Sleep Deprivvvvvv

[orbsycli]

What happens to the Human Body when it has been deprived of sleep?

[Jay-qu]

you get tired

I normally get headaches, loose concentration, eyes hurt.. etc

I would suggest that you would eventually just fall asleep and wouldnt be able to do anything to stop yourself

[Monomer]

The brain functions very slowly. You get irritable and irrational and have difficulty focusing and remembering. Reaction time decreases so you're more likely to have an accident. If you go without sleep for long enough you'll likely start hallucinating. You'll also be more susceptible to illness.

[freeztar]

I concur with Monomer's last two sentences.

In college, I was VERY interested in this and performed experiments myself. For me, I experienced a wave. Let me explain:
-First effect is tiredness
-Once that is overcome, my body kicks in and I feel awake and alert
-Sunrise occurs and my body slumps again
-Morning continues, but I feel odd and buzzed in a sense
-In the afternoon, I become more awake, but feel very 'strange'
-The night is hallucination central. I've heard conversations and seen movement that is not happening. It is a strange state of mind, very pleasant, but the taxation on the body belies any inclination towards a no-sleep diet.

When I was younger, I felt that it was imperative that I studied mental shifts and modality. Today I see it as insomnia...

Anti-sleep is indeed a mind altering substance!

[Monomer]

I remember learning that tiredness comes in waves, with about 90 minutes between each wave. If you don't go to sleep, then you get that second wind and it's like you weren't tired just ten minutes ago. I've heard that people can go for five days before they start hallucinating, but I don't think I'd last that long.

[ronthepon]

Actually, there's an excellent article on wiki on this.

They also mention that a study in 1999 found that long term sleep deprivation results in reduced levels of cortisol.

Cortisol is what helps us to overcome painful and stessful situations.

They also say that it's quite a lot like getting drunk...

For me, sleep deprivation always seems to take on it's effects with ease. Losing an hour of sleep may give me severe haedaches and periods where I almost blackout.

[Buffy]

I pulled my last all-nighter freshman year in college. I found it was far better to get the sleep and have less time to work on the paper.

I have stayed up continuously for up to 48 hours traveling though, with one presentation to 500 people in Oslo Norway when I had been up for about 30 hours after the reverse flight to what Tormod just did last weekend...luckily I was filled with coffee and it was an easy audience and they took me to the bar for 4 hours of "discussion" afterward.

The effects *definitely* depend on your mental state and adrenaline levels...

Cheers!
Buffy

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by ronthepon

They also say that it's quite a lot like getting drunk...

For me, sleep deprivation always seems to take on it's effects with ease. Losing an hour of sleep may give me severe haedaches and periods where I almost blackout.

Headaches have been mentioned a few times now. I've never experienced that. In my longest endurance, 50 hours, I noticed that my processing was down. Thoughts took a minute to process. I was slow, but blissfully so. I felt completely disconnected from my environment and relied more on info supplied by my constant hallucinations.
The feeling is indescribable, unless you have hallucinated before. It is all-consuming and very unhealthy so I'm told. Too bad I frequently experience insomnia these days.

[Monomer]

I need about 7-8 hours sleep, and with anything less than 6 hours I end up with an awful headache that often ends up as a migrane.

Freeztar, it's terrible living with insomnia. You should read the Insomnia thread to see what others have gone through and their tips for overcoming it.

[ronthepon]

I'm pretty sure that headaches arise from a different cause. Sleep deprivation does eventually result in chemical imbalance in the brain. I'd assume that there were a group of chemicals that could 'imbalance'.

One group of chemicals leads to one symptom, some other problem leads to another symptom. The question is: what exactly happens?