Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

continued... 3) The phrase in question seems to be as Tony suggested:
"By limiting sleep to no more than 6 hours a night, the individual experiences improved mood and a return to feeling like themselves."

Even you said:
"it seems clear in all of the articles that the expert believes in sleeping an average of 6 hours a night."

And that's the issue here: The article quoted by the asker doesn't even mention "average." He purports to having us believe that the expert said more than 6 hours was bad or that I could sleep any number of hours below 6 (which is what "limited to no more than" means).

That's not true. McDougall not only puts the limit at 5-7 hours, but also says around six hours are good - he doesn't seem to object to six-and-a-half hours either.

In court, that may be construed as false testimony; here, it is simply obfuscation and an attempt to overinterpret the relation between statements.

While you may have correctly interpreted the statements, the author of the article has not. Sadly, that is not an isolated incident.

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

@Amel "I looked at the links you provided and do not see the problems or contradictions you are speaking of."

I may have watched too many Law & Order episodes, but it just seems like an incoherent and incorrect phrasing all the way through.

Just to point out three things:

1) "While getting enough sleep--and REM time in particular--is crucial for maintaining healthy body functions and giving our bodies enough time to rest, we may actually be sleeping much more than we need to."

There is no further mention of REM in the entire article. It also looks like he just included this sentence part for some kind of counterargument (actually saying you should not sleep too few hours.)

2) "Rather than get a full, unbroken eight hours a night, some researchers suggest naps."

So now we're from eight hours to...something. It is unclear what his (or their) suggestion is: 3 hours + "hour-long naps" or 6 hours + "hour-long naps"? No-one knows. Additionally, he is linking to another article of his that says "If your wall is still up, try taking a nap for up to 20 minutes. " ... What in the world?

Arabic & More May 20, 2016:

@Björn I am sorry if it sounded like I was targeting you specifically with my comment. I wanted to emphasize for the Asker that more than one person here agrees with Tony's interpretation (which should be entered as an answer, by the way).

I looked at the links you provided and do not see the problems or contradictions you are speaking of. Despite the typo which led to this question, it seems clear in all of the articles that the expert believes in sleeping an average of 6 hours a night. He is not a fanatic about it and acknowledges that someone may need 7 to 8 hours (he mentions pregnant women and people who are ill as examples)...but 6 seems to be the ideal for many people.

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

@Amel I already explained to Tony below that this was a simple misunderstanding. I thought the entire article was odd and that sentence in particular, not because of the construction that was (or should have been) used.

One discussion post below yours I quoted from the "nutrition expert" that the article's author had referred to and you'll see: It is not the same statement.

Reading comprehension issues are nothing new in science (unfortunately), although they usually occur when a researcher is quoting from books written in another language. This time, the author didn't even try to understand it in his own language.

Arabic & More May 20, 2016:

There is nothing odd about the construction. As Tony suggested, the word "no" is simply missing from the text.

By limiting sleep to no more than 6 hours a night...

This means that you should NOT sleep more than 6 hours per night. Six hours is the maximum. People who are saying it is the minimum are projecting their own ideas about what constitutes an appropriate amount of sleep.

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

Thank you, Phil, but I think the article is a mess.

I looked up the "nutrition expert" he quoted and found this:
"Sleep too much, and you’ll feel depressed. He advised his patients suffering from the 'blues' to set up their alarm clock and get only 6 hours of sleep a night, until they feel better. In extreme cases, staying up all night can break the pattern of established depression."
http://renegadehealth.com/blog/sleep-is-overrated

"But normal healthy adults really need only 5 to 7 hours a night.[...] Think of the most recent 'poor' night’s sleep you had. How many hours did you actually sleep? Pick this number for the amount of time you are going to spend in bed tonight. For example, if you slept only 4 hours during your last bout with sleeplessness, then tonight you will spend only 4 hours in bed. [...] Most people find a 'good night’s sleep' from about 6 hours each night in bed."
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/050100puinsomnia.htm

Second one is from the expert himself. So the article asked about here is as badly written as I suspected. McDougall says 5 to 7 hours is OK, around 6 hours is the average for a good night's sleep.

Mark Nathan May 20, 2016:

Sorry Björn I only just noticed that you found the original article! "Why Science Says Sleep Is Way Overrated" So Tony is obviously right then.

philgoddard May 20, 2016:

Björn I think that you should post the correct answer, since you found the context.

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

@Nathan Not really. He only talks about 8 hours of sleep being too much and says that some researchers suggest "hour-long naps." That's it.

In my humble opinion, it's a badly written article that looks like a "filler" between the first and last sentence. Nothing definitive, only may be / could be / seems to be and no conclusion. Additionally, I think he is somewhat diluting the difference between naps at noon and sleep at night regarding REM sleep and physical recovery.

The only other thing I can think of is that he may have wanted to say you should "limit sleep to six hours (or a bit above = more than)". It may be a long shot, but it's the best I can come up with.

Mark Nathan May 20, 2016:

It simply is not clear The only thing that IS clear is that there is some sort of error in the source text. It could be the omission of "no" just before "more", as Tony suggests, or it could be a misuse of "limit". Does the rest of the article give any clues?

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

@Tony I think you misunderstood :) Sorry to have not made it clearer.

I know that "no(t) more than" is a common construction. "odd way to put it" referred to the sentences surrounding that one. The whole article is a bit confusing to me. It kinda sounds like one of these pieces in the Politics section: you write something without saying much. But that may have just been my impression.

Tony M May 20, 2016:

@ Björn No, that's the whole point! It is NOT "an odd way to put it" — this is a very common construction in EN indeed, e.g. things like "For the sake of your health, you should limit your consumption of alcohol to no more than one glass per day" — note that it could equally well be 'not more than', but that doesn't change the issue with a potential typo.
I think my suggestion is the most plausible error mechanism, since it assumes only the omission of one small word ('no' or 'not'), rather than any other word alreayd present having to be completely changed (which is a much less common error scenario).

Björn Vrooman May 20, 2016:

Source I suppose Tony could be right. It's still an odd way to put it:
"Physician and nutrition expert John McDougall has conducted studies which conclude that sleep is actually 'depressogenic.' Too much sleep, it seems, can actually make you feel depressed. [...] By limiting sleep to more than 6 hours a night, the individual experiences improved mood and a return to feeling like themselves."
http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/why-science-says-sleep-is-w...

Jack Doughty May 20, 2016:

Agree with Tony. *

Thayenga May 20, 2016:

not less than One achieves a much better mood, feeling more than oneself by getting more than 6 hours of sleep per night. If the time spend sleeping is less than/equalling 6 hours a night, one's mood worsens as does one's overall physical condition.
In other words, the source text makes no sense and contradicts all medical research results.

Hakki Ucar (asker) May 20, 2016:

typo ? may it be a typo in the text ?

Tony M May 20, 2016:

Source text error? As Mark says, as it stands it doesn't make sense; I suspect it was originally intended to read: "By limiting sleep to no more than 6 hours a night..."