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What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

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Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#221

Post by scandinavegan »

vidarh wrote: post #187
copperx wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found exactly the same thing and it weirded me out. How did I get better without practicing? Often I would hit a wall after practicing for hours and was not able to play a certain passage, but then the next day I magically could. I've recently found that reading before going to sleep (while not staying up late reading) opens my mind the next day and I wake up knowing whether I have accepted or rejected a premise of…

I won't dismiss that a lot of things can happen during sleep that will help you do better in the morning, but a lot of the time I think this kind of thing boils down to performance falling off as you get tired, to the point of eventually negating improvements you make. It doesn't help if you've figured out how to do something if you're tired to execute on it.

That's an interesting thought!

The Dark Souls series of video games are known to be hard, especially the bosses. Many people, myself included, have experienced being stuck on a boss and after 20 attempts they give up for the night. Next time you start the game up you beat the boss on the first attempt!

It's hard to know if this is because your subconscious mind kept working on the problem, or if new neural pathways were formed to handle the eye-hand coordination, or, as you suggest, you just came back to the problem refreshed.

Being refreshed, and not frustrated and tired, seems like the simplest explanation for this.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#222

Post by mmaunder »

motivic wrote: post #9

In case you feel sleep is a waste of time, it could actually be surprisingly productive to sleep. Once thing I noticed in grad school is that your sub-conscious is passively working on the problems you encountered even if you are not actively thinking about them. And often I would "dream" up a clever solution to a homework problem during my sleep. J.P. Serre, one of the most brilliant mathematician still living today…

Agreed. Sleep has been a critical tool for foreign language learning for me. I'd also point out that exercise improves sleep quality.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#223

Post by germinalphrase »

Hitton wrote: post #192
devilmoon wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh boy, the university I'm attending right now has lectures starting at 8am, which is earlier than usual for my country, and ca. 36 hours of lectures per week. This means that you usually go 8am/6pm in uni multiple days a week, then you obviously have your assignments and catching up on the lectures to do, and all the random stuff that comes with living alone (laundry, grocery, cooking, cleaning, etc.) - this means t…

36 hours a week from 8am to 6pm means that you have approximately 2 hours between lectures each day to do your assignments. Sure, it isn't suited to having part time job or much free time, but from my experience it sounds like pretty normal uni routine and no one I know complained. And I warn you, when you are older it isn't going to be any better, just instead of assignments you have to take care of kids.

True fact. Having a baby has helped enforce boundaries on my work schedule (which had been routinely 50-60 a week); however, I am as busy as ever.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#224

Post by dagaci »

There is a period during sleep where the body engages in rapidly flushing the brain of cerebrospinal fluids. This action is intensely physical and disturbing, however with the exception of the most serene true-insomniacs only a tiny fraction of people will directly experience it.

They say this prevents the build up of harmful toxins in the brain, and that the failure to do this over time can be a contributor to the onset of conditions like Alzheimers.

While many may claim to have overcome the need for sleep, and some actually feel productive. And claim to be just as effective. No one should be in doubt that long term effects of sleep deprivation is devastating. Not only to the Brain, and the body as many studies have shown.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#225

Post by neuronic »

Zarath wrote: post #132
motivic wrote: post #9

In case you feel sleep is a waste of time, it could actually be surprisingly productive to sleep. Once thing I noticed in grad school is that your sub-conscious is passively working on the problems you encountered even if you are not actively thinking about them. And often I would "dream" up a clever solution to a homework problem during my sleep. J.P. Serre, one of the most brilliant mathematician still living today…

While I understand why you'd write something like this, I think that this sort of thinking is the reason people get poor sleep nowadays anyway. This obsession with "efficiency" and "productivity". Even if it is more productive to get sleep, I believe that thinking about it in terms of hygiene or in terms of quality of life is much healthier. Maybe you disagree but not every minute of life should be devoted to doing t…

It's a truly mind-boggling feeling when you escape the busy city life and somehow manage to be truly in sync with yourself.

I was hiking in Scotland and Iceland over the last two years and either times there was a breaking point when we were in the middle of nowhere. In Iceland some weather forced us to camp near a volcano off-site from the camping zones. In the morning, I got out of our tent and looked across a vast space of grass, rocks and ashes. A creek flowing nearby made the only perceivable noise aside from wind.

