h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't speak for anyone else, but in my case the longer I last without sleep, the more active and energetic I become. It's not just perception either. (although, my perception of reality is slightly skewed anyways, but that's another rant)

As an example, work I did while insomniacing (is that even a word? Bah, sounds real enough for me) jumped from a 70% to a 96%. I find that the longer I go without sleep, the more I understand and that my mind actually works at higher levels.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or am I about to be taken in for testing?

Yes, I've noticed the same. When I sleep for more than 4 hours I seem to be more tired when I wake up and need about 2 hours to wake up. Normaly I sleep for about 3 hours and often this is in a state of half-sleep. And when I get up I need about 1 hour to get really awake.

Some meditation techniques I learned from a WuShu-teacher are enhancing this effect. With 1 hour meditating you can get enough energy for the entire day.

When I have too much thoughts going around my head, I have trouble sleeping. Nowadays I resort to a state of half-sleep/half-meditating.
It's not a real meditation as I dont clear my head entirely (as I have learned, altough I suspect this is just part of the technique to reach a certain state of mind and not part of the state of mind itself). I still think a lot at that moment but am not completly conscient either, when I get up (wake up is not the correct word as I didnt sleep) I'm recharged both physically and mentally.

I found that I can go on for months on this halfsleep/halfmeditation without really going to full sleep more than once a week and in those cases rarely longer than 3 hours. This wasnt an experiment but it was neccesary as I often finish my duties here are home at 5 o'clock in the morning and the first nurse visiting us already rings the doorbell at 9 o'clock....

My own humble opinion is that our ancestors didnt had much time for sleeping. It also seems to me a quite natural state this half-sleep where you are alert of your environment (and possible predators).
I'm convinced that the humanbody & mind are build to perform with less sleep and less intense levels of sleep. Maybe the effects of sleep deprivation tell us more about our natural state than we would like to admit. Maybe our ancestors were quite psychotic (in our eyes) most of the time and it could very well be a stimulant for hunting.
Maybe we should forget everything we know about psychology and reevaluate all those 'abnormal' state of minds. Maybe our 'normal' behaviour is a side-effect of too much sleep.

I also discovered I can reach some meditative state while doing the dishes. Obviously our ancestors didnt have dishwashers...

That bit about feeling more tired after sleeping longer...
I recently kept myself awake for 45 hours, in an effort to get some urgent work done. As well as forcing myself to go out jogging twice during this, I consumed vast amounts of tea and coffee. When I finally got some rest, it was only for five hours, but I managed for the rest of that day. Later, I got 8 hours sleep, woke up feeling not very tired, but decided to go back to sleep, then slept for ANOTHER 8 hours anyway. I believe that this is something to do with the different levels of sleep. The following is from a vaguely remembered article in some science magazine.

Most people have to go through several stages to reach REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep. This is the part when dreaming occurs, and also the bit when the body recovers the most. It is the hardest bit to be woken up from, whereas the "lighter" levels of sleep can often be ended by only slight noises or sensations. The phases get shorter the longer you are asleep for.

I think that sleep-deprivation may make you go straight into the deeper levels of sleep faster, as the body clock gets more and more confused about what it's meant to be doing.

I think I still haven't recovered completely, it's 2am and I don't feel remotely tired.

Stygian, the exact same thing happens to me, too. Although I do tend to let Mountain Dew help me a lot, I tend to become extremely focused when deprived of sleep. However, the only thing that does keep me awake is activity. I try and try to stay up late watching TV, and find myself dozing off within an hour. However, when doing intense projects like video editing (that happens to be due that next morning) I find it extremely easy to go through the night. And, I'm fine the next day because either my brain or body didn't figure it out that I didn't sleep. However, I've heard that for every all-nighter, your body will require 2-3 weeks to recover. Just my two cents.

From personal experience I find that, activity or not, I can stay awake for 40-45 hours without any significant change in my cognitive functions, though I may get angry more easily. Longer than that I haven't tried, but I similarly dimly recall a story from a psych text book about a DJ who stayed awake for 230 odd hours for a competition, and by the end he was having hallucinations, anxiety attacks, etc. and in the end his body basically just shut down. Still, he didn't then sleep for days, he only slept (I think) for about 10-12 hours, woke up, and as Californication said, went through this cycle for several weeks before completely recovering.

It seems obvious that sleep deprivation leads to an altered state of consciousness, but just what that may be will vary from person to person - it may be beneficial or harmful, but in the end the body simply can't take it.

Zack: I read of a test some scientist did on some rats where they kept them awake for I don't remember how long. Anyway, the rats got sick and eventually died. Just thought I'd tell you that whether you knew it or not or whether you care or not.

I would probably guess that the rats died because the extended awakeness wore down their immune system, they contracted an illness rather easily, and died because of it. Any other thoughts?

