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WorldWeird: Short Sleepers

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      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2011 edited
     (9769.1)
    So, forget life extension for a second. I've always been more of a "don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends - tell me where to get more WAX!" sort of person. What's the closest one can come through technological means to emulating the biological profile of the short sleeper?

    Have you ever thought, "If only there were more hours in the day?"

    Well, some people are able to function with far less than the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep a night.

    "Short sleepers" make up just a small percentage of the population. If you think you're one, you're probably kidding yourself. True short sleepers don't need naps or coffee. With just five or six hours' sleep, they're more energized than regular sleepers.

    Take 35-year-old Elena Angeli of San Francisco. She naturally sleeps about 5 1/2 hours a night, and then, well, just try to hold her back.

    "I'm constantly moving," she says. "Outside of a full-time job, I sit on three boards, so I keep busy. I have a number of friends all over the world, so I've got constant activity to keep up with."

    - http://www.npr.org/2011/04/16/135450214/eight-is-too-much-for-short-sleepers
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      CommentAuthorAlan Tyson
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2011
     (9769.2)
    I've noticed that, since I started getting up earlier, I need less sleep and tend to get up and going faster. Still, I wouldn't mind R.E.M. state in pill form.
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      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2011
     (9769.3)
    Right - the big problem with staying awake more through ordinary means seems to be that the sleep deficit you put off isn't just rest, but some kind of active defragmenting of the brain's storage, or just restocking of neurotransmitters or other maintenance activity that just can't be put off. For me in particular, though, light cycles seem to be part of this. What seems to matter a lot more is whether I'm able to sleep in the couple of hours before sunrise or not, which is also when I seem to have the most active dreaming.

    So one question would be whether their sleep is simply somehow more productive than that of ordinary people, and if so, how one can encourage the brain to get more done during the rest it does get.
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      CommentAuthorMorac
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2011
     (9769.4)
    The alternative to that question is that even if they still have physical energy they might not be able to achieve a state peak mental efficiency.
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      CommentAuthorLee Edward
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2011
     (9769.5)
    Before I started taking medication for Bipolar Disorder, I used to habitually sleep between three and six hours, unless sick, depressed or exhausted from overdoing it. These days, I need a rough six to ten hours to function properly, unless I miss medicating for a few days. Sometimes I think that, if my wife ever left me, I'd go back to being unstable, just to get those damned hours back (and lose some of this fucking weight).
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      CommentAuthorHEY APATHY!
    • CommentTimeApr 18th 2011 edited
     (9769.6)
    Batman can slow his heart rate and metabolism down so much so that he only needs a few minutes and gets the full nights rest while hanging upside down.


    whether their sleep is simply somehow more productive than that of ordinary people, and if so, how one can encourage the brain to get more done during the rest it does get

    I'm not good at meditation, it requires a lot of concentration, but sometimes before bed I take the time to really breath deep and relax. I let the details of my problems fall away but stay focused on some undefined positive resolution. When I fall asleep in this calm state I find my brain is much sharper at fixing messes in the morning. I guess the best way to encourage the brain is to give it a good rest once in a while. ( i sleep from 6:30 am -noon & nap somewhere between 9 -11pm and am very productive but am hallucinating regularly, i think)
    • CommentAuthor256
    • CommentTimeApr 18th 2011
     (9769.7)
    My only bit of info to add to the gumbo is that Shunpei Yamazaki, one of the most prolific inventors of all time (current #2 in terms of international patents held, if Wiki is to be believed), has said that he only sleeps 4 hours a night and that sleeping more makes you stupid.
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      CommentAuthorMorac
    • CommentTimeApr 18th 2011
     (9769.8)
    Speaking of Yamazaki, I found this quote from him:

    “Oftentimes, I’ll fall asleep while taking the train home at the end of the day,” he says. “I wake up, and I have an inspiration.”

    Masters of Invention
    • CommentAuthorBankara
    • CommentTimeApr 19th 2011
     (9769.9)
    I believe Yamazaki-san, my most creative periods coincide with my most sleepless. I am a wreck, I am basically in a hallucinatory haze, but I am fucking inspired! I have had bouts of insomnia on and off for years and it undeniably takes a toll but I must admit that I wish I had a way to cultivate it into a productive force. I just had another encounter with my insomnia and it turned in to a piece about my troubled relationship my sleepless creative muse. Here.