You take a look left and right. Breathe. A breeze goes over your face and you hear the deafening silence emanating from nature itself.

It was then when the usual life all felt like a massive distraction from life itself. It was a nice, calming and deep feeling that it's completely enough to just be... hard to convey.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#226

Post by she11c0de »

dkersten wrote: post #149
motivic wrote: post #9

In case you feel sleep is a waste of time, it could actually be surprisingly productive to sleep. Once thing I noticed in grad school is that your sub-conscious is passively working on the problems you encountered even if you are not actively thinking about them. And often I would "dream" up a clever solution to a homework problem during my sleep. J.P. Serre, one of the most brilliant mathematician still living today…

I’ve experimented with nootropics and I came to the conclusion that the best way to improve your mental ability is: Sleep Exercise Diet And then everything else like nootropics In that order. That is, they certainly work and help but they’re a micro-optimisation so there’s not much benefit if you’re not doing the macro ones first and sleep, in my opinion and anecdotal experience is at the very top of that list.

Those are my exact conclusions too after doing a lot of research and experimenting. I may add that high intensity exercise seems to work best for the brain. I'd also add stress to this list - people underestimate how big it's impact can be nowadays.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#227

Post by sunpar »

neuronic wrote: post #225
Zarath wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I understand why you'd write something like this, I think that this sort of thinking is the reason people get poor sleep nowadays anyway. This obsession with "efficiency" and "productivity". Even if it is more productive to get sleep, I believe that thinking about it in terms of hygiene or in terms of quality of life is much healthier. Maybe you disagree but not every minute of life should be devoted to doing t…

It's a truly mind-boggling feeling when you escape the busy city life and somehow manage to be truly in sync with yourself. I was hiking in Scotland and Iceland over the last two years and either times there was a breaking point when we were in the middle of nowhere. In Iceland some weather forced us to camp near a volcano off-site from the camping zones. In the morning, I got out of our tent and looked across a vast…

And you don’t need to go far for this effect. I still to this day remember a beautiful calming moment I had when on a walk in the backyard near a house outside of Portland Maine.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#228

Post by mettamage »

neuronic wrote: post #225
Zarath wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I understand why you'd write something like this, I think that this sort of thinking is the reason people get poor sleep nowadays anyway. This obsession with "efficiency" and "productivity". Even if it is more productive to get sleep, I believe that thinking about it in terms of hygiene or in terms of quality of life is much healthier. Maybe you disagree but not every minute of life should be devoted to doing t…

It's a truly mind-boggling feeling when you escape the busy city life and somehow manage to be truly in sync with yourself. I was hiking in Scotland and Iceland over the last two years and either times there was a breaking point when we were in the middle of nowhere. In Iceland some weather forced us to camp near a volcano off-site from the camping zones. In the morning, I got out of our tent and looked across a vast…

I know how that feels, with camping as well. But I cannot shake the thought that most of our life is simply about survival.

And society is a better alternative than hunting/farming on your own.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#229

Post by soulofmischief »

motivic wrote: post #9

In case you feel sleep is a waste of time, it could actually be surprisingly productive to sleep. Once thing I noticed in grad school is that your sub-conscious is passively working on the problems you encountered even if you are not actively thinking about them. And often I would "dream" up a clever solution to a homework problem during my sleep. J.P. Serre, one of the most brilliant mathematician still living today…

When I have long bouts of binge coding (the last month) my dreams are just me constantly refactoring the same bits of code, usually related to the task at hand when I fell asleep.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#230

Post by leadingthenet »

mettamage wrote: post #228
neuronic wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a truly mind-boggling feeling when you escape the busy city life and somehow manage to be truly in sync with yourself. I was hiking in Scotland and Iceland over the last two years and either times there was a breaking point when we were in the middle of nowhere. In Iceland some weather forced us to camp near a volcano off-site from the camping zones. In the morning, I got out of our tent and looked across a vast…

I know how that feels, with camping as well. But I cannot shake the thought that most of our life is simply about survival. And society is a better alternative than hunting/farming on your own.

Sure, but is it a better alternative than hunting/farming in groups? I'm not convinced.
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