DailyDirt: If Only We Didn't Need To Sleep...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
If there was a disease that incapacitated a person for about a third of his/her life (say for 8 hours every day), you might think that researchers would want to find a cure. Well, that disease is called sleep, and folks are looking to why we need to sleep and how we might take more control over our sleep needs. And for the people who can't get enough sleep (over 40 million American insomniacs), there are sleeping pills that attempt to keep them asleep. So far, it doesn't seem like we've made much progress figuring out our sleep problems, but here are a few links that you might want to read before bedtime.- Drugs like modafinil and armodafinil can counteract some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation, but pharmaceuticals, so far, all have limitations -- and eventually everyone must sleep. Not surprisingly, the military has done a lot of sleep research, developing a sleep mask, dietary supplements, and tests using transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). [url]
- A study of sleep deprived subjects showed that the lack of sleep made them look unattractive, sad and unhealthy. News@11: Sleep deprivation causes "mood swings, medical problems, relationship troubles, diminished motor skills, poor decision making, vision problems, increased appetite, inability to concentrate, poor memory, inability to handle stress." [url]
- A global human sleep study has been proposed to attach sensors to people sleeping in order to collect real-time data for a million people. The estimated cost of this study would be just $30 million, and the data might be invaluable. [url]
- Before artificial lighting was widely used, people used to routinely wake up in the middle of the night for a couple hours. We seem to have forgotten about the practice of "first" and "second" sleep, and we've adopted a continuous 8 hours of sleep at night as a norm that might not actually be so normal. [url]
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Filed Under: armodafinil, health, medicine, modafinil, polyphasic sleep, sleep, sleep deprivation, sleeping pills
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Then again, I don't know if would like living without deep REM sleep. Sometimes it's nice to turn the world off for a while and relax. :)
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Trouble sleeping?
I can tell you from experience that you don't need that prescription drug crap. Sleep is regulated by the hormone melatonin, which is available over-the-counter at your local drug store. It's not some miracle that allows you to fall asleep fast; it still takes about 20-30 minutes to fall asleep, but that's better than laying there for 2-3 hours.
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I've been working to get on 'the Da Vinci sleep schedule' for the past few years. a 20-30 minute nap every 4 hours. Eventually, your body gets so exhausted you jump straight to REM sleep - or so the theory goes.
I find that irritability, diminished motor skills, poor decision making, vision problems, inability to concentrate and poor memory are the real outcomes of this bizarre schedule.
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Re: Trouble sleeping?
http://monderlaw.com/the-ambien-defense/
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Why Are You in My Room, Big Brother?
Just what the NSA needs.
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Re: Trouble sleeping?
Ultimately, the best option is the one that best meets the individual's needs.
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Why Do We Sleep?
Martha Stewart gets by on three hours’ sleep a day.
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Re: Re: Trouble sleeping?
Yes, corporate profits do vary.
Who benefits from sleep driving? Certainly not those involved in the resulting accidents. But, who cares if the dividends go up - amirite?
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Re: Why Do We Sleep?
allows your neuronal system to be recharged
for the next days usage. This prep work for the
next day can not occur while the system is in use.
If you do not get the sleep, you will eventually
hallucinate. Vision processing is very intensive.
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Re: Why Are You in My Room, Big Brother?
Oddly, that seems like one of the least frightening answers to that question.
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Re: Re: Re: Trouble sleeping?
I take both a stimulant during the day and a GABAergic at night, both to help my sleep. I tried a number of supplements for several years, and I tried a GABAergic alone; while both were slightly helpful to me, my sleep still lacked any regular cycle, and I was still spending 2-3 days at a time completely unable to sleep. Extended sleep deprivation on such a scale creates an unpleasant and dangerous state. I have not had any difficulty with sleepwalking or similar behavior since beginning medication.
Not all cases are identical. Different people require different treatment to resolve the same problem. If melatonin supplements alone had helped sufficiently, I wouldn't personally need prescription medication for this. Some individuals experience dangerous or debilitating side effects, but I have not. Supplements alone work for many others, and so much the better for them, but for some of us it is a choice between a drug with side effects and no sleep whatsoever. In my situation, the tradeoff has been worthwhile. For others, it may not be. Those affected by serious side effects do have alternative options, and often benefit from controlled discontinuation of the current treatment.
The powers in control of production (largely through government monopolies in the form of drug patents) certainly manipulate the market, but that does not change the actual risks or benefits of the chemical agents in question, though the monetary cost will likely increase (drug affordability is a major problem). If a major pharmaceutical corporation possessed a patent on melatonin or other supplements, would they no longer be a good first-line measure because of that affiliation?
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