    I don't know if what I need is a way to stay awake longer hours without suffering from exhaustion since i think that the altered state of mind is what actually produces the work for me. If it means I had to sleep for 15 hours once a week to put some time back in to my sleep debt and that balanced the account I would be ok with such a system and it wouldn't involve swallowing bottles of Jumpstart Pills.
    • CommentAuthormunin218
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2011
     (9769.10)
    Some folks seem to need less sleep as they get older. I know, not really helpful for right now.... my mother, for instance, is down to sleeping only 4 or 5 hours a night, and feels just fine...
  11.  (9769.11)
    Diet. If you really want to extend you're days and life you can. Get rid of everything you ingest that is not 100% healthy and natural which means drinking nothing but purified water and eating some extremely minimal vegan diet. It takes a while but the detox opens up a whole new world of thoughts and energy. I've done it before for brief periods ( up to 10 days) but always end up back on the caffiene, sugar, and nicotine when the half decapitated Mr. Pinnapple head freaks out and fires a telepathic assault at me from my kitchen counter cutting board.
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      CommentAuthorsseloske
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2011
     (9769.12)
    I sleep 4 hours a night, eat nothing but junk food, drink nothing but coffee and coca cola and am completely brilliant all the time. Sleeping more results in what I call a "sleep hangover." I will no doubt die young.
  13.  (9769.13)
    @ sseloske- did the same only with cigarrettes instead of cola from the age of 16 till I was 30, I'm still doing it now only my body can't handle it anymore and is breaking down, yes you will no doubt die young
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeJun 22nd 2011
     (9769.14)
    So, forget life extension for a second. I've always been more of a "don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends - tell me where to get more WAX!" sort of person.


    When you think about it, an extra 2-3 hours of consciousness a day is a sort of life extension.

    It's an approximate 15-20% increase in the number of hours of consciousness - over a lifetime that's like living another decade or more.
    • CommentAuthorGordon
    • CommentTimeJun 22nd 2011
     (9769.15)
    I function better on little sleep too. On the rare nights I'm able to manage 7/8 hours I spend most of the next day feeling like a damp sponge on legs.
  16.  (9769.16)
    eh...I seem to be getting by on 5-6 hour of sleep currently. For the most part I function properly except after lunch when I get a little doozy. I cycle to work for 30 minutes and that might help with getting me awake and less groggy in the mornings. I don't drink coffee or smoke but do take energy drinks but have cut down to 1.5 a day. I can keep it up for 6 days but have sleep-ins on sundays. The way I see it, squeeze in as much time as I can to do stuff. Another way of looking at it is that I just need to be more focused in getting shit done. Procrastination is my kryptonite.
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      CommentAuthorFauxhammer
    • CommentTimeJun 22nd 2011
     (9769.17)
    I certainly wouldn't call myself a short sleeper, but like many here, I do best on about six hours. Any more and I feel logy, any less and I have horrific mood swings.

    Horrific for those who have to deal with me. I'm actually pretty cool with it.
  18.  (9769.18)
    I gotta say, after starting using my CPAP machine for sleep apnea, I function far better with less sleep than I used to with lots of sleep. Before, I was nodding off while standing, now I'm averaging either the same amount or less, and having energy to actually DO STUFF. Now, to lose the weight.
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      CommentAuthorsneak046
    • CommentTimeJun 22nd 2011
     (9769.19)
    Aye, I'm with Mojokingbee and Fauxhammer - I typically get 5 - 6 hours a night, work around 10 hour days and, exactly like mojokingbee, crash like a mother after lunch.

    And anyway:
    I agree with Neil
  20.  (9769.20)
    Well, not to turn his into the 'ha ha we just do it' thread, but I've been on 5-6 as well since September. But I couldn't do it if I didn't have a dayjob that doesn't slack on attendance. Theres no way I can sleep in so I just push myself as late as I can when I am working on my novel at night. In other words, if I wasn't giving 50 hours of every week to some corporation's needs, I'd probably sleep in and rob myself of a lot of the time gain. Still, it's a new thing, guess it's jus from getting a good decade between me and the teenage years.

    I also bike to work, I think that does do good. I also have lots of coffee though I dont feel caffeine for more than five minutes (I mainly fucking love coffee; have you had it it's great, hot coffee, iced coffee, black and hot and Ivey coffee coffee coffee)

    Typed on ipod

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