Lack of sleep

[GreyWanderer]

I know someone who claims to sleep only 2 hours a night. That can't be good, can it?

[rwald]

I slept a total of 20 minutes last night...

Of course, I ended up napping for 2 hours during classes today...maybe that was why...

Edit: After I wrote this, I went off and slept for 10 hours. So I guess I needed that sleep after all...

[kittynh]

Napoleon was supposed to sleep only 4 hours a night, but that could be some history rumor. As he got older, he got fat, and slept a lot more though....

[GreyWanderer]

Well, this guy has been doing it for three months straight.

I mean, if I get only 6 hours of sleep one night I'm pretty tired the following day.

[fishbob]

http://www.sciencenews.org/20030208/fob4ref.asp

Not good at all. There have been several short articles in Science News recently that summarize new sleep research. Lack of sleep appears to be pretty bad for your health.

[Suspected Idiot]

2 hours sleep sounds very, very low. Couple of days of that and I start getting hallucinations and twitches.

[LillyThePink]

I am an absolute nightmare if I don't get any sleep.

When we first brought the puppy home, he cried all night (no one had mentioned the hotwater bottles or ticking clock - he had the WORST separation anxiety) for a week and after a week of having 2-3 hours sleep a night I was an absolute zombie and kept bursting into tears the whole time.

Isn't it a time for brain cell/body renewal??

[Frostbite]

I get stomach problems if I dont sleep enough. I feel like puking all day.

[malaka]

I go out a lot. Happy hour, bars, clubs, parties, etc. To the tune of 4-6 nights a week. For about 10 years.

My experience has been that 1 good nights sleep can compensate for 2-3 bad nights sleep. For instance, If I get 8-10 hours on Sunday night, I can survive pretty well on 4-5 hours the next 2-3 nights. Then I need to rest up and re-energize myself.

I've also found that if I get 8-10 hours of sleep 2-3 nights in a row, I end up feeling tied and miserable.

[OdderMensch]

Too much sleep also sucks. But my dad had severe sleep apnea(sp) for years that whet undiagnosed, the doctor said he figured it had been decades since my poor old pop had gotten a simple good nights sleep! His disposition is now much improved.

I don't sleep very long, I go for months sometimes sleeping just 4 hours in a 7 day period. Mostly I can sleep 1-2 hours a day in normal mode for me, I don't dream as i don't sleep deep enough to activate REM. I have been like this for 12 years now my daughters the same she doesn't sleep, she does now after her spell in hospital recently and she feels just awful. Naturally I am a night owl I sleep better during the day she was the same.

Is it harmful yes, the body needs longer and deeper sleep to repair itself. If your friend cat naps then he is heading for trouble.

I am lucky in that respect I can make my body sleep even if I am wide awake that way it gains some peace to do what it needs.

Has he seen a Doctor about it, or is he worried over something?

[K-W]

I went through my first year at University averaging 4 hours a night. I crashed towards teh end of the year and fell asleep everywhere I went.

My brother is an insomniac, its amazing how much sleep effects peoples moods.

[neutrino_cannon]

Shrews, which have metabolic requirements high enough that they must constantly eat (think of a shrew's metabolism as a very small, hot flame) never sleep. I remember hearing about a sort of small porpoise that rarely if ever sleep, anyone else?

On the other hand, koalas sleep 22 hours a day. Maybe I'll avoid that eucalyptus tea...

So perhaps for certain animals evolution has drawn them around the problem of sleep. Sleep may well bring benefits, but koalas are certainly voulnerable, I've never understood why wedge-tailed eagles haven'e become specialized killer of koalas.

I always thought it telling that thanatos and morpheus are brothers. Kill them in their sleep, very effective. Are their any predators that predate primarily upon sleeping victems (evolutionary origins of insomnia?)?

[heath]

Originally posted by neutrino_cannon
I've never understood why wedge-tailed eagles haven'e become specialized killer of koalas.


Kolalas are addapted to eat only eucalypus leaves. Only certain kinds of eucalyptus I think too. There is very little neutrients in the leaves (so they sleep a lot) and eucalyptus oil is toxic so koalas are too (so they don't get eaten).

Evolution is a wonderful thing.

(P.S. Koalas are not the cuddly lovely things they appear to be. They are bad tempted and nasty. And they are not soft but wiry)