4 ms·

There is massive problem in the culture about value of sleep. The culture implicitly defines mentality where working hard without much sleep is somewhat heroic.

There is massive problem in the culture about value of sleep. The culture implicitly defines mentality where working hard without much sleep is somewhat heroic. Therefore according to the culture (again implicitly) those who sleep a lot are lazy. Hard working heroes who sacrifice sleep from time to time displayed in popular films. Take for example three films Micro Men [1] and The Martian [2] and The Social Network [3]. In first two films, hard working heroes don't "waste" time on "useless/unproductive" sleep and instead drink lots caffeine. In corporate culture it's often the same. Since 2006 till 2008 I worked as a technical support engineer and I often had to work at night. Sometimes, I took two hours of sleep (in an office's couch) from 4 AM till 6 AM. After these two hours of sleep I would be energized and work really productive till 9 AM. But the company decided to impose strict ban on sleeping in office and instead put coffee machine. As I expected my performance fell significantly no matter how much coffee I took. So the company put stupid discipline over actual performance. In 2014, I had insomnia so I couldn't perform well at work (again no matter how much coffee I took). I went to corporate doctor (a doctor assigned by company). She looked at me and said that I don't have bruises under my eyes, so I'm totally fine. More than that she actually didn't take any my complaints seriously and instead assumed that I'm lazy. Nowadays, I mostly sleep well and I almost don't drink caffeine. Sometimes, my insomnia came back. Since I participate in algorithm contests and I know very well that no matter how hard I try to work hard without enough sleep I do not perform well in algorithm contests. The mentality that working hard is opposite to good sleep is most irrational, harmful and widespread yet very implicit thing in the culture. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Men https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Men [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(film) [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network

spraak 9y ago
I wonder if there is a reverse effect of taking caffeine when tired/sleep deprived? Some days when I'd hardly slept the night before I would try to rely on caffeine to make it through the day but actually found myself ready to fall asleep after the drink. In any case I definitely agree, get sleep instead of coffee.
- jackmott 9y ago
  caffeine can be a trap. amazing short term but a curse long term. strongly advise never making it a habit.
- Pulcinella 9y ago
  It may be similar to ADHD medication where the stimulant affect causes you brain to “fall in line” which just makes it for the different parts of your brain to agree that sleep is the correct course of action.
- synicalx 9y ago
  So weird, same thing happens to me - I can drink a huge can of energy drink, or a strong coffee or anything else with a lot more caffeine in it than usual and within 20 minutes I'm ready for a nap. Not medical advice, I'm not a doctor, go speak to a doctor, this isn't a substitute for sleep etc etc. But in my experience, whenever I've found myself in a situation where I'm not able to get much sleep but still need to function for an extended period of time, Modafinil or Armodafinil has been an absolute life saver. No lingering caffeine like coffee as well, once it wears off it's gone and you can sleep normally (roughly 12-14 hours). Overall downside - it's not super well researched, especially long-term effects, might cause brain problems, or cancer, who knows? I also often hear of people coming to rely on it as a substitute for sleep - it's not addictive per se, but what it allows you to do definitely can be.

spraak 9y ago

I wonder if there is a reverse effect of taking caffeine when tired/sleep deprived? Some days when I'd hardly slept the night before I would try to rely on caffeine to make it through the day but actually found myself ready to fall asleep after the drink. In any case I definitely agree, get sleep instead of coffee.

jackmott 9y ago
caffeine can be a trap. amazing short term but a curse long term. strongly advise never making it a habit.
Pulcinella 9y ago
It may be similar to ADHD medication where the stimulant affect causes you brain to “fall in line” which just makes it for the different parts of your brain to agree that sleep is the correct course of action.
synicalx 9y ago
So weird, same thing happens to me - I can drink a huge can of energy drink, or a strong coffee or anything else with a lot more caffeine in it than usual and within 20 minutes I'm ready for a nap. Not medical advice, I'm not a doctor, go speak to a doctor, this isn't a substitute for sleep etc etc. But in my experience, whenever I've found myself in a situation where I'm not able to get much sleep but still need to function for an extended period of time, Modafinil or Armodafinil has been an absolute life saver. No lingering caffeine like coffee as well, once it wears off it's gone and you can sleep normally (roughly 12-14 hours). Overall downside - it's not super well researched, especially long-term effects, might cause brain problems, or cancer, who knows? I also often hear of people coming to rely on it as a substitute for sleep - it's not addictive per se, but what it allows you to do definitely can be.