Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea of using gaming stats like FPS kill-to-death ratio as a passive measure of cognitive function is fascinating to me. Along the lines of other passive stats like smart scales and fitness trackers. Obviously, there are specific tests you can do, but it's difficult to integrate those into your daily routines to generate consistent stats.
It's not a perfect long term measure. Generally over time, an online games community becomes better on average by two factors: good people getting better, and bad people quitting the game. Unless you are actively getting better in step with the community, stagnation means becoming a relatively worse player.
The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
211–220 of 368 posts
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’d say that the idea that we can recover wasted time sleeping is predicated on the idea that sleep is not a useful thing to do with our time. I think the current consensus is that there is actually many different things that our bodies and minds do while sleeping, so you couldn’t isolate one benefit of sleep and replicate it, you’d have to replicate five or ten different benefits of sleep, or more. If you want to re…
+1 to a maid. You can get someone to clean, do laundry, and possibly cook 2x a week for less than $10k ($200 week * 50 weeks) a year in a mid-sized metro. Possibly even cheaper. Any couple that bickers about cleaning at all should try a maid before a divorce or couples counseling.
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find that my cognitive abilities (i.e. what I am capable of doing) does not seem to significantly decline It's very common. Studies on sleep deprivation report that subjects do not feel their cognitive abilities decline. However, measuring cognition using objective tests does show a significant decrease in these abilities.
See also: "I'm better at pool after 3 beers." Yeah, no you're not.
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#214Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#215I've always mused that we could somehow recover some of the "wasted" time of sleeping. 8 hours every night - a third of a human's lifespan - is just so much time. Sadly, I've never found any positive research that there's any way to do it safely. When I was younger I found schedules like the Uberman[0] and was amazed by the claim: only 2 hours of sleep a day required, as long as you stuck to a pretty rigid schedule a…
I did uberman in grad school, kept it up for a few months. It technically did give me more hours in the day, however most of that free time was spent on either making sure my schedule was arranged well enough for my sleep times, or sitting around reading a book quietly at 3am because everyone else including my roommate is asleep and all businesses are closed. The benefits weren't really as pronounced as I was hoping…
I'm back to standard 7-8/night.
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#216I discovered that about 1/3 of people can be sleep deprived without any ill effects, which is the bucket I fall in. Another 1/3 will be disgruntled but can function at a lower level, but for the last 1/3, it's catastrophic and can't function at all. That's my wife, and what exemplified this the most was after having kids. She was almost immediately a wreck but I was able to hold together with the lack of sleep and sp…
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#217The 12-14 days is crucial here, I think: The US Army tested battle readiness and effectiveness off and on since WWII and found that you can keep a unit working well for a couple of weeks with about 4.5 hours a night. After that, they start to have serious problems. Less than 4.5 hours a night and the problems start a lot sooner.
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find that my cognitive abilities (i.e. what I am capable of doing) does not seem to significantly decline It's very common. Studies on sleep deprivation report that subjects do not feel their cognitive abilities decline. However, measuring cognition using objective tests does show a significant decrease in these abilities.
See also: "I'm better at pool after 3 beers." Yeah, no you're not.
Edit: Don't just take my word for it. https://www.wired.com/2015/05/big-question-booze-help-play-b...
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
What type of video games? That matters a lot to me. I can play a turn-based game like Civilization completely fine on little sleep (measuring the quality of play objectively, like by productivity or victory within a certain number of turns.) Soft real-time games like say a Mario platformer are a little worse but playable if I'm tired. Hard real-time games with very tight and sensitive timing like Guitar Hero or high-…
Games requiring long term focus, chess for example, I personally have difficulty playing when sleep deprived, even though it is turn based. I find I play at ~200 rating points lower on low sleep.
Re: The effects on cognition of sleeping 4 hours per night for 12-14 days
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
See also: "I'm better at pool after 3 beers." Yeah, no you're not.
A few beers makes you better at anything hindered by anxiety. For many people, that's playing pool at the bar in front of others. Or speaking a foreign language. Or holding conversation.