# People who need (almost) no sleep - is this a disorder?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-need-almost-no-sleep-is-this-a-disorder/161998>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 17, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-need-almost-no-sleep-is-this-a-disorder/161998 "2003-03-17T14:56:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mushono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Mushono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mushono)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-need-almost-no-sleep-is-this-a-disorder/161998/21 "2003-03-18T21:08:43Z")

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FWIW, there is a new military drug out there, and it does keep people awake. Currently I’m taking it for chronic fatigue but I no longer need over 6 hours of sleep, previously i slept for 10 hours. My father tried taking one of these when he had to stay up all night, and he was up for 2 days with no sign of slowing down, he slept normally the next night. If anyone is interested you should google for Provigil.

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**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-need-almost-no-sleep-is-this-a-disorder/161998/22 "2003-03-18T21:18:34Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by hauss \*  
> \*\*Before this post goes any further, does anybody know for sure that people exist for years by only getting a couple hours a night without any negative effects (all i have heard here so far is hearsay)?
> 
> If this is true, these people are much different biologically than everyone else. Sleep is the backbone of a human’s well-being…
> 
> Fuel \*\*

I can go for about 2-3 weeks at a time with only 3-4 hours of sleep a night - no naps or anything during the day. Then I revert to about a week of approximately 8-9 hours a day/night. I can then go back to the 3-4 or not.

I’ve done this cycle for several years, but I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t manage to keep up the 3-4 hours a night for much longer than a couple of weeks.

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**Author:** ![Eegba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Eegba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eegba)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-need-almost-no-sleep-is-this-a-disorder/161998/23 "2003-03-18T22:13:42Z")

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If we’re talking about medications, I recently read an interesting article about [modafinil](http://slate.msn.com/id/2079113/). Sounds a little freaky, but could be useful in controlled situations.

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