AIBU to think it's fascinating that humans NEED sleep, and

[bbcessex]

To wonder what life would be like if we didn't?

I love my bed but often wonder what an alternative life spent round the clock would feel like!!

I agree and think about this sometimes!

I think it's so weird that we don't know that we're asleep until we wake up and also, during the time we are asleep, we're unconcious and don't know what's going on around us.
In answer to the orig post though, how awful to be awake 24/7 and I'd hate to see my heating and elec bill being on all day and night !

@katkit I think I might have done that once as a kid. We're you very sleep deprived at the time?

I haven't slept for longer than two hours straight since ds was born ten months ago. And probably not more than six hours in a night in total. I find I'm sort of used to it now, I think the body adapts. I get up at 5 to go to work and feel like it's a lie in!

Is there anything better than getting into a freshly made bed though.

Imagine not having that pleasure

I'm quite satisfied that sleep is an essential activity, so don't question it that way as such. But I do think it's oddly interesting that as humans we have a specially padded shelf that we spend around 8 hours a day unconscious on...(if we're lucky)

I find it weird that sleep is so imperative to our wellbeing/health/functioning and yet human babies are complete sleep thieves. Like how does that work Mother Nature? I feel like it's a really bad design flaw.

Exactly. I think it's a sign of our higher evolution that we do sleep for a whole night. It's the only sensible way to spend most of the hours of darkness! Otherwise you're just hanging around waiting for sun up..

We need to get rid of waste and process everything.

Its the same as thinking it weird we need to poo and pee.

Dolphins sleep one half of their brain at a time, so that they don't drown.

Although, now that I see it written down the dolphin thing sounds like an old wives' tale. I might need to google it.

Sometimes I wish we could hibernate - that seems a great thing for some animals to do.

@IDrinkAndISewThings - exactly!! I imagine developed mankind being observed by other specifies , who are bamboozled by these creatures who drive machines, dance, cry, shout and laugh, then climb onto a padded plinth, make it pitch black and pull some fabric over themselves for 8 hours!!!

I find it weird that sleep is so imperative to our wellbeing/health/functioning and yet human babies are complete sleep thieves. Like how does that work Mother Nature? I feel like it's a really bad design flaw.

YYYYY!!!!

Beautifully put @fairybeagle !!

I had a manager who only needed 3-4 hours sleep per night. I would love to be able to function normally on so little sleep. I like to think I'd be so productive.

I need to know if the dolphins thing is true

@bbcessex

I doubt life would be much different.

I do wish I didn't NEED to sleep actually.

I could get so much more done if I was able to stay awake 24/7.

I’ve always been fascinated with fatal familial insomnia
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia

If you don’t sleep, your brain tries to dream when you’re awake. Wasn’t there a DJ who tried to stay awake for 2 weeks but went a bit mad with hallucinations?

I agree it’s fascinating. To render yourself completely vulnerable for such long periods must mean something amazing is happening in there.😁

There's a biological condition called Fatal Familial Insomnia where the complete inability to sleep sets in during about middle age. They just stop being able to sleep and, about nine months later, they die.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20160118-the-tragic-fate-of-the-people-who-stop-sleeping

I need to know if the dolphins thing is true

I thin it’s true - my daughter used to love sharks and this was one of her shark facts (I assume it’s also true for dolphins).

x post

Matthew Walker comes at it from exactly that perspective op - what a weird thing from an evolutionary point of view. His thought was it must mean that sleep is actually really important and doing a lot of useful stuff because outwardly it seems like a bit of a bad idea. His research went from there really and it's completely amazing how crucial sleep is just for our survival.

They did an experiment on cats once. Every time they fell asleep they woke them.

They died from lack of sleep after around 15 days. A similar experiment was done with rats where they were placed on a floating disk in some water. Rat awake, it can balance. Rat falls asleep, it gets wet and wakes up. They also died from sleep deprivation.

I love the importance we give to sleep. All those animals who are like "fuck it, I'm tired" and go to sleep wherever whereas humans need to put on their special sleep outfit, carry out their special pre-sleep routine, go into their special sleep room, and lie down on their special sleep platform where they pretend to be asleep until they actually are asleep.

So glad it’s not just me who thinks of weird shit like this. Usually as I’m trying to actually get to sleep and my brain won’t shut off

@commanderdalgliesh yes, very! Maybe not as much as you though 😮

We used to sleep in two chunks in the past- a period before midnight and then be awake for a couple of hours - and then another chunk. It’s been reasonably documented.