New Scientist has a piece on the possibilities of 24 hr awake time and many sleep scientists believe it’s inevitable that we’ll get pretty close to this one day. With drugs like modafinil, people are already staying up many more hours without the side effects of caffeine or amphetamines (so they claim). This is just the first step toward doing away with sleep entirely. And it’s one of those subjects that’s going to face incredible division of opinion:
“The more we understand about the body’s 24-hour clock the more we will be able to override it,” says Russell Foster, a circadian biologist at Imperial College London. “In 10 to 20 years we’ll be able to pharmacologically turn sleep off. Mimicking sleep will take longer, but I can see it happening.” Foster envisages a world where it’s possible, or even routine, for people to be active for 22 hours a day and sleep for two. It is not a world that everyone likes the sound of. “I think that would be the most hideous thing to happen to society,” says Neil Stanley, head of sleep research at the Human Psychopharmacology Research Unit in the University of Surrey, UK. But most sleep researchers agree that it is inevitable.
Check out the article and tell me, if you could skip sleep and suffer no side effects, would you?
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Would I skip sleep if I could?
In the blink of an eye.
I wish I could do so much more in the day. Yes, sleep is a welcome escape, but I get much more gratification out of my waking hours.
posted by n2y2 on 11-20-2006 at 12:17 pm
Great… another excuse to make me work longer hours…
“Good news Jason! The company’s prescription plan now covers sleep prevention aides… so you can put in 16 hour days now!”
posted by Jason! on 11-20-2006 at 12:49 pm
oh, i think this would be awful. how much influence has dreaming had on art and music? and, i’m a teenager, i like sleep.
posted by hannah on 11-20-2006 at 1:00 pm
Heck no. Sleeping is one of my favorite pasttimes. I love the cozy softness of my bed. Why on earth would I want to miss out on that? Sleep is a mini-vacation from my troubles.
Of course, I’m not one of those people who are rushing around all day like a headless chicken, so maybe I don’t understand the point of not sleeping.
posted by Mammacheryl on 11-20-2006 at 1:08 pm
I’ve often wished I could skip sleeping for one or two days a week just to catch up on my To Do list and then devote more time to things like reading, art, and music.
Funny how some people equate an increase in free time with working longer hours. Perhaps among the many changes that will come with 24-hour living will be a huge increase in the output of art, music, movies, and books, especially considering how many of us now have access to the inexpensive, powerful computer based tools needed to make them.
Stay up until 10pm or so finishing work stuff and then stay up all night playing guitar without feeling tired the next morning? Bring it on!
posted by Keithm on 11-20-2006 at 1:38 pm
Now this is a topic near and dear to my heart. I’m one of those people who has a circadian rhythm disorder to begin with, and always have. I’m working with the best sleep specialist in the city, and still having issues sleeping.
I’ve been taking modafanil (Provigil) for well over a year, incidentally, not for its ability to promote wakefulness, but as an adjunct antidepressant. I usually fall asleep again within 2-3 hours after taking it; it doesn’t keep me awake at all.
As for doing without sleep entirely, I’ve done it for short stretches during periods of mania. (I’m bipolar.) The longest I ever went was 48 hours, and it was very uncomfortable, but I could have gone longer. I essentially had to force myself to sleep at that point as it was.
If I had the choice to do without sleep, I would exercise that choice only when I wanted to. If I didn’t need sleep, but could still sleep when I wanted, I’d probably sleep three or four days a week, on average.
posted by Billifer on 11-20-2006 at 2:12 pm
That’s a tough choice. Let me sleep on it, and I’ll let you know.
On second thought, no, I couldn’t.
posted by Sandy on 11-20-2006 at 2:25 pm
This issue is a lot like cloning. Scientists were so excited when they figured out how to do it, but then all of their clones came out weak, sickly, and died quickly. Surprise, surprise, we can’t improve on nature’s good ole’ fashioned equations (male+female)sex=babies.
Scientifically do away with sleep? Sure, sounds good, but nature tends to get things right. Ultimately, sleep must be necessary, since we all need to do it when we aren’t strung out on drugs.
posted by Rachel on 11-20-2006 at 2:36 pm
I dont think i could maybe for a few hours but not sleep at all i tend to have a very bad temper when i dont sleep and can lash out on a moments notice so i stick with scheduling around sleeping.
posted by Christina on 11-20-2006 at 4:15 pm
Wait a second, hasn’t it been proven many times over that sleep deprivation is extremely unhealthy for people, both physically and mentally? Anyone who’s pulled an all-nighter before a big test or presentation knows that missing out on sleep keeps you from firing on all cylinders.
It’s kind of scary to think that scientists are trying to do away with such an important part of the body cycle, what’s next, eating?
posted by heather on 11-20-2006 at 5:28 pm
heck yes i’d skip sleep if i could! but not if it cost me my health or sanity. sometimes i just wish i could get away with naps.
posted by andy cochrane on 11-20-2006 at 5:46 pm
I loovvveeee sleep!
posted by hannah on 11-20-2006 at 6:23 pm
I love sleep. I would be sleeping right now if I didn’t have to finish my wretched English and zoology papers.
posted by Janel on 11-20-2006 at 9:56 pm
Perhaps this will create a 24hr day and thus result in more job opportunities with places needing to be open 24hrs? More shifts and whatnot? That’d be pretty cool.
posted by Mae on 11-20-2006 at 10:50 pm
I’m so conflicted about this. I fall asleep early and with little trouble and LOVE a nice comfy bed for snoozing. But the ability to skip sleep is something that’s always been at the top of my husband’s genie list. I would certainly appreciate the extra time in my life, but I would miss that comfy bed.
posted by Valerae on 11-21-2006 at 2:57 pm
Definitely not. Man can come up with a thousand different drugs to manipulate his body functions, but nature will eventually have her way. You cannot deprive the body of what it needs indefinitely and get away with it. If you don’t sleep enough, you’ll eventually have to pay the price in the form of a diseased body. You young’ins may laugh, but sleep is one precious key to health and well-being. It’s vital time the needed for internal physiological cleansing and repair work. Your body needs you to shut down for roughly eight hours on a regular basis so it can do this. No question about it: I definitely would choose to sleep and let Nature have its way with me. Not to mention that I enjoy my time spent under the covers, relaxing in a nice soft bed.
posted by Starr on 11-21-2006 at 6:41 pm