Sleep Deprivation: The Great Myth

Originally posted by ANOK
Hmmmm I find that a bit hard to believe. After 5 days with no sleep you would be halucinating.

Actually, I can confirm that hallucinations are not a necessary consequence... I too have made it to the five day mark (but only once).

I did, however, have one hell of an attitude....NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT!

Oh Grady, does that mean you aren't familier with "Inspector Montelbano" (spl?)? He's the Detective who knows where 'the lines' are and when to 'cross' them. You have to expect an "Italian Detective" to look world weary, as anyone who knows what 'really goes on', and cares, can do.

But yes, that programme has kept me 'entertained' during sleepless nights, and I have just finished a round of, "Sleep, sweet sleep, where art thou", with a blissfull, unbroken 4 hrs.

But please don't pick on "Salvo", he's the 'Detective' everyone who loves justice, should want in their neigbourhood.

Back onto the dangers of insomnia; I had to learn, years ago, when I wasn't fit for things like crossing busy roads, using sharp knives or the gas range etc. , when I'm alone. The little 'micro naps' that randomly hit you, can strike at very bad times, and too few people are warned of this, even when they're seeing a doctor for help.

Saddly alot of people don't tell their G.P.s of these 'extra' problems, fearing a "mental illness" 'lable', so don't get the 'extra' help to cope with these day to day functions, that for them, can be life threatening.

Personally, I'm shocked at how many 'medicos' I've had to educate on the "dangers of insomnia".

For so many people, insomnia is a natural response to unnatural events/situations (serious crime, war trauma, illness etc.) yet they are the same traumas that have those "Big Pharma. guys" desperate to hook you up with more drugs; that just happen to 'bring along' the lable, 'mental illness'. Which then makes those victims of serious crime, "unreliable witnesses". "Funny", how that "works".

Tell you what, lock most of those child murdering rapists and their "Top End of Town" 'protectors' up, and there would be so many people sleeping well, that drug stocks would plummet.

Picking on Salvo...I don't know....you guys need more foreign T.V....if you took Vic Macky and Tony Sapprano, mixed them together and only left the good bits, you'ld have Salvo Montelbano. A deep, complex character, who above all, is "just".

P.S. also don't forget that many of us 'short sleepers' are also famous for 'great minds', so be carefull before you dare to 'lable' any insomniac, or their work, 'mental'.

P.P.S. Grady, if you can handle subtitles (I hear most Americans don't) you can get Inspector Montalbano on DVD. Damn fine stories (inc. illegal harvesting of human organs, mafia sell outs and such 'hot' topics ), production and acting.




[edit on 24-3-2006 by suzy ryan]

I don't know anything about Inspector Montelbano, but I did find this discription of him on Google:

"The gruffly handsome, yet curiously irritable Inspector Montalbano..."

I don't mind subtitles, at all, as long as what I'm watching good enough for the trouble. I often enjoy picking up subtle changes in idiom when I am watching a film in a language I have some knowledge of.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
I don't know anything about Inspector Montelbano, but I did find this discription of him on Google:

"The gruffly handsome, yet curiously irritable Inspector Montalbano..."

I don't mind subtitles, at all, as long as what I'm watching good enough for the trouble. I often enjoy picking up subtle changes in idiom when I am watching a film in a language I have some knowledge of.

Well anyone caring to "do justice" in "that enviroment" is going to get irritable.

Yes it's amazing how much language you pick up when watching regular characters, then you start to notice reginal variations...anyway, off topic.

Had a friend over today, he's thinking of going to the doctor about his sleep as he works on ladders and becoming unsafe for him.

Thats why I feel folk should be warned not to take insomnia lightly, many road, workplace and other serious and fatal "accidents", are the direct result of insomnia, yet hardly ever recorded as such.

A few drugs that might do the job, known as "cognitive enhancement", are already on the market, and a few dozen others are on the way. Perhaps the best-known is modafinil. Licensed to treat narcolepsy, the condition that causes people to suddenly fall asleep, it has notable effects in healthy people too. Modafinil can keep a person awake and alert for 90 hours straight, with none of the jitteriness and bad concentration that amphetamines or even coffee seem to produce.

In fact, with the help of modafinil, sleep-deprived people can perform even better than their well-rested, unmedicated selves. The forfeited rest doesn't even need to be made good. Military research is finding that people can stay awake for 40 hours, sleep the normal 8 hours, and then pull a few more all-nighters with no ill effects. It's an open secret that many, perhaps most, prescriptions for modafinil are written not for people who suffer from narcolepsy, but for those who simply want to stay awake. Similarly, many people are using Ritalin not because they suffer from attention deficit or any other disorder, but because they want superior concentration during exams or heavy-duty negotiations.

www.newscientist.com...

So one has to wonder if sleeping is such a big deal when some people can apparently do without most of it. Are their bodies really that different or are the rest of us just not using the potential we might have?

Stellar