You can get used to sleep deprivation

[moonlight]

I don't have kids, and one thing I keep hearing over and over from parents is that you "get used to" sleep deprivation. I am the type of person who needs 10 hours a sleep a night and after the second day of less than that, it becomes debilitating for me.

I hear different versions of this all the time:

"After being up with a baby every few hours, 4 solid hours of sleep is plenty."

"Insomnia during pregnancy gets you prepared for never sleeping again."

"I used to need a lot of sleep but after kids I need much less."

And unrelated to having children:

"I used to work 3 jobs and I only got a few hours of sleep here and there when I could. You get used to it."

Is this more of a psychological coping mechanism, or can your body really learn how to function on less sleep?

[nizaH]

Perhaps you only need to develop pattern of sleep hours.

[Roadie]

It's hard to tell whether my need for sleep has adapted to my life circumstances, or because of age. But my sleep needs definitely have changed over time.

[geminilee]

Hmm.... I don't know if I have "adapted to sleep deprivation" as much as found a way of dealing with lifelong insomnia. I have a 3-on/2-off pattern much of the time. For the days I am on, I think I get a bit "off" towards the end of the 3 days, but I am not the classic sleep deprived stereotype.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Yeah, you can "adapt" to chronic lack of sleep, but it really takes a toll on you.

[compass]

I think it also depends on how active you are, and how alert you need to be. When I'm training sport particularly hard I will be falling-asleep-on-my-desk-useless without 8-9 hours. And without quite enough sleep I get easily distracted, easily frustrated etc, but I can still function. Perhaps "getting used to it" is more redefining what "awake" feels like, or how crappy you can feel and still cope.

[ganzfeld]

You can get used to lots of things that are bad for you, even a pack or two of cigarettes a day. Moderate sleep depravation isn't quite as bad as that perhaps but it's there is plenty of solid scientific evidence that it's very bad for you.

You mention not having any children but what I learned from having children isn't that "you can live with it" but, whether or not you have children, you need a strategy and a plan to get enough sleep. Don't leave it to "whatever I can get". Your plan may be different from a parent but it's just as important that you have one. Sleep is not a guilty pleasure; it's as necessary as getting enough vitamins and minerals!

[Beachlife!]

You can get used to it somewhat, but you can't go on indefinitely. From my experiences, sleep deprivation is one of those things that people often exagerate.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

You can get used to lots of things that are bad for you, even a pack or two of cigarettes a day. Moderate sleep depravation isn't quite as bad as that perhaps but it's there is plenty of solid scientific evidence that it's very bad for you.

That was my thought. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

ETA: Some of the "complaints" I hear about sleep deprivation are really more like bragging, IMO. A variation on the "I'm so busy. . . " theme.

[mags]

I need a lot of sleep, and have only recently realized just how much I was compensating for it through my life. I guess I never really realized most people didn't do the things I did to get enough sleep.

When I was a kid, the first thing I did when I got home from school was nap for a couple hours. When I was in high school, and stayed up later like most teens, I started sleeping in class (and still often napped when I got home).

In college, because I was taking a difficult degree, I had to stay up late just to get my course work done. I had to schedule my classes so that none were earlier than 9, and made sure I would have an hour or two after lunch before my next class so I could go back to the dorm to nap. I also learned to take notes while I was functionally asleep in class (just copied anything that was written on the board before passing back out). I was fortunate enough to be able to learn things by being awake and active in class discussion the first and last 5-10 minutes of most classes (the middle was often showing how to apply that information to specific problems, and I could look at those notes later when doing my homework). To make up for the sleep I was losing during the week staying up late doing coursework, I usually slept all through the days on weekends. I got up for lunch, went back to bed, and got up again for dinner, and would stay up through the evening.

I managed to adapt my schedule to my sleep needs up until the point I had a job. I barely stayed awake in the afternoons, and would fall asleep right when I got home, only waking for two or three hours in the evening. I slept a lot on the weekends. I only worked for five months before taking off to be with my now-husband.

Since I've been able to almost totally control my schedule as a housewife/working at home for my husband's business, I've taken to sleeping 5-8 hours at night, and another 1.5-4 hour nap after lunch.

