<p>I've been pulling in between just 3-5hrs of sleep a night. I don't feel tired during the day, and I still manage to workout everyday. Is there any problems that could happen if I don't get more sleep?</p>
<p>The one thing I'd be worried about is if it all kind of catches up with me. I know that I can survive (barely, but it's possible) on a few hours of sleep, but then it just kind of hits me, either by me sleeping for 10-12 hours or getting sick. </p>
<p>But I think it could differ person to person. My mother barely sleeps at night, has been like that most of her life, and she's fine.</p>
<p>I think it generally catches up to you. Sometimes I can go for a few days or even a week getting just 5 hrs of sleep at night...but it eats away at you pretty subtly. I spent all last year sleeping 3-5 hours a night and what happened was I just gradually started to get dumber and my XC times weren't improving. This year I'm trying to get the right amount of sleep, and I can see the improvement in the number of stupid mistakes I make on a test and how well I run.</p>
<p>You don't realize that if you get 7-8 hrs of sleep a night you can think clearer, you look better, and can usually perform better athletically. Sure you can survive with 5 hrs, but you'll really perform better if you consistently get more sleep in.</p>
<p>Yeah, you'll make absolutely retarded mistakes on a test. I've learned the hard way. All-nighters the night before really don't work.</p>
<p>It would probably catch up to you. But I have also heard of people who are simply that way; they don't need that much sleep. It's rare but it happens. But I wouldn't risk it. Get your good night's rest.</p>
<p>Yes, I just took a course on sleep, and that is absolutely not healthy! Your body needs an average of 8.5 hours of sleep every night (a little more or less for some people, but nobody our age really needs less than 7). If you don't get it, even if you don't feel it, it can have the following effects:
--obviously, it will catch up with you -- you will need more sleep later, and you might have trouble keeping yourself awake at important times, including class, tests, activities, etc.
--you will have memory troubles. REM sleep is directly associated with long-term memory, so if you are REM sleep deprived, you will have more trouble remembering what you learned in class. Your studying will be less effective, and you will have trouble recalling information for tests.
--you will probably get sick. The immune system needs sleep to replenish itself, and if you don't get enough sleep, it significantly weakens your immune system's ability to keep out dangerous viruses and bacteria, and also makes it more difficult for you to get better once you've gotten sick.
--you will have trouble recovering from physical injuries.
--if you are still growing (which some people are at our age), lack of sleep may stunt your growth, as the human growth hormone is primarily released at night during sleep.
--if you drive or opperate dangerous machinery (in a lab, etc), you are putting yourself in severe danger. Sleep deprivation is similar to the effects of being drunk -- you will have slower reaction times and poorer judgement on the road and put yourself and others at great risk.
--you put yourself at higher risk for sleep disorders such as nightmares, night terrors, and sleepwalking.</p>
<p>Please, please please, do yourself a favor and take care of your body. Nothing is so important that you can only sleep 3-5 hours per night.</p>
<p>
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All-nighters the night before really don't work.
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<p>They worked with me... along with a can of tab. lol. wasn't a good idea but tab did get me up. I mean I wasn't even sleepy after the test and I only took a 2 hour nap after that.</p>
<p>3-5 hours during the week, catch up during weekends. Sounds good to me,.</p>
<p>neverborn -- actually, that's not good either. Since the REM part of your sleep cycle gets longer as the night progresses, you're missing out on those long REM periods if you cut yourself off at 3-5 hours a night. Even if you average 8 hours per night over the whole week, you'll still have memory impairment and all the normal symptoms of sleep deprivation during the week.</p>
<p>I've done it, pulled multiple all-nighters (just did this past week actually), and eventually it catches up to you. It's ok for a little while, but eventually your body just can't handle it.</p>
<p>neverborn, that's crazy. Even now I am getting about seven hours/night. Until a few weeks ago, I could not go without eight hours/night, but seven now is more than enough -- or maybe that is because I have begun to drink coffee. :-)</p>
<p>Since I have no class on Tuesdays or Thursdays, I'm kind of in a funky loop as far as my sleep cycle is concerned (5-6 hours before Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, then I crash in late everywhere else). And yeah, I did feel terrible today after getting only two hours of sleep after a night of drinking, trying to read through W.E.B. Du Bois was IMPOSSIBLE. Lack of sleep sucks, but I did get in a great makeout session with a girl last night, so if you get no sleep, you better be spending every waking moment doing something worthy! :eek:</p>
<p>OK...I get like 2-3 hours of sleep as a high school senior...gawd I wish high school was over.</p>
<p>Sleep is key to retaining information. Skipping out on it will actually decrease your marginal returns from studying QUITE a bit.</p>
<p>Some days it's 4, some it's 5, some it's 6, and weekends.... oh boy. :o</p>
<p>Bill Clinton got by on 4 hours a night, and look at him - he looks great and such a lovely wife too</p>
<p>We covered this in neuroscience class. Study after study show that sleep-deprived people have trouble storing new memories (that includes remembering what you're studying/learning) and that may cause a vicious cycle, with excessive studying causing sleep deprivation, which leads to struggling to learn new concepts, which causes more studying and more sleep deprivation.</p>
<p>Every person needs a minimum amount of sleep per night, and you can't "catch up" on the weekends; it doesn't work that way. Sleep is crucial to proper health and brain function, and all-nighters are really harmful.</p>
<p>Now I feel all hypocritical given how little sleep I get. :) But unfortunately sometimes it's what's required to complete all the work necessary.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with the polyphasic sleep pattern? Essentially, one takes a number of shortened sleeps throughout the day; in the best-known pattern, six ~20-minute naps are dispersed throughout the day. The rationale for polyphasic sleep is this: it has been proposed that if naps are taken instead of chunks of sleep, the body learns to switch into REM mode essentially immediately once the body is ready for sleep. If we assume that REM sleep is what is needed for rejuvenation and survival, then polyphasic sleep would simply waste less time!</p>
<p>Many famous people have been polyphasic sleepers, including the late Paul Erdos, who slept for two hours per day. Of course, he was an amphetamine user as well, but that's another story....</p>
<p>I don't buy that. The last time I tried it, the whole "powernap" thing, all I could think about when I was awake was getting back to sleep :)</p>
<p>Yes, it's very common for people shifting from monophasic to polyphasic sleep to have a very tough first two weeks; this is to be expected. There's a good chance that you simply didn't stick with it long enough.</p>