep better (30 minutes vs 4 hours or so) and I have more time to do that reading/listening/studying/etc the following day.

If you're serious about getting good quality sleep, getting a little bit of balance in your life and developing a stronger more focused mind, then it's a very good road to take.

Remember, one of the best language learners in this whole forum (perhaps the world) has done this extensively from what I've heard (And suggests it as an essential part of the developing mind). Can't be all that bad hey? :p

Professor, I would like to hear(read) your thoughts on this in relations to sleep and study and I don't doubt that quite a few others would too.

Yehoshua Cohen.
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Katie
Diglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6478 days ago

495 posts - 599 votes 
Speaks: English*, Hungarian
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 44 of 48
25 July 2009 at 12:10am | IP Logged 
Cherepaha wrote:
Hi Sébastien,

My daughter goes to school this year that requires a commute of slightly over an hour, and she needs to be in class at 8am. She started the school year by getting up at 5:30am on the daily basis; while naturally continue to go to bed at about 11pm, as she used to do before. Very quickly her body was sleep deprived, and she shifted her go-to-bed time until it was comfortable for her. So, it's been established as 8:30pm since September now. (Note: she does not follow this schedule during the weekends, when she stays up for as long as she wants to, yet she seems to easily shift back into her week-day routine come Monday.)

Using this experience I wonder if it could be best to start getting up at a strict time using an alarm clock and allow your body to determine how much sleep it requires, i.e. if you start feeling tired all the time, start going to bed earlier by an hour and see if that fixes things.

Let us know how things progress.

Kind regards,
Varia


This is similar to what I do naturally. I have always been an early to rise person - the latest I've ever slept in is around 7.30am. And that has been from a number of unusually late nights in a row.

I have made a number of attempts to regulate my sleeping (& set a bed time) but it doesn't work for me. As a competitive gymnast in my childhood, it entirely depended on my trainings. It was not unusual for me to, on a night off, go to sleep around 7.30pm - but some nights it would be 10pm.

These days, I have a "no earlier than" time (unless I'm sick or some other circumstance that requires me to change it) of 9.30pm. If I'm tired, I will go to sleep at 9.30pm, if not, I'll stay up until usually no later than 12.30am (I'm always tired by then). But I always naturally wake up at around the same time. 6.45-7.00am in winter and 6.00am in other seasons.

PS - I always set my alarm for 7.15am unless sick - just on the off chance that I do sleep in. This is because if I don't, I wake up frequently, worrying that I'm sleeping late and will miss my appointments or work
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Katie
Diglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6478 days ago

495 posts - 599 votes 
Speaks: English*, Hungarian
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 45 of 48
25 July 2009 at 12:28am | IP Logged 
J-Learner wrote:

Over stimulation with tv, lights, junk food, music, etc, just before bed really creates disturbances in ones sleep. Even reading, audio-books and other things can make the mind too active in the evening.


Strangely enough, this isn't true for me. Okay, I haven't tried out the junk food thing, nor do I plan on that if I can help it! Albeit lighting (if I go to sleep with a light on, I'll usually wake up 30-60 minutes later), if I can't sleep for whatever reason, I will put on a DVD or my iPod and I can guarantee I won't hear more than 15-20 minutes of it before I'm out like a light!

But perhaps I'm a little strange. If I have trouble falling asleep, it's usually because I HAVEN'T had an evening coffee!
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J-Learner
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5790 days ago

556 posts - 636 votes 
Studies: Yiddish, English*
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 46 of 48
25 July 2009 at 12:29am | IP Logged 
lol Very well Katie :p

We all work in different ways.
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Rout
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5472 days ago

326 posts - 417 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Hindi

 
 Message 47 of 48
14 August 2009 at 1:17pm | IP Logged 
Interesting article about a new finding that enables people to function on less sleep. Maybe the professor has it? I certainly don't. o.o

AP Article
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krog
Diglot
Senior Member
Austria
Joined 5809 days ago

146 posts - 152 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Latin

 
 Message 48 of 48
14 August 2009 at 1:27pm | IP Logged 
Here's the Times version:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/artic le6795361.ece


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