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yes, we've known for two centuries that a couple of hours of extra sleep can help us undo the effects of days and days of sleep deprivation. This is one of the

yes, we've known for two centuries that a couple of hours of extra sleep can help us undo the effects of days and days of sleep deprivation. This is one of the strongest argument against this brain clearance non-sense. If we can get this done in 15 minutes, why sleep 8 hours a day?

janalsncm 2y ago
It would be an amazing gift to be able to sleep even only half the time every day. That said, I have had the unsettling thought that the brain is never really “off” during your lifetime. With computers you can restart them, but your brain keeps going, even when you’re sleeping. So I think we should be nice to our brains.
- IncreasePosts 2y ago
  Read more about Intel ME ;)
- crocowhile 2y ago
  It would be an amazing gift to you, but it would not make sense from the evolutionary point of view. Take an animal of your choice (e.g. a cat or a dog or a mouse) and give them through magic the ability to sleep only 1 hour a day or nothing for the rest of their life. Do you think they would have an evolutionary advantage? Quite the opposite. they would end up burning more energy for nothing, having to look for more food and eventually endanger themselves to predation wondering, rather than cozy up in their nest sleeping.
crazygringo 2y ago
Where are you getting 15 minutes from? That might be enough to recharge you to a normal level after something particularly taxing. It's not enough to restore you completely, and certainly not after an entire day's worth of activity. And there's so much more to sleep that you're missing, like consolidating memories, muscular coordination habits and patterns, etc.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- xnx 2y ago
  I do regular full night's sleep. But when my brain is particularly spent, a short nap is nearly unavoidable. Afterward, I wake up on my own (no alarm) and can resume work immediately. No grogginess.
xarope 2y ago
solo sailors (amongst others) do this; 30-90mins of sleep each time, but they cat nap all the time, not just once a day. However, research shows that long term learning etc, as well as critical decision making, are impaired. My anecdata of 1; I prefer 6-7 hours of sleep, but during some expeditions, I'd be lucky to get 2-3 hours before a summit attempt of 12-18 hours (leave at 1-2am, return to high camp by 3-4pm, pack up and head down to a lower level for safety). For safety, I make sure to practice all the skills required (rope, carabiner and knot handling) so these are "routine", and not require more cognitive effort to "figure out". A funny story during an expedition: a friend couldn't lift his foot whilst we were all preparing for some ice traverse - it was stuck for some reason, we all stood around wondering why, and we finally realised I was standing on one of his crampon straps. I swear it took us 10mins to figure this out, a result of sleep deprivation, high elevation, being swathed in layers of clothing, and general fatigue.
JKCalhoun 2y ago
If it were possible, not harmful, I imagine we would already be doing it. Ain't evolution grand?
Qem 2y ago
Perhaps decrease of waste with sleep is exponential, not linear. After days of sleep deprivation, waste concentration is very high, so initial clearance rate is very high as well. As is clears, concentration decrease, so concentration rate also decreases.

janalsncm 2y ago

It would be an amazing gift to be able to sleep even only half the time every day. That said, I have had the unsettling thought that the brain is never really “off” during your lifetime. With computers you can restart them, but your brain keeps going, even when you’re sleeping. So I think we should be nice to our brains.

IncreasePosts 2y ago
Read more about Intel ME ;)
crocowhile 2y ago
It would be an amazing gift to you, but it would not make sense from the evolutionary point of view. Take an animal of your choice (e.g. a cat or a dog or a mouse) and give them through magic the ability to sleep only 1 hour a day or nothing for the rest of their life. Do you think they would have an evolutionary advantage? Quite the opposite. they would end up burning more energy for nothing, having to look for more food and eventually endanger themselves to predation wondering, rather than cozy up in their nest sleeping.

crazygringo 2y ago

Where are you getting 15 minutes from? That might be enough to recharge you to a normal level after something particularly taxing. It's not enough to restore you completely, and certainly not after an entire day's worth of activity. And there's so much more to sleep that you're missing, like consolidating memories, muscular coordination habits and patterns, etc.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
xnx 2y ago
I do regular full night's sleep. But when my brain is particularly spent, a short nap is nearly unavoidable. Afterward, I wake up on my own (no alarm) and can resume work immediately. No grogginess.

xarope 2y ago

solo sailors (amongst others) do this; 30-90mins of sleep each time, but they cat nap all the time, not just once a day. However, research shows that long term learning etc, as well as critical decision making, are impaired. My anecdata of 1; I prefer 6-7 hours of sleep, but during some expeditions, I'd be lucky to get 2-3 hours before a summit attempt of 12-18 hours (leave at 1-2am, return to high camp by 3-4pm, pack up and head down to a lower level for safety). For safety, I make sure to practice all the skills required (rope, carabiner and knot handling) so these are "routine", and not require more cognitive effort to "figure out". A funny story during an expedition: a friend couldn't lift his foot whilst we were all preparing for some ice traverse - it was stuck for some reason, we all stood around wondering why, and we finally realised I was standing on one of his crampon straps. I swear it took us 10mins to figure this out, a result of sleep deprivation, high elevation, being swathed in layers of clothing, and general fatigue.

JKCalhoun 2y ago

If it were possible, not harmful, I imagine we would already be doing it. Ain't evolution grand?

Qem 2y ago

Perhaps decrease of waste with sleep is exponential, not linear. After days of sleep deprivation, waste concentration is very high, so initial clearance rate is very high as well. As is clears, concentration decrease, so concentration rate also decreases.