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What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

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Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#91

Post by monochr »

bigtunacan wrote: post #82
monochr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the typical great man myth that gets promulgated by their publicists to make them seem more than human. As a rule they are either out right lies or greatly exaggerated, other myths of this type is Kennedy reading 1000 words per minute, Napoleon listening to reports, reading a letter and dictating laws all at the same time, or Stalin single handedly designing the first five year plan.

1000 words per minute doesn't seem outlandish. My 10 year old already reads at over 300 wpm.

I got married yesterday. If the trend continues tomorrow I will be doubling the number of wives I have every day. I expect to be married to the whole human race by the end of the month.

Your childs increase in reading speed by contrast is highly unimpressive.

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#92

Post by monochr »

aswanson wrote: post #73
monochr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the typical great man myth that gets promulgated by their publicists to make them seem more than human. As a rule they are either out right lies or greatly exaggerated, other myths of this type is Kennedy reading 1000 words per minute, Napoleon listening to reports, reading a letter and dictating laws all at the same time, or Stalin single handedly designing the first five year plan.

Stalin designing the first 5 year plan doesnt sound impressive. It sounds like an idiotic idea resulting from an idiot, with predictably idiotic centrally planned results.

The first 5 year plan was the most successful piece of industrial policy by any country in the world until the Chinese opening of their market. What's even more impressive is that it happened in the middle of the great depression without outside help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_five-year_plan_%28Soviet...

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#93

Post by AznHisoka »

NathanKP wrote: post #13

I really wish I had that trait, but instead I have the exact opposite. I often need about twelve hours to feel fully rested, and even then usually require a coffee or two to feel productive. Some people suggested recently that maybe I have sleep apnea, so I'm planning to try a sleep study sometime soon.

Do you eat too close to your bedtime. That can really destroy the effectiveness of your sleep. As can digestive issues which can lead to not absorbing nutrients.

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#94

Post by xavierxf- »

monochr wrote: post #91
bigtunacan wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1000 words per minute doesn't seem outlandish. My 10 year old already reads at over 300 wpm.

I got married yesterday. If the trend continues tomorrow I will be doubling the number of wives I have every day. I expect to be married to the whole human race by the end of the month. Your childs increase in reading speed by contrast is highly unimpressive.

Not to ruin the analogy, but wouldn't the number of wives you have just increase by one every day? Because 2 * 0 = 0?

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#95

Post by verisimilitude »

Mahn wrote: post #57
Afton wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do it. Seriously. I can't believe the change in my life since discovering (in my 40s!) that I've suffered from sleep apnea my entire teen/adult life.

Out of curiosity, in which ways did your life change? How did you adjust or what do you do differently now that you know?

For what it is worth, I had a neighbor who was so exhausted he retired. THEN he got a CPAP machine and felt so amazing he'd wished he'd kept working.

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#96

Post by liareye »

nicholasdrake wrote: post #40

i used to need 8-10 hours but after reading tim ferriss' 4 hour body i nap 20 minutes 2/3x a day at my desk and only need to sleep 4/5 a night which is saving me 4/5 hours a day of sleep time.. i don't feel fabulous when i wake up lol, but i feel the same as if i had slept more.. http://www.4hourlife.com/2012/04/29/become-uberman-sleep-lik... only problem is culturally workplaces aren't very accepting of polyphasic s…

lol

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#98

Post by juliangregorian »

brotoss wrote: post #15

Kind of crazy how little is known about sleep in the scientific community. The answer right now to "why" we need to sleep doesn't go much deeper than "because we get tired"

I thought it was generally accepted that the brain needs time to recover and assimilate all the input it received during the day, and that process is likely a major factor in dreams. Supporting this is the fact that smarter animals need more sleep than simpler ones and younger brains need more sleep than older ones. Any actual brain scientists can confirm whether I'm just regurgitating folk knowledge or not?

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#99

Post by electronvolt »

NathanKP wrote: post #13

I really wish I had that trait, but instead I have the exact opposite. I often need about twelve hours to feel fully rested, and even then usually require a coffee or two to feel productive. Some people suggested recently that maybe I have sleep apnea, so I'm planning to try a sleep study sometime soon.

I have moderate-to-severe apnea, but nothing that might have caused it (not overweight, don't smoke, etc.) and didn't find out until I was 21.

Using a CPAP is a night and day difference--whereas I used to require 10-12 hours to function without randomly falling asleep if I sat still for too long, and now I can get 6-8 without any issues and I'm more alert, have a better mood, etc.

I wouldn't have known except that my ex-girlfriend noticed that I wasn't breathing when I was asleep and got me to see a doctor about it. Apparently it had been going on for years and years--I asked other people who had seen/heard me sleep from 15 onwards and a lot of them also had noticed it but hadn't said anything.

If you think you have apnea, sleep studies suck to go through ("here, lets stick a bunch of monitors on you and then let you try to sleep"), but it was entirely worth it. If it's at all economical to do one, I'd suggest looking into it: even if they don't find apnea they might find something else.

Re: What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

#100

Post by fny »

xavierxf- wrote: post #94
monochr wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got married yesterday. If the trend continues tomorrow I will be doubling the number of wives I have every day. I expect to be married to the whole human race by the end of the month. Your childs increase in reading speed by contrast is highly unimpressive.

Not to ruin the analogy, but wouldn't the number of wives you have just increase by one every day? Because 2 * 0 = 0?

Perhaps she was a midwife?
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