# Will we ever find a ‘solution’ to sleep? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359 "2005-11-10T05:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/21 "2005-11-10T20:32:07Z")
I hope they don’t find out a way to eliminate sleep. When you take a natural function that we and every other creature on Earth have been doing since the beginning of life and try to manipulate it through science or medicine, it’s a dance with disaster. Our bodies go to work repairing tissues and fibers and cells while we sleep. Without it, the effects on our minds and bodies would probably be devastating. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/22 "2005-11-10T20:35:23Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I’d also like to add the main reason you love sleep is because you are usually _tired_ when you start, and _rested_ when you are done. If we engineered ourselves to no longer need sleep, then you would get nothing from sleeping, other than losing 5-8 hours of a day, and dreams. Granted, dreams are sometimes nice, but if you were always 100% as rested as you are when you have a god night’s sleep, would you be willing to lose those hours jsut for the _chance_ to have/remember a nice dream? Sure, maybr a few times a week that might be fun, but on the average, I think it would be better to not need sleep, **provided** that all the CEOs and company presidents of the world wouldn’t suddenly decide we should all work an extra six hours with no pay increase. Of course, odds are, all these corporate bastards will bride (oops, I mean “fund the campaign of”) the congressman to have a standard work week set to 80 hours, on the basis that the 40 hour week was a product of needing sleep and rest. Since we don’t need those 8 hours every night, we should all work eight more hours to be more productive Americans. And no need to pay us more, because we are at work not spending money. :rolleyes: > So basically the more I think about it the more I think it’s a bad idea if it ever becomes possible. 😛 Yeah, that is my fear when I think of the idea. As it stands now about 1/3 of the week is spent in sleep, 1/3-1/4 is work and the rest is leisure, home upkeep and whatnot. If we ever found a way to live without sleep we wouldn’t get an extra 60 hours a week of leisure we’d just extend our home upkeep and work schedules by an extra 40+ hours a week. The idea of a 100 hour workweek (when you combine home upkeep work and income work) will become common in a sleep free society. I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/23 "2005-11-10T20:42:17Z")
These arguments about the necessity of sleep don’t wash, because as has already been stated, THERE ARE ALREADY PEOPLE LIVING FULL, HEALTHY LIVES WHO NEED LITTLE OR NOT SLEEP. If you HAD to have sleep to keep from being fucked up, they would be fucked up, but they’re not, they seem perfectly OK. They’re rare, but they’re there. From this I deduce that getting rid of sleep is possible, and will occur one day. I also suspect that the people who predicted our corporate masters would extend the workday to “cover” the extra hours are right. So I’m of two minds about it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/24 "2005-11-10T20:43:45Z")
These arguments about the necessity of sleep don’t wash, because as has already been stated, THERE ARE ALREADY PEOPLE LIVING FULL, HEALTHY LIVES WHO NEED LITTLE OR NOT SLEEP. If you HAD to have sleep to keep from being fucked up, they would be fucked up, but they’re not, they seem perfectly OK. They’re rare, but they’re there. From this I deduce that getting rid of sleep is possible, and will occur one day. I also suspect that the people who predicted our corporate masters would extend the workday to “cover” the extra hours are right. So I’m of two minds about it. Though the more likely path is that wages would fall until everybody “had” to have two jobs to stay fed, clothed and sheltered. And people who just worked one eight hour shift a day would be considered lazy welfare types by most people … including most Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/25 "2005-11-10T20:51:27Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I remember watching a TV show about 10-15 years ago about a man who suffers from a disorder where he never sleeps, however the guy was alive, appeared healthy and was mentally competent enough to become an artist. I will refrain from the obvious response to this. 🙂 I tend to agree with those that think we’ll figure out a way to make it work. But I’m also sure it won’t make us happier as a population, and that even if it works perfectly (ie no physical detriment, no psychosis), there will be some side-effects. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/26 "2005-11-10T20:52:41Z")
Sorry about the double post. I made that first one … in my sleep. Yeah. In my sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/27 "2005-11-10T20:53:02Z")
I don’t just like sleep because I get tired. I like sleep because, let’s face it-what’s nicer than crawling into a nice, soft warm cozy bed at the end of a hard, cold, wet, miserable day? Stretching out and wiggling under the covers, wraping yourself in a big soft quilt and just relaxing? And I am NOT a morning person-I like staying up late and sleeping in. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/28 "2005-11-10T21:17:07Z")
> [@bdgr](#): > > I could use an extra 6 hours a day to intend to get a bunch of stuff done but really surf on the internet and watch reruns of law and order Exactly. Some people will probably get more done. The rest of us will have 5-6 hours more to goof off. Hell, I have a hard enough problem not goofing off when I’m supposed to be working. ---
