There one theory not yet covered in our discussion. It possible to imaging sleep as a garbage collection process. After N hours of being awake the body needs N/2 hours of sleep to get sort through all the information stored while being awake. It’s also possible that it needs (N^2)/32 hours of sleep to sort through all the information.
Based on my experience the couple times I stayed awake for more than 24 hours in a row, I think it’s very unlikely to be quadratic, at least for large N.
BTW, does anybody know of anyone who’s tried http://xkcd.com/320/ for more than a few weeks in a row?
Based on my experience the couple times I stayed awake for more than 24 hours in a row, I think it’s very unlikely to be quadratic, at least for large N.
So you are saying you did spent something like 36 hours awake in a row without negative side effects?
So you are saying you did spent something like 36 hours awake in a row without negative side effects?
I’ve spent more than 36 hours without sleep and while there are side effects, the point is that when you finally get to sleep, how much you sleep isn’t a quadratic function of of how many hours you were awake.
Yes, there were negative side effects, but these didn’t include having to sleep 36^2/32 hours in a row to catch up.
(Edit: what happened is I slept six-ish hours in a row as soon as I hit a bed, waking up in the afternoon, then I reverted to my ordinary sleep schedule except the first couple nights I went to bed about an hour earlier than usual.
Then that’s not directly relevant to what I’m arguing. I’m speaking about the amount of sleep in a stable schedule that you need to feel alright.
I’m not sure that your brain processed all the experiences during that longer awake period in a healthy way and formed memories for those that should stay in memory.
Based on my experience the couple times I stayed awake for more than 24 hours in a row, I think it’s very unlikely to be quadratic, at least for large N.
BTW, does anybody know of anyone who’s tried http://xkcd.com/320/ for more than a few weeks in a row?
:-D
So you are saying you did spent something like 36 hours awake in a row without negative side effects?
I’ve spent more than 36 hours without sleep and while there are side effects, the point is that when you finally get to sleep, how much you sleep isn’t a quadratic function of of how many hours you were awake.
I’m taking about stable schedules that don’t have negative side effects.
How much you sleep and how much sleep would be good for you are also two distinct issues.
Yes, there were negative side effects, but these didn’t include having to sleep 36^2/32 hours in a row to catch up.
(Edit: what happened is I slept six-ish hours in a row as soon as I hit a bed, waking up in the afternoon, then I reverted to my ordinary sleep schedule except the first couple nights I went to bed about an hour earlier than usual.
Then that’s not directly relevant to what I’m arguing. I’m speaking about the amount of sleep in a stable schedule that you need to feel alright.
I’m not sure that your brain processed all the experiences during that longer awake period in a healthy way and formed memories for those that should stay in memory.