Talks to Watch

Personal Growth Series: Dr. William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Perfo...

62K views · Sep 24, 2008 · 59:57 · 6 HN recommenders · 12 mentions · discussed 2008–2024

A Google Tech Talk by sleep researcher Dr. William Dement on healthy sleep and performance. He argues sleep debt must be repaid and describes the three characteristics of healthy sleep.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN has recommended it for years as the most useful and entertaining talk on sleep, often to people struggling with tiredness or productivity.

“The source of information about this that I have found most useful is an hour long talk given by Dr. William Dement”HN comment, 2022

What Hacker News said 12

Strongly recommendsDeadsunriseNov 2008

“I'm going to bed at 11 and waking at 7 with excelent results.”

Talk on healthy sleep that changed commenter's sleep habits.

Full comment

I don't have any sleep disorder and never really paid much attention to the duration of my sleep or the time to go to bed. After watching this video this video ( Dr. William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Perfomance ) I'm going to bed at 11 and waking at 7 with excelent results.

in “Prolonged Partial Sleep Deprivation for a Job (The worst year of my life [so far])” · view on HN
Strongly recommendssmartbitApr 2019

“My favorite talk on Sleep by William Dement”

Entertaining talk on sleep.

Full comment

My favorite talk on Sleep by William Dement this video September 23, 2008 Google Tech Talk Very entertaining.

in “Sleep quality and stress level matter more than languages or practices” · view on HN
Strongly recommendsm0lluskJul 2022

“The source of information about this that I have found most useful is an hour long talk given by Dr. William Dement”

Hour-long talk, most useful source on sleep found.

Full comment

The source of information about this that I have found most useful is an hour long talk given by Dr. William Dement at Google Tech Talks called Healthy Sleep and Optimal Performance: this video

RecommendsbdJan 2009

“I remember awesome Google Tech Talk about sleep that mentioned sleep debt requiring full repayment.”

Sleep debt requires full repayment.

Full comment

I remember awesome Google Tech Talk about sleep that mentioned sleep debt requiring full repayment. Dr. William Dement on "Healthy Sleep and Optimal Perfomance" this video It was linked from an older HN sleep thread: link

in “Lack of sleep 'raises cold risk'” · view on HN
RecommendsseanbJul 2010

“Getting enough sleep? Definitely worth a watch”

Sleep talk relevant to productivity.

Full comment

Getting enough sleep? Definitely worth a watch: this video Personally, I found that taking a full-time programming job destroyed my out-of-office motivation and productivity. It might be worth trying a job in a new industry for a while, or working out some sort of part-time agreement with your employer -- you might find your brain itching to code and produce something after work hours.

in “Ask HN: Please, help me understand what I am doing wrong.” · view on HN
RecommendssgplApr 2013

“There is a very informative talk on youtube [1] by Dr. William Dement, often referred to as the father of sleep study.”

Talk by the father of sleep study.

Full comment

There is a very informative talk on youtube [1] by Dr. William Dement, often referred to as the father of sleep study. He founded the Sleep Research Center @ Stanford University. [1] this video

in “How much sleep do we really need to work productively?” · view on HN
Recommendsm0lluskJan 2019

“Google Tech Talks Personal Growth Series: Dr William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Performance (2008-09-23)”

Offered as a tech talk everyone should see.

Full comment

Google Tech Talks Personal Growth Series: Dr William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Performance (2008-09-23) this video

in “Ask HN: What tech talk does everyone need to see?” · view on HN
Recommendsm0lluskOct 2022

“the information is potentially extremely valuable for anyone experiencing the feeling of tiredness”

Dement's findings on sleep debt, informal but valuable.

Full comment

Lauded Stanford sleep researcher William Dement has done a lot of work to characterize fatigue and drowsiness. Generally speaking his conclusion is that sleep debt is extremely common and also damaging. He gave an hour talk at Google going over many of his results. His manner in this is informal and drags a bit but the information is potentially extremely valuable for anyone experiencing the feeling of tiredness: this video Personal Growth Series: Dr. William Dement on Healthy Sleep and Optimal Performance

in “Finding the Joy in Feeling Tired” · view on HN
Recommendsm0lluskNov 2024

“a good overall review of what we know about sleep”

Good overall review of what is known about sleep.

Full comment

Kind of tangential, but some time ago now passed famous sleep researcher William Dement gave a presentation at Google TechTalks about healthy sleep and optimal performance that is a good overall review of what we know about sleep: this video

Cites itwatwutMay 2014

“Related google tech talk”

Sleep experiments show performance rises after recovering sleep debt.

Full comment

Related google tech talk: this video Somewhere in the middle he describes experiments they made with sleep. Essentially, they took a person, made them sleep a lot and then measured performance difference. Performance went up. Sleep a lot meant sleep enough to recover from sleep dept and then around 8 hours every night.

in “Thomas Edison and the Cult of Sleep Deprivation” · view on HN
Cites itsmartbitMay 2017

“Very interesting from Dement's talk is that equilibrium daily average sleep for completely health young adults is 8:15 ± 50min [1].”

Equilibrium sleep for healthy young adults is about 8:15.

Full comment

William Dement gave a Google Tech talk on September 23, 2008. Dement recalls that Randy Gardner who stayed awake for 11 days in 1964, when asked some 40years later " would you do this again? " he replied " No way would I do this again " [0] Very interesting from Dement's talk is that equilibrium daily average sleep for completely health young adults is 8:15 ± 50min [1]. Most people I meet contest these results and state that they can work optimal with less than 7h25m daily sleep. [0] this video [1] this video

Cites itolauSep 2017

“if you fall asleep faster than around 10-15 minutes, you're probably sleep deprived and need to sleep more.”

Falling asleep within 10-15 minutes suggests sleep deprivation.

Full comment

Managed to find this talk I watched many years ago on Google Video: this video IIRC, the professor explained that if you fall asleep faster than around 10-15 minutes, you're probably sleep deprived and need to sleep more.

in “Benefits of Napping in Healthy Adults (2009) [pdf]” · view on HN