It should be possible to slowly train yourself to do with less sleep, shouldn't it? I mean, not if you're 5 years-old and sleep is crucial to your physical and mental development. But say you're in your early thirties and the only way you can accomplish even part of what you want to do is sleep 3 - 4.5 hours a night.
Of course, you could always just live with diminished expectations, but that's no fun.
Lawrence Block wrote a series of books about a character with some manly name (Stark?) who didn't need sleep. He spent his spare time learning new languages, various esoterica and performing skilled services (theft, kidnapping, etc.) for various folks. Good public transportation reading.
Went to the gym tonight (yay!) and found that techno (or trance, or whatever the kids are calling it today) is also good for jogging.
I tried adding myself as a friend to myself here and got the terse response "Sorry, this is not an option." I think a person needs to be friends with himself before he's friends with anyone else....
Some people just naturally need more or less sleep than others, but it is quite possible to adjust to a lengthy period of mild sleep deprivation. Once you've adjusted, your body tends to stay that way, and you have to work on adjusting back to a normal sleep pattern. Of course, reactions also vary from person to person, so YMMV.
I had two lengthy periods of mild sleep deprivation - the first was a period of about a year where obligations afforded me about four hours a day to sleep. The second was a little more inexplicable, as I was just naturally sleeping three to five hours a night - that lasted for about two years.
Once you adjust, you can function fairly well, although rarely at 100%. You lose that heavy-eyed sleepy feeling that you get from pulling the occasional all-nighter, but you also lose a noticeable amount of energy and alertness. (About how you feel at the halfway point of an all-nighter, unless your halfway point is your second wind.) Nothing overt, but simply minor things, like adding numbers or coming up with the right word in a conversation. I find that I become frustrated with things a little more easily.
There are limitations and potential side-effects, though. The first period ended with a two-month stint of having those four hours broken into two two-hour periods. I went through an intense emotional and mental change - much less patient and tolerant, much more angry and violent. And now, having adjusted back to a fairly normal sleep schedule, I find it much more difficult to handle brief, but extreme, periods without sleep. Of course, that could be because I'm not 20 anymore.
Ultimately, it's up to you. If your body needs it, it will take it. Learn to power nap. Better than Jolt.
Re:Certainly
lachoy on 2002-01-03T12:53:57
Power napping is my preferred way to do this as well. I've found that I'm pretty good at falling asleep quickly and napping for ~20 minutes. It's a huge recharge. I think I read (or heard) somewhere that Thomas Edison was a power napper.
I totally agree with people needing more/less sleep than others -- my wife is on the 'needs more' side of that. She really needs at least 7.5 - 8 hours per night, and it immediately affects her if she doesn't.
I also agree about the chemical stimulation effects of something like Jolt (vivarin, etc.). Sure you can stay up in the immediate, but you're going to pay the piper right soon.
Chris
Re:Certainly
Whammo on 2002-01-03T13:42:02
It's difficult to survive any sort of shift or watch work without power napping, but you can't survive long term on it. Studies - no, I've no idea what studies - show that the body eventually needs the REM sleep that power napping doesn't provide in order to repair and restore itself.
Power napping
ziggy on 2002-01-03T15:38:19
If you're seriously interested in power napping, and need to have the full compliment of geek toys, see the story about this Springboard module to time your power naps.The news story alludes to a NASA study about power napping for astronauts.
Buckminster Fuller had a trick where he got only 2 hours sleep a day, but did it in 15 minute increments. Part of it was knowing exactly when he needed his fifteen minute naps. Part of it was eating the optimum diet of steak and jello. Part of it was being a complete kook.
I've also heard stories about Gary Null doing similar feats. Part of his story is feeding his body the most optimum nutrition possible (including dehydrated wheatgrass, barleygrass and other such raw and vital greens). Part of it is being way overcommitted to a radio show, a never ending stream of books, consulting, training and overachieving at race walking. Part of it is being a kook.
Extrapolate as you will.
Re:Less sleep?
lachoy on 2002-01-03T12:59:42
Nutrition is an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I don't eat meat so that might actually help. Maybe if I cut down on the processed food (frozen lunches, etc.) that might help...
I wish companies would feel comfortable about instituting naptime in the afternoons. I could even bring my own mat!
Fortunately, I think my kook-quotient is sufficiently low that I can feel free to experiment a little bit
:-) Chris
I also seem to remember there being a record-holder for Least Amount Of Sleep Needed Per Night, but I can't remember the name or amount of time.
I heard about this years ago, a friend had a copy of some medical journal where it talked about polyphasic sleep. Apparently it's excruciatingly hard to get on the system, but once people did, they got higher average scores on cognition and recall tests.
It makes sense. It's how animals sleep. Just watch a cat or dog. It's how babies sleep. I believe it was ziggy who said that Buckminster Fuller did it, and the story I remember reading discussed how DaVinci slept that way too.
Imagine. With 22.5 hours of sleep a day. Some quick math gives you... extra 6.5 hours a day (versus an eight hour sleep cycle) at 365 days a year is 2372.5 hours extra sleep a year, or 98 days. An extra three months a year.
Re:Polyphasic Sleep.
lachoy on 2002-01-03T16:03:47
Actually, cats sleep about 16 hours a day, even if it's not in one long chunk. If they slept only a few hours a day they'd probably evolve thumbs and get rid of us all
:-) Chris
Parents adjust. It's amazing how functional you can be with broken sleep. It's also amazing how dysfunctional you can be. Like Whammo said, don't expect to be 100% even if you're used to it. There's a big difference between subsistence sleeping and comfort.
With our second baby, it's Deja Hell all over again. And William's reverted to waking up two or three times in the night. I feel like a prisoner of the Vietcong. I've found that I get cranky when woken now (which isn't good when I've got a miserable two-year-old beside me) and even eight hours is not enough. These last few weeks, since William started waking again, I've never gotten out of bed and felt like I had a good night's sleep.
Polyphasic sleep sounds cool, but I'd settle for simply having a distraction-free workplace and a good night's sleep!
--Nat
Re:Sleep deprivation
pudge on 2002-01-08T19:11:55
I won't have a problem sleeping through the night with my children. The problem is my wife.:-) I sleep through anything, except for her slapping me around on the back of the head.
Anyway, I am glad I work at home. I can nap whenever I will need to.
