Someone sourced a couple higher in the comments. Their info showed 2% of the populous doing what “literally everyone” is doing. The other stat they included was 80% of the populous had never used a sleep aid in their life. So the talk of it being hyperbole is even a stretch.
Saying literally everyone in the U.S. is a cigarette smoker would be more accurate. (Not accurate)
It is hyperbole, but the problem is that it’s using a word that was supposed to specify that something was not hyperbole as hyperbole, rendering it useless.
Incorrect. People have been using it the way you are complaining about for hundreds of years. It’s a new phenomenon that people complain about it being used the way you disapprove of. I’d attribute the recent complaints to lack of literary exposure and anti intellectualism in recent years.
Except some of the earliest uses of the word “literally” that didn’t pertain to letters and glyps we in the form of hyperbole.
Literal as factual and literal as exaggeration both about the same age and precedent, and have been used long enough that it’s just part of the English language at this point.
May as well complain about how “discreet” and “indiscreet” are opposites, but “flammable” and “inflammable” are the same.
I think because it’s a pretty gross mischaracterization of the demographic? Usually hyperbole is used for effect to more emphatically illustrate a generally true or accepted point.
The number of Americans who use nightly sleep aids is extremely low. Like, a vast vast majority of people never take them. I don’t know anyone who regularly takes them, and honestly I don’t know many who take them even occasionally.
So this meme uses hyperbole to drive home the idea that Americans have a pill problem regarding sleep aids and no one in Europe does. I have no idea how the numbers shake out in Europe but I can say in America it is not as characterized. So it’s less hyperbole (exaggeration of a fact) and more like a lie.
2% of americans declare using sleeping aids daily.
18% declare using some some
So yeah the amount of people “litteraly using medication to sleep every night” ia quite low. The use amongst the population is still generally high so I wouldn’t directly classify that hyperbole as a lie. (but I’m not claiming I’m right on that it’s a feelings calculation).
I’m also pretty sure these numbers are underreported for example because of the stigma around using “recreational drugs” as an illegal mean to self medicate.
Also it’s nice for you to have nobody (that you know of ofc) struggling to sleep.
Where I’d personally feel more nitpicky about that meme is the opposition with Europe. I don’t think we sleep much better. A lot of people around me (and myself included) heavily rely on sedation in one form or another to have any semblance of sleep. Although there might be some selection bias since alot of folks I know are handicaped in one way or another so we don’t tend to have the best physical and psychic health ^^’
Appreciate you finding numbers when I didn’t go to that effort. It makes me wonder if numbers are pretty similar globally. 2% having chronic insomnia doesn’t sound completely out of line to me.
Yeah but there has to be some reality to it, sleep for a year makes sense because you’re saying ‘I’m super tired and I could sleep for a real long time’ all of which is true, this is saying ‘a majority of people in place A do this thing that is unknown in place B’ which isn’t even close to an approximation of reality.
Agreed. Don’t need any meds to get me through my day. Man I can’t imagine having to stretch my already tight budget even further for a regular perscription.
What are you supposed to do? The noise and distractions are constant. Besides the only time I can get any household work done is after the kids go to bed.
People really underestimate the amount of time kids take. You may think you know, but it’s a whole other thing to live it. Wake up to kids, get kids situated for the day, work, get the kids, feed the kids, play with the kids and take them to activities, bathe the kids, put the kids to sleep. Any time for anything for you/your spouse/the house happens after they’re asleep. Sure, you can take them to the store but that causes headache. Sure, you can do housework with them around but if you’re home alone with them they’re more likely to be actively undoing anything you just did the next room over than to anything else.
Kids are a lot of fun, but they’re also a lot of work.
No caffeine or stimulants after noon. A considerable percentage shouldn’t have it after 10 am frankly.
Try this: 1 week of no caffeine and no chocolate At least 20 minutes of exercise - can be split upper day Finish eating dinner and snacks by 7pm No gaming or stimulating entertainment 30-60 minutes before bed. Manage noise, light and other triggers.
Smart watches or similar are good for watching your sleep quality.
Because it puts some responsibility back on the individual and makes it harder for people to blame “modern society” or capitalism or something for their problems.
I imagine because it’s trite and largely debunked pseudoscience from that weirdly Puritanical natural health ideology.
Some people can’t regulate insulin, some people can’t digest lactose, some people have neurological structures that inhibit motivation, some people have gastric complexities that cause pain and discomfort with bowel movements, some people are prone to migraines… And yes some people have genuine conditions that affect their sleep which requires medical intervention.
The childish notion that medication is bad and people who use it simply aren’t taking responsibility for their lives is not only stupid it’s hurtful and dangerous.
Stop trying to bully people out of getting the help they need just because you personally don’t need it.
I don’t think the comment to which I replied denied that some people have medical problems preventing sound sleep. As a matter of fact, I am someone who deals with chronic insomnia, and wouldn’t tell someone suffering therefrom it’s in their head.
Nor does the comment I replied to suggest people shouldn’t take their medications for various physiological or psychological ailments. It seems to just be a post of common sense tips to the average person without complicating medical conditions and for whom these tips would make some difference.
Not everything failing to explicitly carve out exceptions for every single minority case is an attack on them!
This whole meme is suggesting that sleep aids are a terrible curse on modern life and a lot of posters are agreeing and blaming people taking them - seriously go and look at how many comments say that people don’t sleep because they’re not willing to do work or take responsibility for their health.
I’m not even sightly exaggerating when I say that this kind of ‘don’t get your mental health condition treated because medicine is for losers’ mentally totally ruined a huge chunk of my life. ‘it just turns you into a zombie’, ‘you just need to learn to cope without it’, "exercise and diet are real medicine’ it might sound like happy well meaning advice ‘they’re over medicating to make money and hurting people’ might have some truth to it even, the problem is it builds a culture where people avoid seeking help for conditions that could be helped and this can have hugely detrimental effects on people.
