To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question.
O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
- William Shakespeare's "Henry IV"
"You need to get more sleep," one of my co-workers told me last Wednesday morning.
Of course she was right when you consider that my normal daily routine ends sometime around 2 a.m. when I switch off the ol' Xbox and trudge off to bed. Five or so hours later, I pry myself out of bed, in just enough time to get ready for work and get to my desk at The Journal on time.
I've been interested in the subject of sleep for years, mainly because I've always viewed sleep as a big waste of time and have looked for ways to make doing without it easier. Some of the most interesting material that I've ever read on sleep were in two books by the late Carl Sagan, "Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors" and "Dragons of Eden."
According to Sagan, most of what we know about sleep, we've learned in last 25 years, and as much as we know about medicine and physiology, we really know very little about why humans sleep and about how sleep works.
Most of us take for granted the idea that humans need sleep to allow the body to replenish and repair itself, but studies show that our bodies do this at a constant rate regardless of whether we're asleep or not. Others think that sleep allows the brain to rest, but we know this to not be the case thanks to studies that show that most people see a significant increase in brain activity during sleep.
I've been especially interested in the different sleep studies done by militaries around the world, including the U.S. Department of Defense. They've spent billions of dollars trying to figure out how to turn off the sleep switch in a soldier's brain. If a soldier, sailor or pilot doesn't require sleep, it makes him a much more efficient and dangerous weapon during prolonged military operations.
One of the most well-known results of military sleep research was the development of the drug "methamphetamine" by the Nazis in World War II. The drug, then called Pervitin, was the German army's - the Wehrmacht's - wonder drug. During the short period between April and July of 1940, more than 35 million tablets of Pervitin and Isophan (a slightly modified version) were shipped to the German army and air force.
Today, the U.S. Department of Defense conducts its sleep experiments at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, one of the nation's largest and most diverse biomedical research laboratories.
At Walter Reed, a team of 15 researchers, including physicians, physiologists and experimental psychologists, study sleep for the U.S. military. Their findings are included in peer-reviewed literature like the Journal of Sleep Research as well as Army field manuals, like the U.S. Army's Field Manual on "Combat Stress" and the "Leader's Manual for Combat Stress Control."
Some of their most interesting research centers on the use of drugs like caffeine, d-amphetamine, zaleplon and modafinil. Their research has revealed more than a few interesting findings, including:
* A person will die from a total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a few weeks.
* The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
* Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing that a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.
* Researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibers embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
* Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
* The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.
* As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.
- William Shakespeare's "Henry IV"
"You need to get more sleep," one of my co-workers told me last Wednesday morning.
Of course she was right when you consider that my normal daily routine ends sometime around 2 a.m. when I switch off the ol' Xbox and trudge off to bed. Five or so hours later, I pry myself out of bed, in just enough time to get ready for work and get to my desk at The Journal on time.
I've been interested in the subject of sleep for years, mainly because I've always viewed sleep as a big waste of time and have looked for ways to make doing without it easier. Some of the most interesting material that I've ever read on sleep were in two books by the late Carl Sagan, "Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors" and "Dragons of Eden."
According to Sagan, most of what we know about sleep, we've learned in last 25 years, and as much as we know about medicine and physiology, we really know very little about why humans sleep and about how sleep works.
Most of us take for granted the idea that humans need sleep to allow the body to replenish and repair itself, but studies show that our bodies do this at a constant rate regardless of whether we're asleep or not. Others think that sleep allows the brain to rest, but we know this to not be the case thanks to studies that show that most people see a significant increase in brain activity during sleep.
I've been especially interested in the different sleep studies done by militaries around the world, including the U.S. Department of Defense. They've spent billions of dollars trying to figure out how to turn off the sleep switch in a soldier's brain. If a soldier, sailor or pilot doesn't require sleep, it makes him a much more efficient and dangerous weapon during prolonged military operations.
One of the most well-known results of military sleep research was the development of the drug "methamphetamine" by the Nazis in World War II. The drug, then called Pervitin, was the German army's - the Wehrmacht's - wonder drug. During the short period between April and July of 1940, more than 35 million tablets of Pervitin and Isophan (a slightly modified version) were shipped to the German army and air force.
Today, the U.S. Department of Defense conducts its sleep experiments at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, one of the nation's largest and most diverse biomedical research laboratories.
At Walter Reed, a team of 15 researchers, including physicians, physiologists and experimental psychologists, study sleep for the U.S. military. Their findings are included in peer-reviewed literature like the Journal of Sleep Research as well as Army field manuals, like the U.S. Army's Field Manual on "Combat Stress" and the "Leader's Manual for Combat Stress Control."
Some of their most interesting research centers on the use of drugs like caffeine, d-amphetamine, zaleplon and modafinil. Their research has revealed more than a few interesting findings, including:
* A person will die from a total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a few weeks.
* The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
* Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing that a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.
* Researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibers embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.
* Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
* The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.
* As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.
posted by Lee Peacock at 2:14 PM
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