**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/29 "2005-11-11T04:56:35Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I hope they don’t find out a way to eliminate sleep. > > When you take a natural function that we and every other creature on Earth have been doing since the beginning of life and try to manipulate it through science or medicine, it’s a dance with disaster. Our bodies go to work repairing tissues and fibers and cells while we sleep. Without it, the effects on our minds and bodies would probably be devastating. If the effects were devastating, then this wouldn’t be the ‘solution’ I am looking for. I want a solution where there are no (physically) negative repercusions. A lot of people seem worried about the extra work - seems odd to me. My feelings would be that we would increase our work and free time in equal proportions (from an 8 hour work day to a 12 hour work day and from 8 waking hours of freetime to 12 waking hours of free time). So yes, you would work more, but you would also have more non-working time too. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/30 "2005-11-11T05:07:21Z")
Give up sleep? What a terrifying idea! I love sleep. And not just as a “release” from being tired. Best feeling in the world is waking up in the morning and not having to get out of bed: just lie there half-conscious for an hour or so. I’m not a morning person at all, because morning is when you have to get out of bed and wake up. Now, if we could get rid of the need to _eat_, I’d be all for it. Where are those little meal-in-a-pill thingies they had in the Jetsons? Screw the rocket cars - _that’s_ the future tech I want! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/31 "2005-11-11T13:44:39Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > what’s nicer than crawling into a nice, soft warm cozy bed at the end of a hard, cold, wet, miserable day? Stretching out and wiggling under the covers, wraping yourself in a big soft quilt and just relaxing? Who says you can’t relax? Instead of getting all comfy and happy, enjoying it for 15 minutes then waking up 5 hours later, you can get all comfy and happy and enjoy it for 2 hours and still have 3 hours to do whatever you want with. Seems to me, we only really enjoy the parts of sleep that we are conscious for, which is to say the parts of sleep that aren’t sleep. Let’s pretend for a moment that instead of 8 hours of sleep leaving you refreshed and happy when you wake up, that it is 30 minutes of sleep, leaving you just as refreshed, would you miss the 7.5 hours? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/32 "2005-11-11T18:33:05Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > I think we need to be sure not to confuse ‘sleepyness’ with ‘tiredness.’ Even without the need for sleep, would not our bodies require some time to recover from the fatique of daily physical activity? Sleeping is as good a way to pass that time as anything I can imagine. I’m surprised you don’t find any of the dozen or so activities that I LOVE to do while awake but physically resting in bed as enjoyable as I find them. Hell, I LIVE for them! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/33 "2005-11-11T18:37:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Now, if we could get rid of the need to _eat_, I’d be all for it. Where are those little meal-in-a-pill thingies they had in the Jetsons? Screw the rocket cars - _that’s_ the future tech I want! I only need to eat once a day. I don’t feel hungry, and it keeps me slim and fit. What if we only need to eat and drink once a day? What if our bowel movements slide out of us as a shiny, odorless capsule in less than 1 second each day? Think of how much glorious free time we’d all have! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/34 "2005-11-11T19:42:48Z")
> [@The Controvert](#): > > I only need to eat once a day. I don’t feel hungry, and it keeps me slim and fit. What if we only need to eat and drink once a day? What if our bowel movements slide out of us as a shiny, odorless capsule in less than 1 second each day? Think of how much glorious free time we’d all have! Yeah, sure… And think about all the tasty foods that will be banned because they’re not 110% safe, or producing them harm the environment, or it’s cruel for animals, etc… Once it won’t be necessary to eat anything else than a handful of pills. I’d happilly grab the no-sleep pills, but count me amongst those who can’t comprehend why one would want to give up eating. Don’t count on taking away my foie gras while I’m asleep because I won’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/35 "2005-11-11T19:43:58Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I’m surprised you don’t find any of the dozen or so activities that I LOVE to do while awake but physically resting in bed as enjoyable as I find them. If you’re talknig about what I think you’re talking about, you’re doing it wrong. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/36 "2005-11-11T20:11:40Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > If you’re talknig about what I think you’re talking about, you’re doing it wrong. 🙂 Heh. I always wondered why they called it “sleeping with someone” 😉 Actually, I meant mostly reading, watching TV and DVD’s, listening to music, daydreaming, and receiving massages. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/37 "2005-11-12T23:37:05Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Interesting that this should come up. Just the other day, the [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/science/08slee.html) had an article about sleep. Note: You may not be able to get to this without a (free) account, but I don’t know how to let you get at it without one. Allow me to introduce you to a lovely site called [http://bugmenot.com/](http://bugmenot.com/). You type in the name of the url you are trying to get to (in this case, [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com)) and it will give you an e-mail and password to log in. No need to register all your personal info to read a newspaper article. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359/38 "2005-11-13T00:00:11Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > As of now, the elimination of sleep is an automatic death sentence, such as Fatal Familial Insomnia, an inherited prion disease. I read about it on the Merck site. This would be a kickass way to die (btw: I suffer from bouts of somnophobia so I may be a little biased). I’ve heard that there are some people that havn’t slept for years due to a bizarre form of schizophrenia. Is this true or an urban legend? -Saint Cad [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-find-a-solution-to-sleep/330359.md?page=1)