I'm curious of the different impact between normal sleep deprivation and primary insomnia. It's common that insomniacs don't feel sleepy during the day as compared to a normal sleeper that simply didn't get enough.
Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
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Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#22(This is mainly unrelated but simply fascinating) I came across an article on this same topic, regarding a man who after being shot in the head could no longer sleep..... and apparently lived (as a fully functioning human being??) for 40 more years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kern The problem is that I cannot find any scholarly articles that mention him (searched on Google Scholar, do not have access to other…
Interesting question, both in its own right, and in terms of what Wikipedia should do about it (something I've had an interest in [1] for a while). Looking at the university databases I have access to, I don't really find anything substantive beyond what you've found on Google Scholar. All the stories allege that he suffered a brain injury in 1915 that left him unable to sleep, but the stories themselves are never earlier than the 1930s, and are relatively short newspaper articles (at least, those surviving reports that are digitized and searchable). Is it a real case? A hoax? Something in between, misreporting a real case? Something well documented in an undigitized archive somewhere, waiting to be discovered? No idea.
[1] http://www.kmjn.org/notes/wikipedia_notability_verifiability...
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#23I'm a bit surprised that .08 BAC corresponds to 70% ability. That means that in many cases, a good-but-legally-drunk driver will be vastly out-performing a terrible-but-sober driver. I'm just glad my car will drive itself soon.
>>That means that in many cases, a good-but-legally-drunk driver will be vastly out-performing a terrible-but-sober driver.
Not really. Drunk-driving is illegal due to increased reaction times, not decreased driving ability. You can be drunk and properly follow the traffic laws, but if you run into a situation that requires quick reflexes you're much more likely to not react quickly enough.
Whereas terrible drivers are generally terrible in other ways.
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#24(This is mainly unrelated but simply fascinating) I came across an article on this same topic, regarding a man who after being shot in the head could no longer sleep..... and apparently lived (as a fully functioning human being??) for 40 more years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kern The problem is that I cannot find any scholarly articles that mention him (searched on Google Scholar, do not have access to other…
For a definitive weapon against sleep you could look into modafinil. I haven't tried it because all the shady websites where you can buy it only ship to the US, but apparently it turns off your need for sleep completely with next to no effects of sleep deprivation.
But I wouldn't use it to skip more than a night of sleep. Sounds like a bad idea because you do need to sleep. Sleep is good for you.
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#25(This is mainly unrelated but simply fascinating) I came across an article on this same topic, regarding a man who after being shot in the head could no longer sleep..... and apparently lived (as a fully functioning human being??) for 40 more years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kern The problem is that I cannot find any scholarly articles that mention him (searched on Google Scholar, do not have access to other…
I found this article - http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/02/the-end-of-... - which mentions some other cases and claims that Paul Kern didn't sleep... but did close his eyes and rest for a couple of hours each day. The whole thing's setting off some skeptical alarms in my head. I think it's pretty telling that all but one of the examples are unverified and from before 1950, when things like EEGs weren't available to verify if someone was sleeping or "just resting their eyes". The only modern case was followed for just four days, which is a long time to go without sleep but certainly not impossible.
It reminds me of credulous studies of people who claim they don't need to eat and drink, surviving off sunlight or air or something mystical. Dig into them a little and you invariably find that they were only monitored for a few days or they were left alone to bathe or pray or whatever else provided some gap where they could go and get food.
EDIT: Did a little more research and I came across a possible explanation that does seem to have some decent scientific studies to back it up (more than any of the non-sleeping examples, at least). "Sleep state misperception" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_state_misperception), where a patient doesn't think they've slept much or at all, even though they actually have.
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but one aspect of "terrible" driving would be: following too close, leaving oneself insufficient space to brake in response to leading vehicles. So, someone who is terrible in that respect could be more dangerous sober than a better driver is when drunk.
Of course, the real reason the limit is there is because the greatest danger is the terrible driver, drunk. When you take 30% worse of "terrible", you get "really terrible".
I couldn't help but think of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URupBZbfbJg
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#27Can't remember exact resource right now, but I've been researching sleep deprivation and related topics for a chapter in my book and apparently every hour of sleep deprivation reduces your cognitive performance by roughly 25%. I found that rather fascinating.
This is interesting, especially for someone who has researched the concept before.
Some immediate questions come to mind, like: at what point do you start tracking hours as sleep deprived versus not? What areas of cognitive performance are being evaluated exactly? How was the research collected and what was the sample size?
Any time I see explicit numbers like this connected to neuroscience a bunch of little red flags start to fly up. But then again, I didn't sleep well last night.
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#28Good: * The idea is pretty interesting; I feel like I'm drunk, but I'm undersleeping the last few months. * The major reason I don't get enough sleep is that I need to binge from time to time to get things done or enjoy life. I think I'll do better if I could track my sleeping needs before I get to feel like I do now Bad: * TA looks like an advertisement * The website uses words like "your workforce". I hope employer…
> I hope employers stay away from their employees sleep. In theory it could turn out well, if it turned out that the numbers said it was better to pay people to take an hour nap in the middle of the work day. In practice I assume it'd turn out to be more of a mandatory unpaid nap, of course.
Thank you for your input. Upside of employees knowing how the staff sleep overall (nothing to a specific employee) could possibly lead to a better shift schedule and the ability to feel less fatigued in your free time
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#29Can't remember exact resource right now, but I've been researching sleep deprivation and related topics for a chapter in my book and apparently every hour of sleep deprivation reduces your cognitive performance by roughly 25%. I found that rather fascinating.
This is interesting, especially for someone who has researched the concept before. Some immediate questions come to mind, like: at what point do you start tracking hours as sleep deprived versus not? What areas of cognitive performance are being evaluated exactly? How was the research collected and what was the sample size? Any time I see explicit numbers like this connected to neuroscience a bunch of little red flag…
If memory serves, they measured reaction time, short-term memory and ability to solve complex tasks. Can't remember how they measured what is a sleep deprived hour and what isn't.
Also "ability to solve complex tasks" seems like it might be difficult to quantify and I can't remember how they did that.
But it's fairly easy to measure the difference in reaction times and capacity to remember strings of numbers.
Re: Didn't Get Enough Sleep? You Might As Well Be Drunk
#30(This is mainly unrelated but simply fascinating) I came across an article on this same topic, regarding a man who after being shot in the head could no longer sleep..... and apparently lived (as a fully functioning human being??) for 40 more years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kern The problem is that I cannot find any scholarly articles that mention him (searched on Google Scholar, do not have access to other…
I found this article - http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/02/the-end-of-... - which mentions some other cases and claims that Paul Kern didn't sleep... but did close his eyes and rest for a couple of hours each day. The whole thing's setting off some skeptical alarms in my head. I think it's pretty telling that all but one of the examples are unverified and from before 1950, when things like EEGs weren't a…
Prahlad Jani has yet to be debunked and he was observed twice (in 2003, 2010) round the clock for up to 15 days without food and water intake or waste movements.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/International/man-eat-drink/sto...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani
Very credulous. But, as the wise man says "We'll see." :)