<p>It's fairly commonly known that people only need to go by different amounts of sleep to feel refreshed. Some people can do fine on 7 hrs of sleep per day, whereas others commonly go by 10 hrs of sleep per day.</p>
<p>Moreover, some people are able to handle sleep deprivation symptoms a lot better than others.</p>
<p>My question is - could people who need to sleep less perform academically better than those who always need to sleep more, especially under academically rigorous conditions?</p>
<p>My hypothesis is that under the workloads typically seen in high school, this doesn't make too much of a difference, since those who go by 10 hrs of sleep per day still have enough time to do their homework (they just sacrifice other activities in favor of more sleep per day). On the other hand, they would have to adjust or suffer were they to move to an academically rigorously environment (for example, Caltech). As it's commonly said, "sleep, social life, or academics", pick two. </p>
<p>More importantly - do you see that some of the most successful individuals dislike sleep? A number of individuals tried polyphasic sleep (though this is anecdotal evidence). And Paul Erdos resorted to amphetamines to keep himself awake and productive.</p>
<p>I think it depends on how long it takes each person to complete the workload to a certain extent. If that is constant then people who need to sleep less would probably get higher grades but not necessarily because of your statement that people handle sleep deprivation symptoms differently. I am still able to function on 5 hours of sleep although I don't feel refreshed and I can still pull a high GPA.</p>
<p>I don't know about the second one but I don't think you can generalize like that. Different people have different methods.</p>
<p>Moreover, some people are able to handle sleep deprivation symptoms a lot better than others.</p>
<p>My question is - could people who need to sleep less perform academically better than those who always need to sleep more, especially under academically rigorous conditions?</p>
<p>My hypothesis is that under the workloads typically seen in high school, this doesn't make too much of a difference, since those who go by 10 hrs of sleep per day still have enough time to do their homework (they just sacrifice other activities in favor of more sleep per day). On the other hand, they would have to adjust or suffer were they to move to an academically rigorously environment (for example, Caltech). As it's commonly said, "sleep, social life, or academics", pick two. </p>
<p>More importantly - do you see that some of the most successful individuals dislike sleep? A number of individuals tried polyphasic sleep (though this is anecdotal evidence). And Paul Erdos resorted to amphetamines to keep himself awake and productive.
<p>Some athletes produce less lactic acid than others. This allows them to continue to work longer without feeling as sore as others. The same way, some students need less sleep than others, so they can study more (if they so choose). However, I don't think that is an excuse for accomplishing less than someone else (i.e. lower GPA). Time is only one factor in being successful in academics. Life is screwy like that. Get over it.</p>
<p>If I get only three hours of sleep one day, I will need to get half day of sleeping and more the next day. If something exciting is going on, I can go on without sleep for over 30 hours without feeling like hell but I need to make up the lost hours sometime soon. I've never sacrificed sleep ... well no more than 2 hours... for academics. If you are a woman especially, you should avoid that unless you're lucky and that doesn't make you look like hell (it sure makes me look ugly when I get less sleep).</p>
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Maybe not academic success, but it might make you healthier.
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<p>Haha - I've read a number of articles like this - one suggested trend is that sleeping more for each individual isn't bad per se - but that those who naturally need more sleep are more likely to be unhealthy individuals (the sick, for example, tend to sleep the most - especially since they cannot do as much). Another thing is that highly motivated individuals who want to do something often realize that they cannot sleep too much to accomplish their ambitious goals (and high motivation is triggered by attitudes that are associated with higher life outcomes - attitudes that are optimistic to an extent - otherwise, those people wouldn't believe in themselves). Optimism has been associated with longevity and lower incidences of disease. </p>
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However, it concluded that people who take sleeping pills are more likely to die earlier.
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<p>Haha funny. I'm curious about research on modafinil - which is the exact opposite of a sleeping pill (and is famous for its lack of side effects). It's so hard to get a prescription for it. >.<</p>
<p>Modafinil is a prescription drug for narcolepsy patients. On the other hand, drugs are sometimes prescribed for off-the-label reasons. I know that a doctor prescribed it for someone who just wanted to cram for his exams - since he couldn't think of any good reason not to prescribe it (again, side effects are so small and it's not one of those drugs you can easily get a high from).</p>
<p>Instead of sleeping in one block(such as monophasic period of 6-10 hours), you break up your sleeping times. Some people just advocate 5-7 hours at night and then 30-60 minutes around mid afternoon. </p>
<p>I tried to break it up into 5 periods of one hour(I had been getting 5 hours monophasically so I thought there wouldn't be that much of a problem).</p>
<p>Hahaha. Yeah. It worked for about four days and then I completely and utterly crashed. Got hella nasty case of the flu. -.-;</p>