Does Bedtime Honey Improve Sleep? Reasons to Think So(blog.sethroberts.net)
blog.sethroberts.net
Does Bedtime Honey Improve Sleep? Reasons to Think So
http://blog.sethroberts.net/2013/11/05/honey-at-bedtime-improves-sleep/
10 comments
Seems to make a lot of big claims ("this might explain Dutch height!") based on an overall evidence of 'it worked for me and two other people I found on the internet, and for one friend, but not for the other' being called 'lightning doesn't strike twice' (which of course is a ridiculous claim itself).
Strictly, they said "lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place for different reasons", which is quite a bit more reasonable claim than the idiomatic and factually false "lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place", though whether it's actually an appropriate guideline is still a good question...
I'll use this excuse when I gorge on halva just before going to bed.
Best method for sleeping is running everyday at least 5miles per day.
Also helps wearing your joints.
Most of the comments here are mindlessly skeptical basically boiling down to "citation needed", and "not peer reviewed".
The whole approach Seth Roberts takes is based on a philosophy of self-experimentation and personal science. His writing needs to be evaluated in that context.
Comments that react in these default ways really add nothing other than to assert that anything that is not conventional science should be dismissed without further consideration.
Doesn't seem very hackerish to me.
The whole approach Seth Roberts takes is based on a philosophy of self-experimentation and personal science. His writing needs to be evaluated in that context.
Comments that react in these default ways really add nothing other than to assert that anything that is not conventional science should be dismissed without further consideration.
Doesn't seem very hackerish to me.
> Stuart King, an Australian musician in his thirties, recently commented:
>> Most days I wake up feeling more tired than when I went to bed the night before,
This guy should do a sleep study.
>> Most days I wake up feeling more tired than when I went to bed the night before,
This guy should do a sleep study.
Honey is basically sugar. Just Fructose and Glucose. There is some plant matter, but not much.
Thinking that Honey does much more than taste good is silly. The reason it does things like help when you are sick is just that it is really easy to digest sugar and that gives you a kick of energy, and because of the distinct flavor it also helps with nausea. But basically anything Honey will do maple syrup will do just as well, as they are really similar chemically.
In truth most the things honey will do a caffeine free soda will do.
Thinking that Honey does much more than taste good is silly. The reason it does things like help when you are sick is just that it is really easy to digest sugar and that gives you a kick of energy, and because of the distinct flavor it also helps with nausea. But basically anything Honey will do maple syrup will do just as well, as they are really similar chemically.
In truth most the things honey will do a caffeine free soda will do.
You have asked for peer-reviewed references from people who say honey is more than "just sugar".
For good measure, where are your references?
For good measure, where are your references?
Honey also contains lots of minerals, antioxidants and vitamins, so it actually isnt just sugar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_honey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_honey
Site a real source not WikiPedia. I have written enough of wiki pedia to know how fallible it can be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#In_medicine
Read up on medical-grade Manuka honey. It's antibacterial properties have been proven countless times in medical journals around the world.
If you think it's "just sugar", then you've never researched honey.
Read up on medical-grade Manuka honey. It's antibacterial properties have been proven countless times in medical journals around the world.
If you think it's "just sugar", then you've never researched honey.
Not a single study has proven it to be any more effective than an equivalent "dose" of glucose and fructose.
Honey is only "antibiotic" in that being a super cooled crystal it doesn't allow gas exchange so things don't grow in it which is why it doesn't spoil, (and why bees make it).
Honey is only "antibiotic" in that being a super cooled crystal it doesn't allow gas exchange so things don't grow in it which is why it doesn't spoil, (and why bees make it).
From wikipedia:
"Antibacterial constituents and mechanisms identified include hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), methylglyoxal (MGO), bee defensin-1, the osmotic effect, and pH effects."
With a footnote to here: http://dare.uva.nl/document/175222
"Antibacterial constituents and mechanisms identified include hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), methylglyoxal (MGO), bee defensin-1, the osmotic effect, and pH effects."
With a footnote to here: http://dare.uva.nl/document/175222
Hydrogen Peroxide isn't an anti-bacterial, it is an antiseptic. So that's a great reference. Being as it is wrong.
No money for the pharma companies to prove that honey, garlic or any other naturally occurring substances that they can't patent are effective medicines.
Really?! Ever heard of the placebo effect?
Yeah, where's the double-blind study?
