If You Could Eliminate the Need to Sleep, Would You?

[IAM]

lick... lick... lick... paw clean... yawn nap

 

[Oruc]

Food is probably much easier and closer than sleep.

The End of Food

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(food_substitute)

That has been a dream of mine, to never have to eat again

 

[Berzerker]

meth/speed/crank will keep you awake for several days, the original "Vanishing Point" was about a car deliverer melting down and using drugs to stay awake during his high speed chase across the west

good movie

but when your body doesn't get rest within a ~week sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations and worse

According to legend one of the pharaohs succeeding Khufu was told by an oracle his reign would be 7 (or 14) years so he stayed awake. Maybe thats why they've found cocaine in Egyptian mummies, how they got it is another matter.

 

[timtofly]

If there was no need, then yes. However you would have to remove the need to be bored also.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

That's like 4-6 hours of extra work time and 1-2 hours of extra video games. Yes, yes I would.

I am answering this question on the assumption that the conditions don't completely contradict the title of the thread.

 

[Gary Childress]

Physical exhaustion would remain I suppose. Would you do it? Yes or no.

That pretty much nails it for me. If there is a significant penalty for it then it doesn't seem worth it. I would think preventing physical exhaustion is the main reason any of us sleep.

 

[illram]

Yes that might not have been clear. Any physical exhaustion symptoms manifesting as a result of lack of sleep would disappear. I meant that more immediate physical exhaustion from non-sleep related things like running, exercising, and so on would remain and you would need to still relax and regenerate from those activities as normal, aside from, of course, sleeping; whatever longer term regenerative and/or growth processes sleep provides will continue without sleep, but still take the same amount of time you would normally take with sleep. But you will not be able to permanently physically exert yourself without penalty.

The main point is no sleep needed; everything sleep biologically provides is artificially provided via some other process while you are awake and doing whatever else you want to do.

 

[Kennigit]

Voted no but I didn't really read the hypothetical; should have voted yes.

I love sleep though, it's my escape from the world. If only I remembered my dreams (and/or had good dreams, rather than menial)

 

[gangleri2001]

When you're 30 y.o., you've been sleeping for 10 years, so your real mental age is 20.
When you're 60 y.o., you've been sleeping for 20 years, so your real mental age is 40.
When you're 90 y.o., yuo've been sleeping for 30 years, so your real mental age is 60.

That's all I had to say.

 

[Tee Kay]

Absolutely.

I waste upwards of 9+ hours a day asleep, spend most of the day drowsy, and getting up from sleep is a chore I could do without.

 

[Hygro]

Yes that might not have been clear. Any physical exhaustion symptoms manifesting as a result of lack of sleep would disappear. I meant that more immediate physical exhaustion from non-sleep related things like running, exercising, and so on would remain and you would need to still relax and regenerate from those activities as normal, aside from, of course, sleeping; whatever longer term regenerative and/or growth processes sleep provides will continue without sleep, but still take the same amount of time you would normally take with sleep. But you will not be able to permanently physically exert yourself without penalty.

The main point is no sleep needed; everything sleep biologically provides is artificially provided via some other process while you are awake and doing whatever else you want to do.

This basically means you are mentally rested and alert all the time barring physical fatigue. That'd be amazing. I'll take that even if it meant having to sleep more.

 

[Kyriakos]

Afaik it is argued that around 8 hours of sleep each day are needed by the human body. If one sleeps for crucially more than 9 hours/day then (afaik) it is argued that this is indicative of some general issue, be it psychological or otherwise.

Considering that the human body gets pretty tired after a number of hours (supposing no actual hugely tiring job is done), sleep helps it negate the accumulated stress. It also plays other significant roles in auto-tuning processes, like with dreams and a pause from consciousness.

 

[El_Machinae]

With a few reasonable caveats, in a heartbeat.

This would skyrocket inequality, since a portion of people would want to watch 8 more hours of TV and another portion of people would want to work. This would cause rent prices to rise, forcing more and more people to work a portion of those 8 hours. BUT, the economy would skyrocket.

 

[BenitoChavez]

I would eliminate sleep if:
1) I could stay healthy/alert
2) Nothing extra was expected from me. Meaning those extra 8 hours were personal time and not for work/other obligations.

If both of those conditions couldn't be met, then I'll take my sleep.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Afaik it is argued that around 8 hours of sleep each day are needed by the human body. If one sleeps for crucially more than 9 hours/day then (afaik) it is argued that this is indicative of some general issue, be it psychological or otherwise.

The amount of sleep needed is age dependent. Kids and teenagers need more sleep than normal, so its considered ok if they sleep up to 10 hours a night. While as they get older the amount of time needed sleeping decreases until you hit about 8 hours of sleep, which is average. As you continue getting older, I believe it still goes down until you hit extreme ages. But my memory is fuzzy on that.

 

[warpus]

Afaik it is argued that around 8 hours of sleep each day are needed by the human body.

It's 7.5 actually, I think. It's supposed to line up with your sleeping .. waves? Dream waves? Whatever the hell they're called. REM cycles or something like that. They're different for each person, so you personally might need just 7.. somebody else might need 8.

It also helps to wake up right after a cycle has ended - you can be more refreshed waking up after 6 hours than after 8.

 

[El_Machinae]

Here's what you're thinking of warpus. You're mostly correct in your intuition.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The main point is no sleep needed; everything sleep biologically provides is artificially provided via some other process while you are awake and doing whatever else you want to do.

Dreams are necessary. Sure, people can daydream, but it's not the same.

 

[sophie]

This thread seems to be mostly ignoring the rules of hypothetical discussion as identified by fifty.

The hypothetical assumes the pill would cause no adverse health issues, so any discussion about how living with dreams is unhealthy for the mind/body is immaterial to the hypothetical. If you don't want the pill because you like dreaming and wouldn't want to live without it, that's a different matter.

 

[Perfection]

Yeah but I wouldn't like it.