3 ms·

Be careful about this, I have personally had a (as in one) horrid experience, YMMV. (I've done this 3 times, and yes it works however I fasted for a full 16-17

by _pi 17y ago

Be careful about this, I have personally had a (as in one) horrid experience, YMMV. (I've done this 3 times, and yes it works however I fasted for a full 16-17 hours.) Back story: I irresponsibly slept for 2-3 weeks. Racking up a sleep debt of sometimes 4 hours per night. So by the time that I decided to reset my schedule I was about 24 hours+ in sleep debt. Needless to say I used this exact method, I didn't eat for 16 hours before, and I had to get up a 7 so I stopped eating around 3PM. This was a bad idea, I didn't have a very filling lunch, and after a while if you've done this before you note that not eating makes you very very very sleepy. I left work around 5:15. I fell asleep around 5:30, unfortunately I was still driving at the time. The car veered into the oncomming lane (it was empty) and went up the curb, on which was a small hill. I was still asleep when this happened, and then the car went up so far it couldn't sustain, and it flipped back into my lane (this happened at 40-50 MPH). Needless to say I awoke scared shitless as I was plummeting towards the ground and my airbags were deploying. I escaped the accident with just some cuts on my hand from the shattered glass from the side windows. My car was totaled. The officer who came on site gave me a 200$ ticket. My father took me to the hospital, where I was given a CAT scan and everything checked out fine. However I had no way of getting to work. The car wasn't worth much it was an 11 year old Ford Escort Coup. Blue book value was around $4,000. The moral of the story is, be thankful for what you have, sleep responsibly and take care of yourself. The accident was last Monday.

TrevorJ 17y ago
Good grief man. Glad you are ok. Obviously this is a great lesson to anyone - if you are sleepy don't drive.
jrockway 17y ago
Another argument in favor of public transportation.
- _pi 17y ago
  Oh yes. In terms of Bus Service. I live in the Greater Bridgeport/Hartford Area in CT. Buses are scarce, very scarce. There are stops but good luck finding a coherent schedule and good luck finding a way from the bus stop home. I'd take the bus every day to work if I could, I honestly dislike the commute drive, even though mine's pretty short and very scenic.
- patio11 17y ago
  Trust the Japanese salaryman on this: public transportation is not a panacea for avoiding accidents caused by drowsiness. You have to be able to get to the train station and from the train station to your house, all without killing yourself. I have become a frequent face at a local hotel because I was so tired I did not trust myself to do that. (The project at issue is mostly done. Thank God.) (Quick sidenote: Five minutes before checking into the hotel to avoid killing myself walking down the street, I was being paid time-and-a-half because my workplace apparently thought that my presence was adding value. Some of you people reading this will eventually be engineering managers. If you ever are, prior to ordering Heroic Efforts (TM), please consider whether you really want me working on a production system in that state.)
  - _pi 17y ago
    I'd argue it's much easier to fall asleep sitting rather than walking.
    - HalcyonMuse 17y ago
      For sufficiently high values of drowsiness, the difference can become negligible.
jacquesm 17y ago
wow. Glad to see you posting here then! First http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=710384 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=710384 and now this. Don't worry about the car and the fine, I'm happy that the CAT scan showed no lasting damage and that in the end this is hopefully just a material thing, nothing affecting your health. And please go a bit easier on your body, sleep deprivation is a great way to harm yourself permanently. Your body really needs that sleep and to push yourself past what is good for you is not something that you can equate with a 'couple of hours of sleep debt', it can harm you on a much longer timescale as well, even if you don't get into car accidents because of it.

by _pi 17y ago

TrevorJ 17y ago

Good grief man. Glad you are ok. Obviously this is a great lesson to anyone - if you are sleepy don't drive.

jrockway 17y ago

Another argument in favor of public transportation.

_pi 17y ago
Oh yes. In terms of Bus Service. I live in the Greater Bridgeport/Hartford Area in CT. Buses are scarce, very scarce. There are stops but good luck finding a coherent schedule and good luck finding a way from the bus stop home. I'd take the bus every day to work if I could, I honestly dislike the commute drive, even though mine's pretty short and very scenic.
patio11 17y ago
Trust the Japanese salaryman on this: public transportation is not a panacea for avoiding accidents caused by drowsiness. You have to be able to get to the train station and from the train station to your house, all without killing yourself. I have become a frequent face at a local hotel because I was so tired I did not trust myself to do that. (The project at issue is mostly done. Thank God.) (Quick sidenote: Five minutes before checking into the hotel to avoid killing myself walking down the street, I was being paid time-and-a-half because my workplace apparently thought that my presence was adding value. Some of you people reading this will eventually be engineering managers. If you ever are, prior to ordering Heroic Efforts (TM), please consider whether you really want me working on a production system in that state.)
- _pi 17y ago
  I'd argue it's much easier to fall asleep sitting rather than walking.
  - HalcyonMuse 17y ago
    For sufficiently high values of drowsiness, the difference can become negligible.

jacquesm 17y ago

wow. Glad to see you posting here then! First http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=710384 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=710384 and now this. Don't worry about the car and the fine, I'm happy that the CAT scan showed no lasting damage and that in the end this is hopefully just a material thing, nothing affecting your health. And please go a bit easier on your body, sleep deprivation is a great way to harm yourself permanently. Your body really needs that sleep and to push yourself past what is good for you is not something that you can equate with a 'couple of hours of sleep debt', it can harm you on a much longer timescale as well, even if you don't get into car accidents because of it.