"Sleep is Overrated"
Sleep? What's that?
You get in the zone of lack of sleep and realize that you can still function somewhat so you fill yourself with that knowledge. You then convince yourself that it must be true because you can't think hard enough to convince yourself otherwise. --ScottCowan
Hrm. I've known raver types who did nothing but party, drink, get high, and snort meth, all night, every night - and always did their work and studies the next day. I've also known the same types who kept missing work, progressively falling behind - and were stone sober the whole time. I asked the constantly loaded one how they weren't dead and they said there is no drug, food, or exercise that can help you there, the only thing that really matters is if you got enough sleep. Get that, and you could be ten times as hard on your body as a health nut who doesn't get enough sleep. I have to agree - you don't have a prayer at succeeding in life if you aren't getting enough sleep - once you are past 25.
Myself, I've found the following pattern:
- Excess of sleep (9+ hours per 16 waking hours) -> difficulty making decisions due to analysis paralysis, or something similar... When I get around to it I find it much easier to be critical of my own work (and can cover a lot of such material), although procrastination seems especially appealing.
- Proper sleep (6-9 hours per 16...) -> haven't been able to consistently keep this long enough to notice the benefits (the 'wonderful' thing about a night job is that fact that you're almost always getting too little sleep to make some appointment, or too much in order to make up one's SleepDebt? from the previous long night/early morning.). Note, that I can't help but think that a new peak of productivity/whatever awaits once I finally catch up on my sleep debt.
- Moderately deprived (3-6 hours) -> Easy making decisions, find I can get a lot done, but have to deal with the occasional dumb mistake/bad decision/turn down a blind alley. Note that this doesn't seem all that bad, because I end up exploring a lot more territory by simply making a decision and seeing how it pans out. Hence, it seems like I get the most work done during these periods.
- Severely deprived (1-3 hours) -> Get a lot 'done', but once I catch up a bit, I usually end up throwing a lot of it away. The discipline I like to maintain (checking definitions, concepts before I comment on material, checking my new material against previous stuff, etc.) tends to nose-dive, and I end up not only down a blind alley, but finding myself trying to hammer through the wall without any idea what's on the other side, or how thick it might be (i.e., how much accepted theory would have to be replaced to make sense of anything I'm doing). When you see comments by me that are short, argumentative, and fairly ignorant of the position you're coming from (as opposed to merely in disagreement with your position), this is probably the state I'm in. Either that or I had a bad day at work (which usually is the result of the same sleep deprivation).
- Stupid (less than an hour sleep per 16 waking hours) -> Pretty much sums it up. Incoherence... if I'm able to work a wiki at all, it's not going to make much sense. Reality starts taking on dreamy aspects... you know how you dream about stuff you've been working hard on? Well, superimpose those dreams on everyday reality; one has to consciously disregard thoughts such as "I could get along with John better if I replaced his video card" and such. I really really try to avoid this; several years ago I routinely worked 48 hours nearly in a row every weekend (generally Friday at 6:30am until Sunday night at 12am). Effects ranged from hallucinations, incoherence, mild amnesia, insomnia (funny how that works), and sleep walking (mainly after the 'marathon' session) and sleep walking. The last is one of the more disturbing ones (about as much as the hallucinations actually). Once I woke up at 3 in the morning unlocking the door to the gas station I worked at; I had gone to bed at my house across town.
I'm fairly sure I'm not alone in this; some of jwz's writings (www.jwz.com) speak of sleep deprivation causing hallucinations, which seemed quite similar to the ones I've experienced.
Folks. This is not a good thing! This is not something to be proud of! Nothing is forcing you to do this to yourself! A company requiring this from its employees is criminally liable... and you are in any case at least criminally negligent!
Folks. If you see a friend or co-worker doing this to themselves, don't just slough it off! If they drive (and likely even if they don't), they're putting their lives, and possibly others' lives, in danger!!
Back in the day, at my night job, I ran a red light. I didn't realize it until I was halfway through the intersection (and there was traffic... you have no idea how lucky I consider myself). I pulled over and walked back to the store (it was only a couple hundred metres away). The store manager told the person in charge that they should have fired me on the spot. Years later, having developed some common sense, I think they were right.
On a lighter note... kinda gives new meaning to the phrase, "I could drive this route in my sleep."
--WilliamUnderwood
Sleep Is Overrated