DailyDirt: Sleep Is Important.

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jan 8th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Maybe you've met a few people who seem to be able to function completely normally on just 4 hours of sleep a night. Those people, sometimes called the 'sleepless elite' who make up about 1-3% of the population, may have a genetic inclination towards not requiring as much sleep as the rest of us. Short sleepers can get away without 8 hours of sleep a night, but most people can't. Here are just a few links on the importance of sleep.

Can you train yourself to get by on less sleep than you usually get? Nope. It's probably dangerous, too. Severe lack of sleep can lead to a range of health problems, and even if you were successful, you might shorten your lifespan doing so (thereby negating the benefits of being awake longer). [url]
Don't brag about working 30 hours straight -- get some sleep! You don't want your last words to be like Mita Diran's last tweet. [url]
Moritz Erhardt allegedly worked for 72 hours without sleep as a Bank of America intern, and reportedly died from overwork. Erhardt had epilepsy and technically died from that, but seizures can be triggered by a lack of sleep. [url]

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Filed Under: all nighters, death, famous last words, overworked, short sleepers, sleep, sleepless elite
Companies: bank of america

12 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:12pm

I just read this thinking i have to be up in 4 hours.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:15pm

72 hours of work, as an unpaid intern? Then they died!? Welcome to the new American workforce.

Personally, I can't function correctly if I don't get my mandatory 16 hours of sleep a day.
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Chilly8, 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:19pm

I got by in high school with only 5 3/4 hours sleep a night in senior year. That is becuase the teacher made us watch the McNeil Leherer newshour, which did not come on until 11PM.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:39pm

I would have read more but guess i have no option but to go to bed now night.

BBC Future (international version)

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If you are looking for health, technology, science and environment news in the UK, please visit:
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silverscarcat (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 5:41pm

Re:
Didn't you have a VCR or DVR?
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2014 @ 6:07pm

So... Tired... But... Must... Comment...
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madasahatter (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 9:53pm

Sleep
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madasahatter (profile), 8 Jan 2014 @ 9:54pm

Sleep
PHB "Who needs stinking sleep!!!"
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Chlly8, 8 Jan 2014 @ 10:12pm

Re:
Sign up for a VPN outside the UK and access the content. Problem Solved.
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Ninja (profile), 9 Jan 2014 @ 2:25am

I admit I sleep less than I would like. The issue is we work too much and enjoy life too little. In my need to enjoy some entertainment (be it a movie, reading, playing games etc) I end up going to sleep late and being sleep deprived. Question is, how much would you actually work if you were growing your own food and tending to your home in the days when electricity was but a natural phenomena? I'd guess this would be fairly limited by sunlight. There are also tales that people would sleep in two stages (which is biologically natural) and wake up at dawn to talk, have sex or do other activities for 1-2 hours.

I do have faith we'll evolve and will stop seeing cases like the persons that died from overworking.
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That One Guy (profile), 9 Jan 2014 @ 4:29am

'Sleep'? What is this 'sleep' thing you speak of?
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james howard, 20 Mar 2014 @ 1:18am

Anabolic steroids
Proper sleep improve the efficiency of our work.There is a lot of research on sleep management and performance.In this regard it is an appealing blog.
Propiobolic Injection
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