Can you function on little sleep?

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I've been running myself ragged lately, between school, the gym, and dating.
The other night, I genuinely felt like I was going to have a heart attack (I don't eat, which doesn't help).
And so I collapsed into bed, and got four hours, more than the previous week, and felt amazing.
I'm terrible about staying up- it lent itself to a misdiagnosis of Bipolar before my Aspie dx.

sometimes i can manage on 1.5 hours, sometimes 4.5 hours, but most of the time i need at least 6, other times i can sleep for 14+ hours


whats weird is that some nights i can fall asleep at a "normal" time, and others i simply cannot.

i also seem to be stuck in the twilight zone ......
as an example, the clock in my taskbar reads "5:35am", but the clock in my dock is set to "9:35pm" (phoenix Arizona time) - so its bed time in a couple of hours (when i actually feel like it)

so right now, i'm on Arizona time, but im sure that wont last...

No, and I just slept approximately 12 hours to prove it.

I've started eating healthier recently, and I've noticed that lack of sleep doesn't bother as much as it used to. I do get enough sleep most nights, but when I don't I'm not yawning all day, and I don't feel fatigued.

I never seem to get enough sleep, and as a result, I feel very tired and in need of a nap ALL the time. It's a miserable and exhausting way to live.
I also experience impairment with various cognitive functions, such as working memory, concentration, processing speed, reaction time, the ability to make appropriate decisions in a timely fashion, etc. When I sleep even worse than usual, these issues become particularly pronounced.
I also get this weird thing when I'm very tired, which involves finding the dumbest things hilariously funny. This results in prolonged out of control fits of laughter which makes it look like I'm on something. It's can be embarrassing, and then I'll sometimes wind up getting hiccups from laughing so hard, which is also embarrassing. It's a very strange phenomenon.
So, yes, sleep deprivation really interferes with my functioning.

No.

Nope! Me either.

Coffee is no help. Energy drinks do nothing. I slept right through an AP test and an SAT in high school because I was too nervous to sleep the night before.

I normally completely fall apart when I get less than 7 hours. I've gotten by on 4 hours or less for a day or two when I'm running on adrenaline for some reason or another, due to either excitement or nerves. It always hits like a ten ton rock when that wears off though. There's also a point beyond which coffee does no good. If I'm really sleep deprived a cup of coffee can actually put me to sleep. That or the caffeine will make me feel worse by making me all nauseous and trembly inside without perking me up much at all.

The most torturous thing ever for me is having to get through a work day after a poor night of sleep. A job that's more hands on and active I can sort of work through the tiredness, but a monotonous or sedentary job is just straight up torture. I need sufficient sleep to feel motivated at all. Sleep deprivation will make me start feeling suicidal after a while.

Last edited by marshall on 02 Apr 2012, 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Only noticeable effect is when I type I miss out words. Being awake for 30 hours isn't uncommon. I'm not even tired at the end of it, I just tell myself to be sensible and go to bed.

Oh, the topic was about the converse thing. I don't read threads when I haven't slept.

Sleep is an utmost necessity for me. If I don't sleep I begin to go crazy.

I have been diagnosed with DSPS recently. It means my biological clock is of by a few hours. I just can't get to sleep before 3am, no matter what I try. (Google it)

It has been a problem for years now, but it has grown increasingly bad after a few months of no job or school and adjusting to my inner schedule (I prefer 4am-12pm). I started school recently and classes start every day at 8.30. Including travel, it means I have to leave around 7. After two, maybe three days, I just collapse and sleep for 12 hours straight, if not more.

About how much sleep we need: The body has sleeping phases, which includes the REM sleep (lightest) and sleep phase 3 (deepest). Most adults have about 1.5 hour of deep sleep, which happens in two parts. This is when the body is restoring. The 7-8 hours for adults is right.

Turns out, if you sleep more than 7-8 hours every night, you don't have deep sleep anymore. Your body is still resting, but not restoring. The sleep won't do anything for your body. You can even get more tired by sleeping more. Or at least, that's what the sleep specialist told me.

I need to get my pattern back after being up til 3 chatting away.

Yes I need help.

This is true for everyone. Sleepiness = easier to agitate emotions. The question is whether or not it affects us more. I know I need at least 6 hours to function at all.

I can function on as little as four or five hours sleep. I'm alright on three and a half hours, but I am visibly tired. Any less and then I go. Out of term anyway. If it was in school term, I'd probably be okay without any sleep.

I usually get 6-8 hours of sleep per day and I usually have plenty of energy. I can function on 3-4 hours for a day and then I crash after that. The amount day to day stress affects my energy level a lot more than the amount of sleep that I get.

you must be one of those super humans born with superior batteries that hardly ever need recharging. i knew a few of those people in the army, who insisted that anybody who slept more than 2 hours a day was just lazy. if they had my dodgy batteries though, they'd think differently. any less than 8 hours and i just can't think straight.