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Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

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Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#31

Post by adeaver »

Tycho wrote: post #15

Is this few-hours sleep business feasible when you need to think deeply about abstract things during the day, eg. programming? I can see it working if your success is tied to being energetic, on the ball, constantly negotiating, acting on information or leading lots of people. But what if you need to do the analysis yourself?

I've been writing code for over 10 years and have been functioning on between 4 and 6 hours of sleep a night and have been quite successful. Not saying I'm one of the 'elite' either just my personal experience.

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#32

Post by brandall10 »

Tycho wrote: post #15

Is this few-hours sleep business feasible when you need to think deeply about abstract things during the day, eg. programming? I can see it working if your success is tied to being energetic, on the ball, constantly negotiating, acting on information or leading lots of people. But what if you need to do the analysis yourself?

In my case I've had this issue (advantage?) since childhood, where I vacillate between both states in 2 week blocks - 2 weeks at a time where I'll get 7-8 hours, and 2 weeks where I get approx half as much. In the latter case I simply don't get naturally tired. But it does eventually catch up to me, and then all of a sudden - bam!, I'm tired one night and naturally fall asleep say at 10pm every night.

What I've found is with the poor sleep cycles I tend to be more energetic and get to solutions quicker. If the problem requires deep thinking, I can focus on the problem at hand much better, but at the same time I can make many superficial mistakes. The best I can say is it's a bit like being in a minor psychedelic state all the time, where the creative pathways of my mind are more open with a manic desire to latch onto something interesting. It also exacerbates my Asperger's-like condition. OTOH, if I am in the design process and building a piece a software that requires high conceptual integrity getting more sleep is certainly beneficial.

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#33

Post by lkozma »

mzl wrote: post #18
lkozma wrote: post #16

It's a false dichotomy, on a lot of hard problems progress is a step function, and you often "get much done" while sleeping. I.e. when you wake up well rested you see things from a different angle. If it's something like chopping wood, sure, the less you sleep the more wood you chop, within reasonable limits, but I don't think that is what these articles aim for. I think it's wrong to look at sleep as a waste of time…

I think that you are missing the fact that short-sleepers wake up well-rested, even though their sleep-time is much shorter and would not suffice to give us normals enough rest. I'm not sure if there has been any actual studies that show that longer sleep-times given ad-libitum sleeping is more effective in helping the brain process more information during the sleep phase.

You are right, I'm not aware of any such study either. What I meant is just that there is no need to feel guilty for whatever amount of sleep feels right, regardless of what society says in the name of efficiency and productivity. It's ok to enjoy sleeping.

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#35

Post by matthavener »

jules wrote: post #21
silverbax88 wrote: post #3

I think it's obvious what we must do next. According to every science fiction film or book I've ever read, we must capture them, confine them and study them in an attempt to learn their secrets and duplicate it in everyone else.

Luckily evolution is already doing the work for us.

How would that work? Non-sleeper's children are more likely to survive?

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#38

Post by michael_dorfman »

Swizec wrote: post #24

Not saying that I'm one of the sleepless elite, but I seem to function best on 6 hours of sleep a day. Whenever I try to sleep more I just feel tired all day and when I sleep less ... well that depends on how much less. For optimum energivity I find an hour of sleep is best, just enough to reset your cycle. But you can't do this more than once at a time, the next day the whole 6 hours are needed. Don't have any idea…

Oh and anyone who doesn't want to sleep as much as they should, meditation is a great way of doing it. I managed to shave 2 hours off of my daily sleep need with 10 minutes of meditation ... so essentially I averaged 4 hours a day, for something like 5 years before I got out of the meditating habit for varying reasons.

OK, I'll match your anecdote with one of my own. I meditate 40 minutes per day, and it hasn't shaved a minute off of my sleep time. I average 8 hours of sleep per night, substantially more on the weekends when I can get it.

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#39

Post by michaelcampbell »

This reminds me of the studies not too long about how some very small percentage of the population actually CAN multitask well. Then a very large percentage of the population used that as "evidence" to justify their existing habits. I see it here already.

Re: Why Some People Can Run on Little Sleep and Get So Much Done

#40

Post by mzl »

lkozma wrote: post #33
mzl wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you are missing the fact that short-sleepers wake up well-rested, even though their sleep-time is much shorter and would not suffice to give us normals enough rest. I'm not sure if there has been any actual studies that show that longer sleep-times given ad-libitum sleeping is more effective in helping the brain process more information during the sleep phase.

You are right, I'm not aware of any such study either. What I meant is just that there is no need to feel guilty for whatever amount of sleep feels right, regardless of what society says in the name of efficiency and productivity. It's ok to enjoy sleeping.

I fully agree with that. I love to sleep, and like my 8 hours of sleep per night.
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