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 went through a period of time not sleeping and was down to 2 1/2 hrs a night and going to work. I felt really wired most of the time. I used to bake in the night and give it away so I wouldn't eat it. My GP thought I meant no and again then he found out that I had been doing that for about three months. He put me on medication and I am back into a routine now. I sleep about 7 hrs although I have the odd night. I was going to bed at 10:30 so not just staying up. I just felt like i had had enough sleep. Maggie Thatcher said she slept very little.

Another one here who always thought how sad it must be to be a vampire and not need to sleep.

About 15 years ago I had a job which meant I rarely got more than 4 hours of sleep in any 24 hours, and would sometimes go something like 30 hours without any sleep at all. This went on for about 6 months.
It didn't do my health a great deal of good, but at least when I had DS, a couple of years later, the night wakings were a piece of piss...

I am often up before the sunrise even in summer. I love watching it rise. We look onto countryside with hills in the background so it is an amazing view.

The human body is amazing. Lack of sleep seriously fucks you up. I read some where that when your sleeping your cells recover or regenerate. That’s probably why you sleep a lot when your ill!

I love the way we get ready for sleep, taking off our clothes (and perhaps putting special, other clothes on); and lying down on a specially constructed piece of furniture, wrapping ourselves in blankets and duvets and turning off the lights...

I think it's cute.

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

That's horrible. Poor cats. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

These must have been some fairly placid cats. Mine would have your hand off if you tried this on him! Joking aside, I agree this is cruel!

When my boys were babies/toddlers I worked night shift and slept in several short bursts. I put them to bed at 7pm and slept from 7-9pm then had a 90 minute break at work when I slept (often on a blanket on the store cupboard floor) and I put them for a nap straight after lunch and again slept until they woke. Obviously I also had 3/4 full nights sleep a week, or as full as you get with a baby. I thought it worked fine at the time, however, there are things that happened during that time that I can’t recall and I have definite blanks in my memory so I suspect it’s not ideal.

@StayClassySally biophasic sleep?
Disclaimer : I don't know how to spell it correctly.

@Dollywilde I remember Shattered! Presented by Dermot O Leary IIRC? I used to think it was weird how watching a sleep deprived person on the show would make me feel so tired. I remember discussing it with my friends at the time who all agreed that watching the programme made them so sleepy too

@redlioness123 I know! It was on during my GCSE revision. God it feels so long ago. No way they’d allow it nowadays.

I also find it really odd when I’ve walked home in the early hours to think most of the humans in the vicinity have all chosen to be unconscious at the same time. It freaks me out at bit to think if you took the roof off all the houses you’d see them all lying down down, recharging like machines

Yes - and this; the flip-side of the cute!

I always think how weird it is that we all go to bed at night and most of us are all sleeping at the same time.

The whole going and lying in a bed for 7-8 hours thing makes me feel like a Sim

• Reality / science aside, our LOVE of sleep, instead of / in addition to our NEED for it , is another thing that distinguishes us from other mammals..*

I'm pretty sure my dog loves being asleep.

I've just got in, and walked up the road where most house lights are out, and it is weird having read this thread, knowing everyone is in their PJ's, lying in bed, having a go at sleeping, or asleep.

Well our bodies need rest & time to reboot I suppose. I think the Nazis famously did sleep deprivation experiments: they found after 3weeks being kept awake /with no sleep, all the subjects died of exhaustion.

Da Vinci did the 20mins every 4hrs and he did ok! Kramer didn't 😂

Can you still get Pro Plus??

If we were naturally herbivores we'd probably need a lot less sleep, just a couple of hour naps a day. Instead we'd spend most of our time chewing grass.

I find it really odd from an evolutionary perspective that humans needs sleep so badly but human babies are rubbish at sleeping

Polyphasic sleep is a thing. The 20 mins every 4 hours is called the Uberman sleep schedule and is the most difficult to achieve and maintain, but it can be done.

In a simpler, more sustainable form, the Spanish have a culture of late nights, around 5 hours sleep and then a siesta in the afternoon.

I do a version of polyphasic sleep, and rarely do 8 hours in one stretch. I have a series of naps (though longer than 20 mins) and probably in 24 hours get 4 hours sleep. I think I function fine. or am slowly going mad

I agree with you. I am ruminating at how fascinating the body is. My favourite is eating and how amazing the body is at sustaining itself from food.

On a personal note, I’m going to have to try and find a schedule that works. I’m fine in the summer but in the winter I’m awake at 2.30 am, 3 if I’m lucky. I’m trying to force myself to go to bed at a normal time. But when I achieve that, I get around 4 hours sleep.

Msmustdobetter, it is not the capitalists who take things away. If anything they would try to sell you a sleep aid and you would be free to buy it or leave it.

No, it is the authoritarian left which bans things and takes them away.

In the last month I have read that we must not have meat any more, that smart meters must cut off our power when too many people want to use it, that we mustn’t be allowed sugar, that Diesel cars will be banned in some cities and then that all cars will be taken from us. These impositions are all part of a leftist, Common Purpose or leftist agenda.

The so called problems which are causing the left to ban things we need and want are either nonsensical chimera or would be fixed easily by capitalist funded research.

Capitalism has been the single most effective method of bringing prosperity to the world while also promoting freedom ever seen. It is not an ideology like Marxism but a description of how functioning free markets work.

Sorry, “a leftist, Common Purpose or leftist agenda” should read “ or Marxist agenda”.

I remember seven years ago before I ever had any children what absolute pleasure sleep could be. The feeling of being out and about all day on your feet then tucking in for an unbroken 8 to 9 hours was just magic. Waking up fresh, young and ready to go all over again.
Now with 3 children, one a 4 month baby I just exist in various stages of sleep hell; angry zombie/sad zombie/ fat zombie. There is no comfort pr joy in my bed time anymore. I'm curious to see whether it will ever come back?