
Total sleep deprivation impairs attention and higher-order cognitive processes - bookofjoe
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-70149-001?doi=1
======
firefoxd
And causes hallucinations!

Will post my story here in the near future, but let's just say a good man was
doing my taxes at 3am. It was okay at first, because he was a hard worker.
Suddenly I realized it was 3am, and told him to rush it. He complied, hunched
his back and buried his nose in all the documents. I looked down at my legs
and saw that I was wearing my boxers only, I told him to hurry it up because I
gotta go to bed. I could hear him mumbling a response and hunching his
shoulders some more to work faster. I felt bad for putting all this pressure
on him. I got closer and put a hand on his shoulder, only to find that he had
fallen asleep. I looked around and saw that his desk was a crib, and that this
man was my premii 2 months old son.

I'm a father of twins.

~~~
wayneftw
I learned here on HN that Eskimos don't have access to a lot of drugs or
alcohol, so they used to just starve themselves in order to get to this
hallucinogenic state!

People really have a deep seeded desire to alter their consciousness.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
That sounds interesting. Do you remember the comment/post?

~~~
wayneftw
You know, I searched for it but I just can’t find it. Perhaps I’m mistaken
about the source.

------
Nyra
As someone with serious sleeping problems (at least once a week I miss a night
of sleep) and bad sleeping habits overall, I’ve definitely noticed my
attention span and ability to think clearly taking a serious nosedive over the
last couple years. Who would have thought, sleep is super important.

~~~
papito
Go on Amazon and get yourself one of those acupressure mats. Worst case, you
will lose like $25, but I can attest to its effectiveness as one of the early
users (and I have recommended it to friends ever since). Cheapest thing ever
that can change your life.

I have trouble falling asleep, mind racing, all that jazz. I have to be
EXHAUSTED to fall asleep. This thing is a miracle. After 15-20 minutes, you
start drifting off, then wake up on it about an hour later, toss it to the
side, and immediately fall back asleep, super-drowsy. And in the morning you
feel like you had slept 36 hours straight.

~~~
Joe-Z
I'm so excited right now! I have the same issue as you with falling asleep. Is
this what you're talking about?:

[https://amzn.to/2qZ372D](https://amzn.to/2qZ372D)

I hope posting a link to amazon doesn't violate any site guidelines, but man,
if this really helps I'm going to order it right away.

~~~
papito
Yeah - that type. I wasn't a fan of the neck pillow when I tried it, but your
mileage may vary. I flip mine landscape mode so that I get good back shoulder
coverage, by the way.

~~~
Joe-Z
Thanks for the tip, going to order one now. Have a nice weekend!

------
abrookins
Related: Parents of young children found to be completely dead inside

~~~
johnydepp
Oh man...I can totally relate to it.. I have a 2 year kid and last 2 years
have been most difficult for me and my wife's life given that I need to take
of the startup as well

------
shams93
I had this job that thought you were stealing from them if you got more than
90 minutes sleep a night they would literally call the engineers 7 days a week
at 3am to make sure we were not "slipping up" by getting sleep worst job of my
life absolutely illegal labor practice as well imagine having to work 140
hours to keep getting paid for 40.

~~~
rcfox
Unless this job was a study on sleep deprivation, how could they possibly
believe they had the right to do this?

~~~
closeparen
Oncall duties?

------
gumby
I see some people consider this article to be a trivial commonplace but in
some environments sleep is considered a waste of time. For example when I was
at MIT I think everybody pulled a couple of all-nighters per week. There was a
culture of how to manage it, not one of how to make that unnecessary.

~~~
bityard
The same is true in the medical profession. Sleep deprivation is absolutely
the norm for young doctors and surgeons in residence, which should be a scary
thing given how often people's lives are quite literally in their hands.

------
hownottowrite
Ref: PDF of study
[https://msu.edu/~ema/StepanAltmannFennJEPG.pdf](https://msu.edu/~ema/StepanAltmannFennJEPG.pdf)

------
mrleinad
Day before yesterday a bus crashed in Argentina, two kids died as consequence
of the crash.

Earlier this month the organism that regulates public transportation allowed
companies to send just one driver on long distance trips, forcing that person
to stay awake during the whole journey.

~~~
timwaagh
I don't think we should dehumanize people just because they are on the other
site of the debate. To address the point, there are good reasons for
deprioritising safety given the economic climate.

~~~
whisps
What are the good reasons?

~~~
timwaagh
Argentina's economy is going down the drain atm. Labor cost is a big factor in
transportation so keeping two drivers might be making the things too
expensive. Independent of this, buses are safer than cars, so safety wise the
argument could be made if it gets people out of the car it's worth it. I don't
think I've ever had two drivers for long distance buses in Europe. I don't
think we're very unsafe.

~~~
DoingIsLearning
I am not sure where in Europe you've experienced _long_ distance buses but
heavy vehicles have a tacho by law in any EU country.

All drivers have to prove they rested x hours if they have done y kilometers.
Any company violating this will be charged.

Also consider that Argentina North to South is well over 3000km which would be
equivalent to a trip between Estonia and Greece.

~~~
timwaagh
The thing about the tacho is true. On my trip from NL to Austria all of us had
to get out so the driver could take rest at some point. This particular
regulation doesn't force bus companies to just double the labor cost, though.

------
tartoran
Yawning induces sleep! I forcefully and repeatedly yawn for 10 minutes to rid
of insomnia. Really works

------
fbelzile
I know this book gets posted anytime something sleep related comes up... but I
still find it underrated.

'Why We Sleep'[0] has changed my sleeping habits for the better and I wish
everyone had the chance to read it. It's like a manual explaining how your
body works 1/3 of the time you're alive.

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-
Dreams/dp/1501...](https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-
Dreams/dp/1501144316)

~~~
cybertronic
"“Why We Sleep” Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850)

~~~
guiambros
Thanks for the link. I love the book and have recommended to many friends, but
also felt the lack of scientific sources somewhat disappointing.

------
qrbLPHiKpiux
Physicians, keep this mind. Don’t let your hospital health system overlords do
this to you.

------
hughpeters
Can someone define total sleep deprivation (TSD) in the context of this
article? I'm assuming it's going one night with no sleep at all, but is that
correct?

------
m0zg
I'm about to publish a groundbreaking study which also demonstrates that
eating five double quarter pounders with cheese and fries a day will lead to
obesity.

------
swayvil
Sleep-dep is a standard consciousness-alteration technique in the
monastic/mystic scene. Along with fasting and meditation.

------
anewguy9000
filed under no shit

------
wheelie_boy
Yesterday was all about getting enough light during the day, today is about
getting good sleep at night. Hopefully we'll also hear about eating healthy,
getting some exercise, and the importance of healthy friendships.

~~~
nannal
Looking forward to the posts on how Financial stability is conducive to a low
stress environment overall improving the mental and physical health of all
affected.

~~~
mlvljr
Don't forget how well financial stability correlates with monetary well-being!

