Can sleep deprivation kill you?

[Rashiminos]

Provided you actually have the mental capacity to stay awake, yes.
I'm guessing a lot of humans are either physically (if that...) incapable, or are not of sufficient training to accomplish such a task. The brain needs the sleep.

 

[Tahuti]

Anyone ever tried a polyphasic sleep schedule?

For those not in the know, a polyphasic sleep schedule is one in which, rather than having a block of 8-9 hours of sleep every day, you instead nap for 20 minutes every 4 hours. I'm thinking of giving it a whirl this summer.

Great idea, I'll try it too!

 

[Leonel]

Perhaps if you stayed up non-stop for like a week or a month, probably. Supposedly if you stay up for like a week you start hallucinating and going crazy.

 

[bernie14]

Anyone ever tried a polyphasic sleep schedule?

For those not in the know, a polyphasic sleep schedule is one in which, rather than having a block of 8-9 hours of sleep every day, you instead nap for 20 minutes every 4 hours. I'm thinking of giving it a whirl this summer.

i probably would not recommed it....the average sleep cycle is divided in "light sleep" (stage 1-2), "deep sleep" (stage 3-4) and REM (when u actually dream)...the average cycle is about 90 minutes and the average person has 5-6 cycles per night. as sleep progresses, the time spent in light vs deep sleep and REM decreases, so your "best sleep" and coincidently, your more vivid dreams, tend to occur in your later cycles....

sleeping 20 minutes every 4 hours may help you avoid death, but does not sound very healthy in the long term

 

[Hygro]

i probably would not recommed it....the average sleep cycle is divided in "light sleep" (stage 1-2), "deep sleep" (stage 3-4) and REM (when u actually dream)...the average cycle is about 90 minutes and the average person has 5-6 cycles per night. as sleep progresses, the time spent in light vs deep sleep and REM decreases, so your "best sleep" and coincidently, your more vivid dreams, tend to occur in your later cycles....

sleeping 20 minutes every 4 hours may help you avoid death, but does not sound very healthy in the long term

polyphasic sleep leads to conditioning that in turn leads to immediate entry into REM stage sleep.

But REM sleep is designed to help your mental acuity and not so much do the body repair that deeper sleep provides, which is the weakness of the polyphasic sleep.

Every report of anyone I've read doing polyphasic sleep had a very positive experience. All reported better than normal health, physical and mental. The only reason anyone stopped was simply that it was hard to stay in sync with the rest of the world that did not operate on such a schedule.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I'm pretty sure Kramer tried this and it ended poorly for him.

And I tend to defer to the K man on most things

 

[Quackers]

I need about 9 - 10 hours of sleep a night otherwise I'm tired, agitiated and upset in the morning and generally tired through out the day...

 

[aronnax]

polyphasic sleep leads to conditioning that in turn leads to immediate entry into REM stage sleep.

But REM sleep is designed to help your mental acuity and not so much do the body repair that deeper sleep provides, which is the weakness of the polyphasic sleep.

Every report of anyone I've read doing polyphasic sleep had a very positive experience. All reported better than normal health, physical and mental. The only reason anyone stopped was simply that it was hard to stay in sync with the rest of the world that did not operate on such a schedule.

May I see your sources? I would like to read these reports by myself.

 

[Hygro]

:/ Hell if I remember the names of random bloggers who kept a polyphasic sleep journal. It's pretty easy to google.

 

[SerriaFox]

Sleep Deprivation + Automobile = Death Likely

 

[Narz]

Sleep Deprivation + Automobile = Death Likely

Yeah, driving seriously sleep deprived is as bad as driving drunk.