Now, while you can't actually store sleep as this advice might suggest, it has made me think about sleep in general. Sleeping lots more than necessary wastes time and usually makes me just feel really drowsy for the rest of that day. I often sleep too much at weekends and am never good at getting up in the mornings. However, whenever I do wake up later than 10am I always feel a little guilty and I don't really 'get into' the day as I would like.
So I've been wondering whether its possible to train yourself to need less sleep. It's known that some people need more sleep than others, and the recommendation is eight hours. But ... if your body knew it was going to get less sleep, maybe the sleep you gave it would be better taken. Hmmm. I found this story after a quick search and it seems that it can work. Maybe not for everyone, but with a baby on the way and three weeks off work, maybe I will try reducing my sleep to something like six hours a day.
Or maybe I'll just file the thought in 'Dave's box of crazy ponderings'. Things that normally end up in this box are daydream-ideas or questions that could work ... if only some law of nature were altered slightly. Such as:
- Gravity keeps everything rooted to the planet. If everyone in the world were to jump at the same time, would gravity get confused and lose some?
- If everyone in the world were to run (or drive I suppose) in the same direction at once - e.g. east to west or north to south - would the force exerted be enough to change the spin of the planet?
10 comments:
hehehe : ) don't worry Dave, your new baby will happily train you to need less than 6 hours sleep a day : ) and 7am will soon become a lie in rather than 10am : ) and your 2 hours more awake time will be filled with more nappy changes than you thought was physically possible for such a small person :D they are fab though : D (babies not the nappies that is...)
I actually exist on less that 4 hours of sleep a day, it's a trait I picked up in the Marine Corps. I have spent many months in hostile lands where sleep could get you killed. It drives my wife crazy.
Dave;
You should try your hand a this kind of writing more often, your pretty humorous, I t even holds up well without an image to support it. Don’t worry, life as you know it is doomed :)
The guy in the article you linked to is a peak athlete…hmmm…is there something you are not telling us? Have you been training for the Tour de France?
I think that in the long run ordinary people benefit from 7-8 hours a night, efficiency does go down after protracted lack of sleep, and injuries typically go up.
I would love to be able to sleep more than 8 hours a night at least once a week.
I look forward to even more articles form you during all your new down time. If you don’t want to write more here you can write comments on my blogs :)
Once again congratulations!
Simply Bananas;
I thought the Marines were known for being able to sleep anywhere at the drop of a hat!
The troubles I have with this type of post are that I can't just make them up - I need an idea to 'hit' me - and it takes me a long while to perfect them. Which is why you don't see many.
Its true that many people are happy on 7-8 hours sleep a night - but how do they know that's the right amount for them - they might be fine on 5-6. But if the body is used to 7-8 then they would feel tired after a few days less sleep - until they got used to it I think, which is what I would like to try.
In the Marines I think you are forced to get used to it - until that point you probably never knew - maybe you even scoffed at the idea of being able to survive on so little sleep because you had experienced four hours a few times before and you felt tired.
And no - I'm not training for the Tour de France - I think a pre-requisite for that is taking lots more drugs than I currently do so I wouldn't qualify :-)
Well I can start waking you up early at the weekends if you like. :D
Though pretty soon the baby will be doing it for me!
Personally I think your need for extra sleep at the weekends is linked to commuting, because you're catching up on sleep you missed during the week.
I agree with Living Sword. I really enjoyed reading this posting just as much as I enjoy your photography. COngratulations on the blogger's choice awards for Best Photography blog. Definately well deserved.
BTW, when is the baby due? Will we get to see the little one on your blog?
Well, having just done a 70 hour week, I wouldn't recommend messing about with sleep too much because scary things happen e.g. I have to type everything three times before I get it right, I actually have blank bits in my memory like fetching a cup of tea or whether I just took the stairs or the lift, and, worst of all, people were actually walking faster than me on the commute home.
Dave, I just did a review on this site, please stop in and check it out.
Anyone else, feel free to comment on my blog if you would like a free site review or link exchange.
livingsword- Marines can sleep anyplace and anytime, we can also stay awake when needed because we know the consequences of sleep could be worse than a simple dereliction of duty charge against us.
Like the saying goes "Nothings gonna hurt you tonight, Not on my watch"
nice photo blog dude :)
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