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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

#241

Post by Ensorceled »

pmikesell wrote: post #140
harikb wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lucky you. In my case, I end up thinking about the problem in my sleep, come up with solutions that are a mix between reality and fantasy within the dream and usually end in a horrible loop of the above while I desperately try to break out of it. In short, spoils my whole night sleep ( at least how I feel about it next day ). Rarely have it actually produced a successful solution!

I secretly suspect this is everybody, and the people who claim to be coming up with real solutions in their sleep are back justifying what happened when they had enough time to sleep well and felt nice.

Claiming that all the engineers, scientists and researchers who claim to use a specific technique to solve problems are really just "back justifyting" seems a bit weird. For the record, I use this technique all the time AND, for the past 8 years, have been getting a solid 8 hours sleep most nights. Why would we do that?

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#242

Post by brootstrap »

sunpar wrote: post #227
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…

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.

Very true. and although i'm in the midwest you can still find forest preserves, hiking trails, lakes, rivers etc. Get out, find some big wide open space, no other people around. You get to zone in, decompress a little bit. personally i like fishing so i can stand around in silence for hours casting a little bait around trying to bag a fish.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#243

Post by Razengan »

Idea for a startup: Sleep pods (or, perhaps more marketable, smart beds.)

Create the perfect comfortable environment in an enclosure, constantly maintaining the temperature/oxygen/etc. that's optimized for the individual.

Artificially induce sleep to knock the user out right away or within their preferred duration.

Monitor their vitals throughout sleep.

Perhaps inject nutrients.

Fluff: Massage, choice of music/sound effects for falling asleep and on waking up, scents/aromas, an overhead screen to show pleasing scenes, maybe to create the illusion of sleeping under the stars etc.

Make it so effective that eventually the user only need to sleep once or twice every week (but of course they can always choose to sleep more often.)

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#244

Post by dkersten »

she11c0de wrote: post #226
dkersten wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're absolutely right about stress, in my experience. I missed that one, but its so true.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#245

Post by driverdan »

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…

This doesn't happen for everyone. I've never had this happen. I've had a few dreams that seemed like amazing insights when I first woke up but then realized how they were dumb dream ideas.

That said solving problems while not focusing them has been repeatedly shown in research, including in dreams. I've had it happen many times while awake. The technique is to work intensely on a problem, then completely stop and move to something unrelated and simple. Often times a solution or missing information will pop into your head much later.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#246

Post by driverdan »

Razengan wrote: post #243

Idea for a startup: Sleep pods (or, perhaps more marketable, smart beds.) Create the perfect comfortable environment in an enclosure, constantly maintaining the temperature/oxygen/etc. that's optimized for the individual. Artificially induce sleep to knock the user out right away or within their preferred duration. Monitor their vitals throughout sleep. Perhaps inject nutrients. Fluff: Massage, choice of music/sound…

> Make it so effective that eventually the user only need to sleep once or twice every week

That's not how humans work.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#247

Post by driverdan »

yati wrote: post #200

Sleep is very very important, and I've learned this the hard way. Sleeping well has been a challenge, and I am glad I'm not alone. Articles like this one and books like Why We Sleep however make me very anxious, since all they seem to do is point out how bad it is if one doesn't get enough sleep. I know that. How can I fix it? I had CBT based sleep therapy last year, and things have since improved, but not much. Then…

It sounds like you have a problem with high anxiety. Have you spoken with a mental health professional about it? Anxiety can impact your ability to sleep.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#248

Post by amptorn »

Kiro wrote: post #197
koonsolo wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a valid point. But on the other hand, this is ycombinator news, and so entrepreneurs trying to get that last bit of productivity by doing an all nighter might think more long-term about this.

Hacker News is the complete opposite nowadays. People who tries to maximize productivity are frowned upon. The norm is to put your family, friends, travelling and stuff like that before anything else.

Productivity is just value you create for people who aren't you. Family, friends and travelling is value you create for yourself.

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#249

Post by OJFord »

> Your reaction time will begin lagging around hour 18; after a full night without sleep, it will nearly triple—which, for context, is about the same as being legally drunk.

Wouldn't a reaction test be much better than breathalysing?

1. it would catch reasons (such as this) for being unfit to drive besides drunkenness

2. it would work whatever your weight / propensity for absorbing alcohol

3. it tests the actual thing we care about - reading this made me think that 'breathalyser' is an answer to an 'XY question'

Re: What Happens to the Body on No Sleep

#250

Post by MichaelApproved »

Razengan wrote: post #243

Idea for a startup: Sleep pods (or, perhaps more marketable, smart beds.) Create the perfect comfortable environment in an enclosure, constantly maintaining the temperature/oxygen/etc. that's optimized for the individual. Artificially induce sleep to knock the user out right away or within their preferred duration. Monitor their vitals throughout sleep. Perhaps inject nutrients. Fluff: Massage, choice of music/sound…

> Artificially induce sleep to knock the user out right away or within their preferred duration.

That alone would be a billion dollar achievement.

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