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Went through 2 weeks of insomnia after living on a ship for a while, then back on land for 2 weeks, then back on ship for 6 months -- was normal after finally r

by LanceH 4y ago

Went through 2 weeks of insomnia after living on a ship for a while, then back on land for 2 weeks, then back on ship for 6 months -- was normal after finally returning. Maximum 1 hour sleep for 2 weeks straight, most nights none. The thing about those two weeks, was with no sleep there is no "refresh" between days. If I asked myself the question of what I had for breakfast this morning, it would have multiple answers. The past several days were "today" in memory. It was very disconcerting. It did have a cool upside of reading several books in 2 weeks time, but the downside was feeling like everything in the world was wrong. Thankfully when I went back on ship, I was able to sleep again -- best sleep I ever had with the rocking and white noise.

orzig 4y ago
Were there any other downsides of sleeplessness besides breakfast confusion?
- fartsucker69 4y ago
  maybe they didn't realize but if you subjected them to any sort of cognitive, physical... actually you can almost say whatever kind of test, their performance in just about all of them would vastly downgrade compared to them in a rested sleep status. these results have been known for a long time for various problem solving tasks (your error rate and task completion time will skyrocket), physically focused things like weight lifting or cardio (you will lift less and not be able to run as long before hitting a wall etc.), reaction tests (you will become a slowpoke), memory tests, mood and other psychometrics. there are also fairly obvious outward physiological effects, like increased collagen production will give you baggy eyes, etc.
- LanceH 4y ago
  Well, it wasn't just breakfast, it was everything that I might consider "today" stacked on top of each other. So if I had a mental list of "things to do today", that just got longer. It was my mind was cluttered. I wasn't as tired and craving of sleep as I would have expected. Probably physically tired a bit just because I was sitting up reading books all night instead of getting good rest. Individual tasks in the "now" didn't seem too bad, but everything else (and it turns out to be a lot) that depended on short term was messed up -- conversations with people, where I parked, what day it was, routine tasks which felt like they were already done but still needed to be done that day, etc... I might need to do the laundry but felt like I had already done the laundry -- but that was 4 days ago. It took mental effort to observe what day it was, rather than waking up on Wednesday and knowing all day that it is Wednesday. Instead it I "knew" it was "Monday" and I also knew it was "Tuesday", and it certainly didn't feel like Wednesday. So I was spending mental effort for things that just flow naturally. Thankfully I didn't have much to do during those two weeks.
TremendousJudge 4y ago
My experience of being sleep deprived is that my memory starts going downhill -- I feel like I have difficulty recalling what happened on days where I was running on little sleep, even after I have had good rest. It's as though those memories weren't properly stored and just disappeared.
- the_only_law 4y ago
  I did several days straight without sleep and got mildly delusional. I remember sitting up, thinking about something (can't remember what) and then a minute later realized I was just thinking complete nonsense and got up to work.
AlwaysRock 4y ago
I havnt stayed up for quite that long but even 96 hours without any sleep is a strange experience. Watching the sun go up and down multiple times without a break does mess with ones head a bit.

by LanceH 4y ago

orzig 4y ago

Were there any other downsides of sleeplessness besides breakfast confusion?

fartsucker69 4y ago
maybe they didn't realize but if you subjected them to any sort of cognitive, physical... actually you can almost say whatever kind of test, their performance in just about all of them would vastly downgrade compared to them in a rested sleep status. these results have been known for a long time for various problem solving tasks (your error rate and task completion time will skyrocket), physically focused things like weight lifting or cardio (you will lift less and not be able to run as long before hitting a wall etc.), reaction tests (you will become a slowpoke), memory tests, mood and other psychometrics. there are also fairly obvious outward physiological effects, like increased collagen production will give you baggy eyes, etc.
LanceH 4y ago
Well, it wasn't just breakfast, it was everything that I might consider "today" stacked on top of each other. So if I had a mental list of "things to do today", that just got longer. It was my mind was cluttered. I wasn't as tired and craving of sleep as I would have expected. Probably physically tired a bit just because I was sitting up reading books all night instead of getting good rest. Individual tasks in the "now" didn't seem too bad, but everything else (and it turns out to be a lot) that depended on short term was messed up -- conversations with people, where I parked, what day it was, routine tasks which felt like they were already done but still needed to be done that day, etc... I might need to do the laundry but felt like I had already done the laundry -- but that was 4 days ago. It took mental effort to observe what day it was, rather than waking up on Wednesday and knowing all day that it is Wednesday. Instead it I "knew" it was "Monday" and I also knew it was "Tuesday", and it certainly didn't feel like Wednesday. So I was spending mental effort for things that just flow naturally. Thankfully I didn't have much to do during those two weeks.

TremendousJudge 4y ago

My experience of being sleep deprived is that my memory starts going downhill -- I feel like I have difficulty recalling what happened on days where I was running on little sleep, even after I have had good rest. It's as though those memories weren't properly stored and just disappeared.

the_only_law 4y ago
I did several days straight without sleep and got mildly delusional. I remember sitting up, thinking about something (can't remember what) and then a minute later realized I was just thinking complete nonsense and got up to work.

AlwaysRock 4y ago

I havnt stayed up for quite that long but even 96 hours without any sleep is a strange experience. Watching the sun go up and down multiple times without a break does mess with ones head a bit.