[extropy-chat] Sleeplessness

[Paul Grant]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Johnius
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 11:19 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: [extropy-chat] Sleeplessness

	I've read that a few genius types (e.g., Edison, Fuller),
	managed to get by on minimal sleep for extended periods
	by taking 5 minute cat naps on site, springing right back
	into the work after each nap ...

That seems to be the popular consensus then; there was a guy
on the internet who was trying to do a 2 hour sleep schedule
interspersed throughout the day (30 minute naps).  A really
interesting side-note to his project, was that he developed
a craving for grape juice.  I have found, that when I have
concentrated straight for four hours or so, and get a sort
of mental "burn" (neurotransmitter depletion I suspect), 
grape juice will immediately alleviate that burn, and return
me to state of mental "freshness".  I too, have read about
(and met!) people who sleep 2 hours a night.  I can also report
that DXM seems to inhibit some sort of cycle, so that if you take
a certain mg dosage before you go to sleep, you wake up as 
refreshed as if you have slept for 24 hours!  Not sure
why this is so, though.  I think it has to do with some sort
of inhibition of the dreaming cycle, because if you've done
DXM daily for 3-4 days, about 3-4 days after you will get the
most intense vivid dreams.

	As long as such sleep reductions don't interfere with
	needed bodily repairs (for longevity) and psychological
	rest/reorganization (REM sleep), such practices seem
	at least somewhat extropic to me.

The only thing that bothers me about sleep reduction cycles
is that of information retention;  I'm worried that knowledge
acquired during the cycle will evaporate the minute you
have normal sleep (like building on a house of cards).
I've also experienced a weird state where I've been mentally
processing stuff at night, and wake up instantly alert with
a bunch of new stuff already figured out.  Not sure why this
happens though; I've noticed it tends to be stuff it tends to
concern interesting (to me) problems that require creative
solutions.  This is different from my normal creative routines
in that (for this class of problems), solutions do not spring
unbidden to my mind...  There is usually some examination of
the problem from different angles, and proddings.  I've
also gone into dream cycles, where I'll sleep for 24 hours;
when it happens, I usually wake up about 12 hours into it, realize
its a dream cycle, and go back to sleep.  Its a period of
lucid dreaming, but on a very advanced scale.. Its more like
I'm not dreaming, but thinking.  Its very fun :)

Anyways, I was curious if anyone on the list has any of 
these occurrences/states/experiments etc?  I know I tend
to think differently than a lot of people (so far as I can
deduce), but this is the stuff thats unusual even for me :)
I'm curious to see if anyone exhibits similar patterns.

omard-out