I still have a directory tree around from doing those lessons. Given how picky python is about indent spacing, I agreed somewhat with the philosophy behind those lessons, particular for people new to coding.
I have similar results and opinions. I feel that there is some kind of "back-end processing" that happens during sleep that is crucial for learning. Also, my sleep tends to be better when I'm doing some kind of workout regularly, although I need to sleep more. If I'm not working out, I can get by easily with 6 hours but if I am, absolutely need 8 hrs min. Makes sense to me since a lot of repair, healing and growth occur while sleeping.
> Whats a terrible idea is to have fats linked to heart disease in a massive lie that spanned decades, ...
THIS. Combine with NYT article on the sugar lie[1] and we have a disturbing picture that in the least betrays incompetence. Also there is a lot of evidence from Robert Sapolsky's work with baboons that atherosclerosis has little to do with blood cholesterol and is much more about stress[2]
The main takeaways for me are: eat stuff that looks like food - meat and veggies. Fruit has fructose which must be processed by the liver and split into sucrose and glucose so keep the fruit and HFCS to a minimum. And don't stress (too much). And move your body. Walk 30 min a day, do some pushups, just do something.
My guess is post-industrial economies require next-level abstraction which is more mentally demanding and hence requires better rest and nutrition. Back when "produce more stuff more efficiently!" was the mantra it was easier to focus on incremental gains. Now the answers aren't so easy.