Oh, I think I see what’s going on here. I think you’re answering me as though I’m talking about the actual post. But I’m talking specifically about the comment to which my initial comment is a reply. I think we’re talking about two different things!
I wouldn’t argue that you’re wrong that discouraging people from seeking medical attention or treatment is dangerous to their health! I do think medication is overprescribed in America, but I don’t think that it’s a blanket statement that should be used to discourage seeking medical care.
We are addicted to coffee. But not good coffee. Shitty Starbucks or Peet’s coffee. Only a few of us truly live and drink small shop ethically sourced but we know that’s for rich folks!
A simple cup of filter coffee is easy enough to make at home with cheap equipment, sure, but espresso/milk drinks are a different story, and some people prefer milk drinks to filter coffee. A decent home espresso machine that can also steam milk is gonna run you around $150 at the low end. Some people don’t have that much laying around at once, but can afford the $3 cappuccino a couple times a week.
A venti drink is like 20oz, is probably at least 3 shots of espresso, and is not comparable to the drinks I’m talking about.
You can get a short cappuccino (8oz) from Starbucks for around $3. This is comparable to most cafe prices for a reasonably sized, single-shot milk drink.
Depends on whether you consider a Flair a “machine” I guess… But yeah, I would agree you’re probably better off with a moka pot than most $150 or less espresso machines. For $150 budget to make strong coffee with milk type drinks, I’d recommend most folks get a moka pot and milk frother.
Thats just poor personal finance then. Paying 3$ a couple times a week, so let’s say 4 times, runs you up at 12$ a week. So within 13 weeks you’d have the money to buy a machine.
Exactly, thank you. It takes so long just to break even with even the cheapest home espresso equipment, plus you then have to learn to use and maintain said equipment - for some people, the convenience of having a barista fix you a better cup of coffee than you could make yourself at home is worth the $3.
I use a moka pot at home with milk and sugar. It’s like half way to espresso for much cheaper. When I’m feeling fancy I have a cheap milk frother too. It isn’t as good as a real espresso drink, but I get those occasionally as a treat.
I have what Misty would consider to be an honest profession. But I get yelled at externally and internally all day every day for the most infinitely small matters all day every day. Even with a clear conscious, that hard day’s work messes with my sleep.
I’m reassessing my life this fall. I’m pretty old, so new marketable skills aren’t really an option. Not sure what the next step is.
(It’s not where I work or who I work for. It’s the industry in and of itself. When you’ve got direct influence over other people’s personal finances, the darkest sides of humanity consistently emerge)
Dawg I haven’t been sleeping my whole life. Like I’m only 20 and I can’t remember the last time I laid in bed and just fell asleep easily. It’s always tossing and turning since I was probably around 9
yeah, I feel this. I’ve always tossed and turned, but I’d still fall asleep quickly, sleep most of the night, and wake up refreshed. Now I’m medicated which is super helpful in day-to-day life, but it comes with insomnia. I’m not sure how much is the meds and how much is just having kids and getting older, but it feels like I just can’t win.
I can usually only sleep for about 5 hours a night and have a very brief window of opportunity to get to bed, usually between 10-12. If I miss it, I’m up all night, tossing & turning. If I go to bed earlier than that somehow, I wake up at 2 in the morning and can’t get back to bed. We value sleep alot, but I wonder how it is in the animal kingdom, do they really get alot of sleep, or are they on edge all the time?
Just looked it up, other primates are listed as getting 9–15 hours of sleep a day, we are so fucked up.
Prior to electricity and the industrial revolution, most people in Western cultures slept in two 3-4 hour shifts, separated by about an hour of being awake, every night. They would go to bed at 8 or 9, wake up at midnight for an hour or so, then go back to bed for another few hours.
With the invention of electricity and lighting, people pushed back the time that they would go to bed, and when the industrial revolution happened, there was an emphasis on productivity and not spending much time in bed.
Also, they have done studies on the sleeping habits of modern indigenous tribes that live without electricity. The studies found that these people sleep an average of around 6 hours a night, and don’t have problems with sleep disorders like the modern western world does. So it seems like electricity and screen time definitely play a role in sleep quality.
I have similar sleeping habits to you, and went down the rabbit hole of looking into our ancestors sleeping habits. Let’s bring second bedtime back.
With all due respect, maybe chill a little bit on plugging the same podcast 5 different times in the same thread. I thought you were a bot until I double checked your account.
Sorry. I spent 45 years of my life with ever increasing insomnia. During the worst year, I never slept more than four hours a night and would have several nights per week when I didn’t sleep at all. I tried all the suggestions, even talking to a doctor and getting a prescription for sleeping pills, which didn’t work.
Since finding the podcast, I’ve had maybe five nights in eight years where I didn’t fall asleep within 15 minutes of playing it.
When I first started using it, I would play one episode when I was ready to go to sleep, but then I’d wake up when it ended. So, I started loading a playlist with all the episodes and playing non-stop, but then my alarm wouldn’t wake me up in the morning (it would go off, then I’d hit snooze and the podcast would knock me out again). Finally I set on a routine in which I set it to play all night with a sleep timer to stop it a few minutes before my alarm.
Perhaps I come on too strong, but I was reaching the end of my rope when I found this. Like I said, it doesn’t work for everyone, but on the off chance there’s someone else like me who could be helped by this ridiculous thing, I can’t help pushing it ever chance I get.
Edit: Also, I don’t get anything out of the podcast except sleep. In fact, I pay to support it via patreon. It’s completely free for anyone who wants to try it. I just want to make sure the people who need it can find it.
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