You don't need as much sleep as you might think

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I've never been a big sleeper. I've always gone around 4 weeks at 2-3 hours sleep a night and then it'll alternate to about 4 weeks of 3-5 hours a night and then it'll switch back again. I've been like that all my life although, when I was younger, it was a nightmare. My Mum wouldn't let me be up at night by myself so I just laid there wide awake. When I got my torch, I used to read my Astronomy books under my sheets.

I read an article some time ago about a thing called the period 9 clock gene? Not sure! Here's an excerpt from an article I found just recently:

"Thomas Edison, Margaret Thatcher, Jack Dorsey. Besides being incredibly successful individuals, all three of these thought pioneers are famously known for functioning on very little sleep. Turns out, they all may be genetically wired the same way.

Although most people need at least seven hours of sleep each night, a genetic mutation in the p. Tyr362HIS, a variant of the BHLHE41 gene, may allow some people to sleep less and still have brains that function well after periods of sleep deprivation."

Even after my 2-3 hour sleep periods, I always woke up naturally and always felt refreshed.

All was going fine and then I went through a deep fit of depression after my relationship of 22 years broke up! I suddenly developed insomnia which I've never suffered from before.

I've just passed my 5th day without sleep. For the first couple of days, I was knackered but now, I just don't feel tired. In fact, I feel wired! I think I must be overtired but that worries me. Will I ever feel tired again? Will I ever sleep again? No one can stay awake forever and I take solace in that!

Oh man - If I don't consistently get my 7.5 to 8 hours sleep a night I very quickly start to go downhill to the <cannot function at all> stage.

I thought the title of this thread applied to everyone, but I realize that you need that special gene to be able to sleep less and still function normally. Not me. I can sleep a lot. I can fall asleep very easily at any time of the day or night, even after cups of coffee. I wish I had that special gene.

I have heard about a woman who didn't sleep at all. She was awake for many years and was just fine. Her body and mind didn't need sleep. She was saying that she got bored sometimes because she was alone when others were sleeping.

Oh, I need sleep. I just don't need much but I've got to tell you, this insomnia is starting to worry me. It's now 5:52am and I still haven't slept. I was hoping tonight would be the night but it just didn't happen, again!

Anyway, I've now got to go have a shower and get ready for work. The people at work can't believe how I can go without sleep for so long! They're quite concerned about me because I also haven't eaten in days. Sorry! I had a banana on Tuesday and it's now Friday morning.

I've got a counseling appointment this afternoon uptown. I'm sure my therapist will be happy to hear how I've been going!

I disagree. I need sleep. Deep sleep would be nice. Not waking wide-awake at 3am every morning would be delightful.

I have been waiting for the right thread to post this picture of pallas cat.

Great picture!

Well, it's now 8:41am. I've had my shower, a few beers and now, I'm ready for work! Still no sleep. I can't sleep!

Oh, btbnnyr. Is that your Pallas's cat? Awwwe! That's SO CUTE! Thank you. Is the cat male or female? She looks female.

My opinion is that you should get enough sleep so that you don't need an alarm clock to force you awake. On average without an alarm I sleep about 8 hours, so that's how much sleep I try to make sure I get.

I went for about ten years on two hours of sleep a night. The very few exceptions were when I took an antihistamine because of allergies that made me sleep.

One of the strangest things was that I always woke up instantly. I woke up like turning a light switch on. No period of grogginess or anything. Say my name and I was instantly wide awake and ready to go.

While all that extra time available was really quite nice, I didn't like it much. My dreams are invariably good and I really missed the dreams because I never dreamed during two hour sleeps.

These days, my sleep schedule is more like a classical first sleep / second sleep. Supposedly in the old days, before gas lights and electricity and when candles were relatively expensive, people would generally go to sleep soon after dark. After about four hours of sleep they would wake up for an hour or two before going back to sleep for another four hours or so. Hence, first sleep - second sleep.

During the hour or two when they had woken up, there were several activities that were common. That was when many couples had sex. It was also a good time to have a late night snack. Or going to the bathroom.

Some people would reportedly visit with their neighbors during that waking period. Imagine waking up around midnight and going to visit your next door neighbor for an hour or so before returning home and going back to sleep.

With modern electricity and things to do at night, a first sleep / second sleep pattern of sleep seems to be relatively rare.

I was gonna suggest an antihistamine, Tylenol PM, or something like that----taken about 2 hours before you want to go to sleep. (They usually work in less than 2 hours----but, for ME, when the pressure is "on" to get to sleep, they don't work, that quickly.) If you don't wanna go the drug route, I suggest, at least an 8-ounce glass, of warm milk----again, about 2 hours before you wanna go to sleep----or, a big bowl of ice cream. I've also found that I can't drink / eat anything containing caffeine (even DEcaffeinated coffee, for instance, or CHOCOLATE [a BIG problem, that alot of people don't realize----my uncle was eating Oreos before he went to bed, and then wondered why he couldn't get to sleep]----I've always heard that decaf still has a little caffeine), after, say, 5pm (if I wanna be asleep by 11pm).

Another trick that I learned, is: I don't "prepare" to go to sleep. When I, for instance, had a routine, for getting ready for bed, it was inevitable that I wouldn't sleep----I guess my "sleep mechanism", in getting ready to work, got all up-in-the-air, and thus kept me from sleeping. If I fall asleep on the couch, that's fine----I don't get-up and go to bed. Also, I put the TV ON, to go to sleep. I've found that if I turn my back on the TV and concentrate on what is being said, it helps me fall asleep. (I have a certain movie, that I play every night, that just plays in a loop, with the timer set to turn it off, a couple of hours after I want to get to sleep.) If I just try to fall asleep in silence, my mind races----goes-through everything that has happened that day----everything I want to do, the next day, etc. Also, I hear every little sound in the house, every little sound outside----with the TV on, I don't hear ANY of that.

Last edited by Campin_Cat on 08 Jan 2015, 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Watch The Wire. For some reason it always put me to sleep. I watched the first 6 episodes about 20 times because I fell asleep during them. Even after I kind of started liking it, I still kept falling asleep and having to rewatch.

Or find a video on YouTube on a subject that you aren't interested in, like 95 ways to sweep the floor.

What happened to the cat?

This is bad, it's a common thing that happens once people have stayed up for too long. There is like a flood of dopamine or something, but you aren't actually functioning better, your body just thinks it is.

5 days without sleep? You do realize you're risking damage and other effects at this point? Have you ever heard of Peter Tripp? If not, look him up. And then take some unisom or something.

Well, it's Saturday the 10th of Jan, 0446hrs (4:46am) here in Sydney Australia and I have now been officially awake for 6 days and still going strong!