f13.net

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/09/24/sleep-study.html (http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/09/24/sleep-study.html)

Let me sum up the article: if you sleep for more or less than 7 hours YOU DIE.

Let's show it in visual form:

die < 7 hours < die

So, does the study say why 7 is the lucky number? I'm hosed. I average about 4-5 hours of sleep a night.

I cant sleep in light of this news.

Of course, what they did is artificially reduce people's sleeping habits to more or less than they are used to or need. Of course that sort of stress is going to manifest in health problems.

Everyone needs different amounts of sleep; go to bed when you are tired and wake up at a consistent time. 7 hours of sleep? I'm a zombie with anything less than 8, and I need 9 to function creatively.

6 hours avg for me. I think if I quit smoking though, I could hit 7 --- hey! that would be like killing two birds with one stone, right?

Sometimes I can't sleep because I want a ciggie so bad.

I usually get 6 to 7 hours. But ITS NEVER ENOUGH!!!

Fucking tin foil hat studies.

Hey, guys like boobs, eating metal is bad for you, stab wounds hurt.

I'm fairly well fucked all the way around...

I've got sleep apnea, and some sort of nasal allergy thing that no goddamned doctor can figure out.  So, maybe, just MAYBE 1 out of 7 nights my nose is clear enough that I can breathe through it just enough to wear the CPAP mask without feeling like I am suffocating myself.  If I use nasal spray, I get addicted to it and lose all sense of smell AND I eventually build up a resistance to it so it doesn't work.

THEN, add in the fact that I am on call 24/7 and have broken sleep patterns from middle of the night ship boardings, and it's a recipe for disaster.

I figure I get about 2 hrs of sleep a night.  If that.  When I did the sleep clinic thing to determine if I had sleep apnea, the doctor said I was averaging about 1.5-3 hrs of sleep a night if I was lucky.

What the heck do you do?

I may get 5,6,8,12 hours of sleep but never 7.   :cry:

Great. You make me NOT want to quit.

I'm pretty OCD and have serious control issues; I'd get pissed off enough to stop anything that manipulates me like that. I even stop caffeine/sugar a few times a year because I feel a craving for it.

I am very pissed off at cigarettes.  I haven't smoked tobacco in 2 1/2 years.  It doesn't mean I don't want to, though.   :|

I gave up smoking tobacco... but not smoking altogether... I'd lose my sanity otherwise.   :wink:

The middle-of-the-night ship boardings give it away.  He's a pirate.

I'm way too lazy to bother reading the initial article but what if you get 7 hours of sleep around 70% of the time?

I get almost exactly 7 hours on week nights but weekends it's usually 9 or 10 hours a night. I'm a firm believer in the "sleep debt" theory so I guess my normal sleep patterns would just be 8 hours a night but that doesn't work for me since I can't fall asleep before 11ish and I have to get up by 6.

Ah, another useless study. I should've stayed in college and went into research.

I'm golden, I get about 7 a night. Used to get 4 a day when I worked on the loading docks. Used to get 10 a day when I was in the band. I only recently started sleeping at darktime. I find the key is not to worry about it and listen to what your body tells you.

When owners / charterers / shippers / receivers / whomever have business in the port, they need representation.  They need someone to act on their behalf.  So, they hire me.  I represent the ship / company to the US government, the local port authorities, stevedores, basically everyone.  It's a 24-7 365 job.  I've got 3 guys working for me that board ships, but I still get out 'in the field'. 

More verbose: A duly appointed and authorized representative in a specified territory acting on behalf of a steamship line or lines and attending to all matters relating to the vessels owned and/or chartered by his principals

(http://www.interdive.co.uk/images/tanker_lg.jpg)

Lately, I've been moving away from cargo ships and getting more involved with logistics for the companies (Subsea 7 (http://www.subsea7.com/), Allseas (http://www.allseas.com/), etc) that are installing pipelines and doing research in the Gulf of Mexico. 

So what the heck do you do?

He's like a shipping mediator, I would assume people hire him because they don't want to have to know the local laws and fill out paperwork everywhere they go.  I would assume a lot of the crews don't speak english too, but I could be waaaaaaaaaay off.

Nah, you're fairly close.  And 99 percent of the crews/captains speak english. 

What a wonderful time we live in.  Sounds like a somewhat interesting job, but if it involves being on ships it would make me seasick  :nda:

Whoa.  That sounds like a cool job.  It doesn't sound fun or healthy, but interesting for sure.

I'm on a swing shift.  I work 7a-7p and 7p-7a shifts.  There is no pattern to my schedule and sometimes I work 2 night shifts and 2 day shifts a week (if I want overtime).  Insomnia is my friend and my immune system is in the fucking toliet.  I've been doing this for about a year and I've been sick more in that past year than the last 10.

It's interesting, no doubt.  Always something different, always a different challenge.  And I'm not behind a desk 8-5.  I could hire another person and not board another ship again, but I still enjoy it. 

As far as seasick?  99 out of a 100 the ship is alongside a dock, and not moving. 

Do you ever get wet?

What? Are you afraid his brains are going to get soggy?

Those who get 7 hours of sleep 70% of the time (not 69%, not 71%, but exactly 70%) die in their early 50's, at best.

These studies are vital.

(http://www.realitybbqforums.com/images/smilies/moon.gif)

Endie's description of your job was much more interesting.