NewScientist covers some recent experiments on sleep, indicating that our internal measurement of restedness is loose and flexible. When we’re convinced that we got good sleep, we feel awake and we perform better. When we’re convinced that we missed sleep, we feel tired and we lose sharpness.
This experiment is clever, using a technique popular among swindlers:
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In an earlier, slightly mischievous experiment, performed in 2021, researchers allowed 16 adults to sleep for 8 hours on one day, followed by 5 hours the next. Upon waking, a secretly manipulated clock informed the participants how much they had slept. They then rated their subjective sleepiness and took part in a vigilance test that recorded their reaction times.
Those who believed they had slept 8 hours – but who had actually slept only 5 – performed significantly better on the test compared with those who had got 8 hours but thought they had been asleep for 5 hours.
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I can’t prove or disprove this by experience, so it’s an open question worth trying!
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