After our rigorous scientific trial and review, we’ve established that staying awake for long periods of time is a stupid idea. But there’s more to good sleep than simply closing your eyes. For years popular wisdom has stated that eight hours of sleep is the required amount for any adult. This turns out not to be true, as good sleep has more to do with the number of sleep cycles you complete rather than the sheer length. Each sleep cycle contains five stages, each performing its own purpose towards making you feel rested.
An average sleep cycle lasts between 90 and 120 minutes and includes roughly an hour of normal sleep (that’s non-REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep), 20 minutes of REM sleep during which we dream, before returning to regular non-REM sleep for another brief period. If left to sleep naturally (i.e., without alarm clocks, disturbances or sleeping pills), you should wake up after completing a sleep cycle. So if you’re setting an alarm, set it to wake you up after a multiple of 90 minutes (so after 7 and a half or 9 hours, not 8).
Beyond this, it’s the quality of sleep that dictates how rested you feel afterwards. Sleeping for 15 hours won’t do you much good if you’re lying on a bed of nails on the surface of the sun. Make sure you have a comfortable place to lie down - preferably in a room that you use only for sleeping, so move that gaming PC and consoles out of your bedroom. As mentioned earlier, your brain also responds to light levels, using brightness as a cue for governing the release of the brain chemicals that control sleep. If your room is bright from the light outside your window, consider getting some blackout curtains that can keep your room dark when you want to get some shut-eye.
Throughout this entire experiment, the thought that I kept returning to was: why? Why stay up this late, this long, to play games or for any other purpose? One of the major symptoms of sleep deprivation is lethargy, a general loss of motivation that leaves you uninspired and determined to do nothing. By the 30-hour mark, I had no desire to play a videogame, let alone the faculties for performing well when I did. Sleep is necessary for survival. While staying awake for 48 hours likely won’t kill you, assuming you move around now and then, it is damaging to your health. Avoiding harm is as easy as falling asleep. So get some rest, and we’ll see you in the morning.
May 30, 2008