I can assure you Seth Roberts has heard of the placebo effect.
http://blog.sethroberts.net/?s=placebo
http://blog.sethroberts.net/?s=placebo
Seth Roberts:"The Growth of Personal Science: Implications for Statistics"
"Personal science is science done for personal reasons (to help yourself) rather thanprofessional ones (as a job). The most common personal science is health self-measurement, which has recently become much more popular. This article describes 14examples of personal science involving health. The topics include blood sugar, sleep,mood, body weight, resistance to infection, and brain function. Most of the examples areabout new ways to improve these measures. For example, the results suggest that: 1.Skipping breakfast reduces early awakening. 2. Looking at faces in the morningimproves mood. 3. Flaxseed oil improves balance. 4. Butter improves arithmetic speed.Overall, the results suggest that personal science plus expert advice can produce betterhealth than expert advice alone. Personal science may influence statistics in two ways: 1.A new audience. Personal scientists want to learn statistics. 2. Better understanding.Learning about personal science may help statisticians understand science in general"
http://media.sethroberts.net/blog/pdf/2012-09-24-The-Growth-...
--- ---
Seth Roberts:"The unreasonable effectiveness of my self-experimentation"
"Over 12years, my self-experimentation found new and useful ways to improve sleep, mood, health, and weight. Why did it work so well? First, my position was unusual. I had the subject-matter knowledge of an insider, the freedom of an outsider, and the motivation of a person with the problem. I did not need to publish regularly. I did not want to display status via my research. Second, I used a powerful tool. Self-experimentation about the brain can test ideas much more easily (by a factor of about 500,000) than conventional research about other parts of the body. When you gather data, you sample from a power-law-like distribution of progress. Most data helps a little; a tiny fraction of data helps a lot. My subject-matter knowledge and methodological skills (e.g., in data analysis) improved the distribution from which I sampled (i.e., increased the average amount of progress per sample). Self-experimentation allowed me to sample from it much more often than conventional research. Another reason my self-experimentation was unusually effective is that, unlike professional science, it resembled the exploration of our ancestors, including foragers, hobbyists, and artisans."
Medical Hypotheses
Volume 75, Issue 6 , Pages 482-489, December 2010
http://media.sethroberts.net/articles/2010%20The%20unreasona...
"Personal science is science done for personal reasons (to help yourself) rather thanprofessional ones (as a job). The most common personal science is health self-measurement, which has recently become much more popular. This article describes 14examples of personal science involving health. The topics include blood sugar, sleep,mood, body weight, resistance to infection, and brain function. Most of the examples areabout new ways to improve these measures. For example, the results suggest that: 1.Skipping breakfast reduces early awakening. 2. Looking at faces in the morningimproves mood. 3. Flaxseed oil improves balance. 4. Butter improves arithmetic speed.Overall, the results suggest that personal science plus expert advice can produce betterhealth than expert advice alone. Personal science may influence statistics in two ways: 1.A new audience. Personal scientists want to learn statistics. 2. Better understanding.Learning about personal science may help statisticians understand science in general"
http://media.sethroberts.net/blog/pdf/2012-09-24-The-Growth-...
--- ---
Seth Roberts:"The unreasonable effectiveness of my self-experimentation"
"Over 12years, my self-experimentation found new and useful ways to improve sleep, mood, health, and weight. Why did it work so well? First, my position was unusual. I had the subject-matter knowledge of an insider, the freedom of an outsider, and the motivation of a person with the problem. I did not need to publish regularly. I did not want to display status via my research. Second, I used a powerful tool. Self-experimentation about the brain can test ideas much more easily (by a factor of about 500,000) than conventional research about other parts of the body. When you gather data, you sample from a power-law-like distribution of progress. Most data helps a little; a tiny fraction of data helps a lot. My subject-matter knowledge and methodological skills (e.g., in data analysis) improved the distribution from which I sampled (i.e., increased the average amount of progress per sample). Self-experimentation allowed me to sample from it much more often than conventional research. Another reason my self-experimentation was unusually effective is that, unlike professional science, it resembled the exploration of our ancestors, including foragers, hobbyists, and artisans."
Medical Hypotheses
Volume 75, Issue 6 , Pages 482-489, December 2010
http://media.sethroberts.net/articles/2010%20The%20unreasona...
The "journal" Medical Hypotheses in that period was a complete piece of crap, with no effective peer review.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/is-there-a-rol...
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100318/full/news.2010.132.ht...
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/medical-hy...
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/medical-hy...
See also
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1465503
a comment by another Hacker News participant with strong understanding of human physiology.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/is-there-a-rol...
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100318/full/news.2010.132.ht...
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/medical-hy...
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/medical-hy...
See also
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1465503
a comment by another Hacker News participant with strong understanding of human physiology.
A little hit of insulin suppresses stress hormones, which probably helps get you to sleep faster. Also, by 3 or 4 AM you can burn down glycogen stores. Your body will ramp up fat metabolism, which entails an increase of stress hormones, which can wake you up. So topping up glycogen before bed can help you sleep more soundly through the night.
[deleted]
[1] http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html