Should we eliminate sleep?

[ncarmont]

Hi Guys

As you probably know, being an IB student, taking hard IB subjects (like literature, Hl math, physics or sciences) means quote heavy sleep deprivation and sleeping really little on a daily basis, even on weekends. I've gone many long nights doing work and I would stay up all night doing work if I could and weren't so tired during the day. All the lack of sleep made me think:

Should we eliminate sleep in the future?

I mean about 1/3 of all our life is devoted to sleep (8 hours a day average), so if scientists focus on a way so that we don't have to sleep any longer and don't have any negative consequences, it would be the equivalent of living about 30 years longer. Imagine how much more things you could do.

Or even just reducing the amount of time the body needs for sleep? Should we try to eliminate sleep?

What are your ideas on this?

Thank you for your responses!

-ncarmont

[Baller97]

Hi Guys

As you probably know, being an IB student, taking hard IB subjects (like literature, Hl math, physics or sciences) means quote heavy sleep deprivation and sleeping really little on a daily basis, even on weekends. I've gone many long nights doing work and I would stay up all night doing work if I could and weren't so tired during the day. All the lack of sleep made me think:

Should we eliminate sleep in the future?

I mean about 1/3 of all our life is devoted to sleep (8 hours a day average), so if scientists focus on a way so that we don't have to sleep any longer and don't have any negative consequences, it would be the equivalent of living about 30 years longer. Imagine how much more things you could do.

Or even just reducing the amount of time the body needs for sleep? Should we try to eliminate sleep?

What are your ideas on this?

Thank you for your responses!

-ncarmont

Bruh... life is nothing without sleep. #truthbetold. 

SO, no we need sleep lol. There's a reason why we do sleep.

[Vioh]

I mean about 1/3 of all our life is devoted to sleep (8 hours a day average), so if scientists focus on a way so that we don't have to sleep any longer and don't have any negative consequences, it would be the equivalent of living about 30 years longer. Imagine how much more things you could do.

 

Do you think that's really possible? I mean, most scientists & doctors would regard insomnia as a disease. Besides, sleep deprivation is not biologically favourable as sleep brings many good effects to our bodies according to thousands of scientific papers. Hence, I think that the general direction for scientific research is to cure insomnia, and not to encourage it.

 

Btw, rather than focusing on taking sleep away, don't you think that it would be a much better idea if scientists devote their time/funding into finding a way that would prolong human's life? for instance, scientists can focus on things like medicines, public health, eradication of poverty, increasing economic welfare, etc. In fact, the average lifespan in the US "has increased by more than 30 years, of which 25 years can be attributed to advances in public health" (from Wikipedia). And in my view, 30-year increase from sleep deprivation is a much worse alternative compared to a 30-year increase in the average human lifespan, considering the fact that sleep doesn't only give lots of biological benefits to us, but also lots of joy as well

 

Happy sleeping!!!!...... and studying

[IbTrojan]

I've discussed this with fellow students before where they argued that sleep takes away so much of our time in life but as Vioh and Baller97 have said, severe sleep deprivation is seen as a health condition and I highly doubt they're going to change that anytime soon. 

 

Even if, by chance, they find a way where we don't have to sleep, I doubt they would reveal it to the world because of the money they make off of the products they provide for insomnia. 

 

From a student perspective, I actually use sleep as a motivation to finish my work faster (the faster it's done, the earlier I get to sleep) and it works.  

 

Sleep's good for re-energizing your body and its functions. For example, if you work out, sleep is the time when your muscles can relax. If you're injured, sleep is what helps you heal. It's probably also because you're not consciously doing anything so it allows your body to focus more internally. 

 

Verdict: Sleep is awesome, I wouldn't eliminate sleep

[turtle turtle]

Whatever you do, you'll always need sleep. A girl a couple of years ago who got a 45 had a regular sleep pattern and always stayed alert in class, minimising work she had to do at home. If you want to cut out wasted time, cut out facebook, cut out reading irrelevant news and work quickly and effectively, not slowly. For example, do your maths quickly. It gets tiring yes, but you finish a lot quicker

[OMGIBISFUN]

First of all I should say, I love sleep. (I don't know if that makes me biased. )

 

A significant amount of scientific research has proven, that sleep plays an integral role in processes of recovery and healing within the body. 

 

I don't think all of its functional properties within the body could simply be replaced, especially not during our lifetimes. 

 

Sure, I think it might be possible sometime in the distant future but I don't really see it as viable. It will certainly be expensive and available only to those who can afford it, and really who would enjoy being awake 24/7 in a society where a majority of the population sleeps every night? 

[Slovakov]

Please no! First I'm told that eating is a waste of time, then that sleep is as well.... if you tell me that walking in the forest for no reason is also a waste of time, then what simple pleasures in life are left?! Please don't make me a super-efficient robot; I'm a perfectly imperfect human being!

 

And more seriously, I can already hardly understand eliminating spare time activities in the name of "productivity" or "efficiency"... however abstract these terms are, when referring to such a complex phenomenon as life. But trying to avoid the astisfaction of basic human needs - both physiological and mental - seems completely absurd to me. If we imagine the situation where we would need no time for sleep or eating, do we really need this time? I guess if we had this extra time we would maybe use some of it for actual productive stuff, but also a lot would be wasted. We can't stay alert and in great mood all the time, and we need some time off - whether we use it for sleep or hours of watching youtube, this time could be considered wasted. But we need this time. Not only for physiological reasons, it's simply that whatever you do, if you devote too much time to it, it will eventually get boring, and in some ways mentally exhausting.

 

And as much as I'd like to be able to be up for, say 3-4 days in a row, just because I enjoy the night time, I don't think humans need more waking time than they already have. It's enough that in developed societies people live up to their 80s on a regular basis, which is quite enough for some of them to get well bored by life. And the fact that they would have to spend even more time at work (which, as many studies proved, is generally not enjoyed by the majority), would probably lead to even more mental disorders than we have today in developed societies.

So again, please, look for productivity by better working paterns, not by looking for more time to do this.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Slovakov

[CkyBlue]

Absolutely not.

 

As stated in the posts above, sleep is essential for us in order to function properly. We need sleep to do whatever we do in our daily lives. Sleep is a way for our bodies to rest and recover so we can do more. An average person with sleep can do more than an average person without sleep in a span of a week. This is because our limitations prevent us to condition ourselves to need less sleep. If a person does not sleep, the time when he becomes sleep deprived won't be used productively at all. He'd just be moping around unable to do anything because he could be physically and mentally exhausted. I'm sure a lot of people have felt that time when they're so tired that they literally aren't able to study or learn anything anymore, just because they've been doing it for too long without rest.

 

For those of us still growing, sleep is even more important as it helps the body develop. Ever heard that babies and children need more than the average adult? Sometimes sleep extends beyond biology. Pilots are required to sleep a certain number of hours so they are able to do their jobs. Sleep is needed so people are on their toes in order to do things right. I've been in the field for five days living on two hours of uncomfortable sleep per day, doing silly physically demanding things. It was the most exhausting exercise I've ever done. You don't want to live without sleep. You feel like a pile of nasty turds.

[Emilia1320]

I would if I could without fatal consequences