I have frequently found, as other reasearchers have commented (although I have never reached 230 hours!!) that altered states of mind do occur as a result of sleep deprivation, although i do firmly believe that this does vary fom person to person from witnessing the effects on those who have been conscious for the same length of time.
The effects I have noticed vary depending on the period of time, and there appears to be a 'bad patch' around the 35 - 40 hours awake mark, but once beyond that time productivity is increased and anxiety, depression and paranoia disappear. Hallucinations continue to occur, but these are mainly a change in the tone of colour (colours appear more vibrant and bright) and the eyes become highly photo sensitive.
As for recovery time, I find that following a 70 hour period awake, I am fully functional after 12 - 14 hours of sleep. In contrast to this, my partner finds that if any sleep is lost, then she will need to recover at least 70% of the sleep period, and will often sleep for 20hour periods for 3 - 4 days following.

hi, ive just read your text and i agree that sleep deprivation can ultimately make you more active. I have also discovered that I do my best work between the times of 1am-4am after days of not sleeping. Ive had insomnia for 2years and when it was at its peak, and I'd not slept for weeks, I produced a higher standard of work than I'd deemed possible of myself. Its good to hear I'm not alone in finding a benefit of sleep deprivation.

I should let you know that insomnia can be a psychiatric symptom.

http://mindout.net

I agree that the more you sleep the more you need, but what if you just can't sleep and find your getting more and more tired?

I'd suggest you try light sedatives such as Nytol or St John's Wort. Also, you should identify whether you're losing sleep because of stress or because of your level of stimulant intake.

Guide Entry on the Subject:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A294031
General Links:-
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/01/24/sleep.sheep/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/298156.stm

I usually only miss sleep for 3-4 days, but find I'm much more energetic after 20 minutes sleep that a few hours after those few days. I remember reading about the '20 minute power snooze' in one of those insane diets the daily mail keeps printing (don't even get me started on their water diet!!!) and thinking it was nonsense, but there could be some truth behind the buzzword afterall.

Did anyone else think the description at the start of Fight Club make the downside of insomnia sound a bit too poetic?

Also, I agree with californication about the activeness. When I'm trying to stay awake by choice, i have to keep at least my mind, prefereably my body active. Drifted off for only five minutes during an all night film showing last term, and that was when i thought, i'll just lie down for a bit... The famous last words...

Does anyone else find that with lack of sleep they get really dark circles under their eyes and their legs ache? Please tell me how to avoid this as my legs are killing me! Not literally of course!

I get worried if I lose sleep as it can be a precursor of a mood swing.

How so? And why do you think that is?

i am a cab driver and find,there are states of sleep deprivation, different, to each persons lifestyle,for example i drive a hackneycab which involves long stints behind the wheel,its not unusual on a thursday,friday,saturday,or a sunday to spend between 12and 14 hours behind the wheel,i have 3 young children 3yrs,4yrs and 8yrs,the 8yr old suffers from A.D.H.D(AMUNE DEFECIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER) WHICH MEANS HIS BRAIN, PRODUCES TO MUCH OF THE CHEMICAL THAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE !.i will usually finish my shift around 5.30 am,by which time the 8yr old has already woken the two younger ones,so i come into young, very demanding children,the younger two children, tend to copy the behavior,of their elder brother,basicaly three children with A.D.H.D,.at this time my wife(god bless her)is still recovering from the day before and cant expect her to rise this early every morning,so i tend to to stay up with them until its time for her to get up,so by time they have gone to school,its now 9 oclock when i begin to sleep,i could probably cope whith the shifts,but the extra hours up, puts you into a different state of sleep deprivation,as you have to contend with the everyday noises of so called normal living people,which means generally you dont get the natural fullfilled sleep you require,and before you know it your day starts again.i really dont know how your brain can function under these circumstances,but the will to support your children takes first place,this will that we are programed with from birth,the will to keep reproducing will not except no excuses,you either jug out or suffer?

i am a cab driver and find,there are states of sleep deprivation, different, to each persons lifestyle,for example i drive a hackneycab which involves long stints behind the wheel,its not unusual on a thursday,friday,saturday,or a sunday to spend between 12and 14 hours behind the wheel,i have 3 young children 3yrs,4yrs and 8yrs,the 8yr old suffers from A.D.H.D(AMUNE DEFECIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER) WHICH MEANS HIS BRAIN, PRODUCES TO MUCH OF THE CHEMICAL THAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE !.i will usually finish my shift around 5.30 am,by which time the 8yr old has already woken the two younger ones,so i come into young, very demanding children,the younger two children, tend to copy the behavior,of their elder brother,basicaly three children with A.D.H.D,.at this time my wife(god bless her)is still recovering from the day before and cant expect her to rise this early every morning,so i tend to to stay up with them until its time for her to get up,so by time they have gone to school,its now 9 oclock when i begin to sleep,i could probably cope whith the shifts,but the extra hours up, puts you into a different state of sleep deprivation,as you have to contend with the everyday noises of so called normal living people,which means generally you dont get the natural fullfilled sleep you require,and before you know it your day starts again.i really dont know how your brain can function under these circumstances,but the will to support your children takes first place,this will that we are programed with from birth,the will to keep reproducing will not except no excuses,you either jug out or suffer?