# Wouldn't it be great if people didn't need any sleep at all... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140 "2005-09-30T02:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrahamWellington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@GrahamWellington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrahamWellington)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/1 "2005-09-30T02:25:27Z")
and still feel vibrant and alive! As things stand, it seems like all I do is work, eat, sleep, play a little, and then it’s back off to work … . If one were to have zero need for sleep, not even naps, then one could spend more time doing things that are fun, like being in this place! There’s no downside, right? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/2 "2005-09-30T03:34:06Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > There’s no downside, right? I have to disagree. I’m probably in the minority here, but the daydreaming I accomplish while lying down right before I go to sleep or (at least on weekends) after I’ve woken up but not gotten up is serious quality time. If I didn’t sleep, I’d have no excuse to daydream. And seeing how daydreaming is as close as I’ll probably ever get to winning the lottery (or any number of other things I don’t care to mention – hello, Lucy Liu!), I’d rather hang on to sleeping. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/3 "2005-09-30T03:59:52Z")
Last night I had a dream that I single-handedly defeated an entire raiding party of reavers that had infiltrated an alliance cruiser. The night before I defeated a variety of zombies and vampires led by a very creepy red-eyed girl. These events are much more exciting than anything in my waking life. So no, I’m not giving up sleep. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/4 "2005-09-30T04:22:20Z")
Nah, I like sleeping. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/5 "2005-09-30T05:00:39Z")
Are you kidding me? I think I was a cat in a former life. I LOVE to sleep. Curling up in my bed with all my quilts and afghans, with my pillows and cushions and stuffed animals, it’s like being inside a warm, soft little coccoon. Now that, my friend, is quality time. ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/6 "2005-09-30T06:09:31Z")
Hell no! I love sleeping so much, I almost wish I were conscious just so I could enjoy it. The best thing about sleeping is waking up and realising that I can go back to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/7 "2005-09-30T14:11:20Z")
I like sleeping too, but I wish I only needed like 4-5 hours a night to be refreshed. I could read alot more books and spend alot more time reading the SDMB!! ---
**Author:** ![sniffles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@sniffles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sniffles)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/8 "2005-09-30T14:15:33Z")
I see your point… but I love to sleep… the only way I get to indulge my fantasies… I personally would prefer not to waste time eating… One time a day would be plenty. I usually resent having to stop what i’m doing to fill up… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/9 "2005-09-30T14:16:54Z")
I like sleeping, too, but wouldn’t mind if I could routinely get by on a lot less. However, I’m afraid employers would expect (and the law might eventually require) longer work hours if sleep were purely optional. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/10 "2005-09-30T15:41:23Z")
I work with at least two people who apparently (I’m serious) only need a couple hours of sleep per day. I am insanely jealous of them. Imagine getting done with work, and having another 10 hours or so available for your hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/11 "2005-09-30T22:13:11Z")
Sleep - that’s where I’m a Viking! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/12 "2005-09-30T22:16:39Z")
Sleeping rules! This is why we suffer through alll those hours awake. Woudln’t it be great if we just could sleep all the time (looking envyiously at my cat) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/13 "2005-09-30T23:47:13Z")
Has anyone ever stopped to think about how WEIRD sleep is? Why on earth did we ever evolve it? How can it possibly be an evolutionary advantage to be unconscious 1/3 of the time? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/14 "2005-09-30T23:55:01Z")
I like dreaming, but I do think I’d get a lot more done if I slept less. I don’t seem to function well on little sleep, however, so I figure my next plan will involve staying busy enough that I don’t notice I’m tired. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/15 "2005-10-01T01:13:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast. — Shakespeare Sleep shows me that there’s more to life than just living it. I love sleep. Granted, I’m down to about 6 hours a night these days, but dammit, it’s important! ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/16 "2005-10-01T01:34:55Z")
I just finished **The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep** by Lawrence Block. The main character took a peice of shrapnel through his brain, and apparantly destroyed the part that requires sleep, so he hasn’t slept in 13 years. He reads and studies most nights, and speaks many languages. He makes his living writing term papers for college students. The best was when the feds had him in custody for weeks and couldn’t make him talk. Turns out most of their interrogation techniques depend on sleep deprivation! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/17 "2005-10-01T01:39:27Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Has anyone ever stopped to think about how WEIRD sleep is? Why on earth did we ever evolve it? How can it possibly be an evolutionary advantage to be unconscious 1/3 of the time? I’m not sure, but I would imagine that it might have something to do with evolving a more and more complex neural network… a biological ‘machine’ that sophisticated simply can’t stay in running order for years at a time… or if such were possible, it would be more energy-wasteful than the design we’ve got and not worth the extra time of activity. Hasn’t sleep been linked to the reinforcement of learning behaviours or something like that?? Certain brain patterns corresponding to the day’s experiences are reviewed, crossreferenced against earlier memories, and rewritten into new experiences and associations. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/18 "2005-10-01T14:43:24Z")
Nancy Kress developed this concept in her “Sleepless” trilogy ( **Beggars in Spain** , **Beggars and Choosers** , and **Beggars Ride** ). An experimental and expensive genetic modification produces a small group of people who never sleep. They do indeed have more time to study and one of them enters a university at an early age, but her dorm room is vandalized by resentful “Sleepers” (unmodified/normal humans). The Sleepless don’t dream, either, and lack that subconscious source of creativity. There’s another side affect of the Sleepless modification but it’s a major spoiler:The Sleepless age very slowly and are practically immortal, _and_ they can pass on Sleepless traits to their offspring. The reaction of the “normal” population is explosive. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/19 "2005-10-01T16:46:33Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > I just finished **The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep** by Lawrence Block. The main character took a peice of shrapnel through his brain, and apparantly destroyed the part that requires sleep, so he hasn’t slept in 13 years. He reads and studies most nights, and speaks many languages. He makes his living writing term papers for college students. > > The best was when the feds had him in custody for weeks and couldn’t make him talk. Turns out most of their interrogation techniques depend on sleep deprivation! Cool idea, but impossible. People who lose the ability to sleep die a slow and nasty death, they don’t last more than a few years; usually more like months. It’s sometimes caused by a prion disease passed down in families ( called Fatal Familial Insomnia or FFM ); sometimes it occurs elsewhere. > [@Max the Vool](#): > > Has anyone ever stopped to think about how WEIRD sleep is? Why on earth did we ever evolve it? How can it possibly be an evolutionary advantage to be unconscious 1/3 of the time? It seems to have something to do with dreaming. Dolphins are a good example of how important sleep is; despite an obvious evolutionary incentive to eliminate sleep ( to avoid drowning ), they failed to evolve such an adaptation; instead, their brain sleeps one hemisphere at a time. Regarding the OP : I’d love it if it were possible. I’d like to eliminate the need for food, rest, drink. and go to the bathroom as well. Darn these human weaknesses…but when my new robot body is ready, I’ll show you all !! Mwahahahahaha ! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140/20 "2005-10-02T01:57:57Z")
Sleep is way too much fun. Even if I didn’t NEED to sleep, I’d do it anyway, just for fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-it-be-great-if-people-didnt-need-any-sleep-at-all/324140.md?page=2)