I don't have kids, and I know if I did, I would be so sleep deprived as to be non-functional. When I miss my nap, I already tend to fall asleep if I sit in one place for too long.

[moonlight]

Originally Posted by mags

I don't have kids, and I know if I did, I would be so sleep deprived as to be non-functional. When I miss my nap, I already tend to fall asleep if I sit in one place for too long.

This is me also. I have a chronic illness and even though I'm in remission, I think it fatigues me to the point of needing more sleep than the average person.

Of course all the comments I hear are from people trying to talk me into having kids. They say "Oh, you get used to it!" as if your body decides what's important and allows you to be a fully functional human on a total of four hours of interrupted sleep when you've needed 8-10 up until that point. I just wanted the snopesters' take on it.

[Lainie]

The idea of trying to talk someone into having kids baffles me.

[Aud 1]

I might say "used it it" as a way to describe my continuing relationship with sleep deprivation but it is more like a really bad bargain. Yes I'm getting less sleep and may appear to be functional but a lot is getting by me. My memory is crap. It affects my heath including weight management and depression symptoms.

[erwins]

I think some people can function better on less sleep than other people, and maybe you can learn to improve that, but as others have said, you can't just learn to do with less sleep long term--at least not without ill effects.

I had a job with over a 1 hour commute each way, and my carpool chose to set an early schedule, so I had to be on the road by 5:45 every morning. That required getting up about 4 hours earlier than what my natural schedule would be, and I have had sleep issues all my life. So I became chronically severely sleep deprived (because I could not get to sleep much earlier than my natural schedule--I got between 4 and 6 hours a night). I function fairly well on too little sleep, but the long term effects were very bad for me. I didn't realize how much it was affecting me until I lost my job and was able to revert to my natural sleep schedule. I now know that I can't work that kind of schedule long-term again.

[Beachlife!]

Keep in mind, getting 'used to' it isn't the same thing as feeling normal while sleep deprived. You can get used to feeling groggy, a big light headed and muddled in your thoughts, but it doesn't mean it feels the same or as good as not being sleep deprived. After long enough though that becomes your new normal.

Having gone through many periods of extended sleep deprivation, the one thing that always surprised me about getting sleep again was how lucid and real the world suddenly felt.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Even I don't like being around sleep-deprived me. That's how grouchy I become.

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by erwins

I think some people can function better on less sleep than other people

I think so to. And I think that many of the people who need less sleep don't realize that there are genuine differences; at least some of them seem to think that because they personally feel fine on five hours of sleep, that people who say they need nine or ten are only being lazy. I need somewhat less sleep now than I did when I was younger; but telling me that I need less sleep than I actually do is about like telling me I ought to be six inches taller. I'm not, that's all. The fact that some people are is irrelevant to whether I am.

I do also suspect that some people have, as others have said here, gotten so "used" to being sleep-deprived that they have no idea how much it's affecting them; they think that the state they're in is normal.

[erwins]

I think I function pretty well when sleep deprived. That doesn't mean I don't need more sleep, though. I can do the things I need to do, but as I explained above, it takes a toll.

During the time that I was chronically severely sleep deprived, I may have joked about how little sleep I was getting, but I did wish I could get more sleep. And I would never say someone was being lazy for getting more sleep. I'm jealous of people who can count on getting enough sleep. I get insomnia at the drop of a hat. Even if I can function pretty well on too little sleep, that doesn't mean it actually feels good.

The part I was unaware of until I stopped being sleep deprived was how much it was affecting my mood and energy levels.

[Lainie]

A former co-worker's husband, after months of driving an extended commute, fell asleep at the wheel and was killed in an accident, leaving behind his wife and two small children. The only small mercy was that he didn't hurt anyone else.

I take sleep deprivation pretty seriously.

[kit_n_caboodle]

Originally Posted by Lainie

A former co-worker's husband, after months of driving an extended commute, fell asleep at the wheel and was killed in an accident, leaving behind his wife and two small children. The only small mercy was that he didn't hurt anyone else.

I take sleep deprivation pretty seriously.

This.

Sleep deprivation doesn't just make you tired and cranky. Sleep deprivation impairs you. If you wouldn't drive after several alchoholic drinks, then why would you drive tired?

When you're tired enough, you aren't in control of when you sleep. Your brain will put you to sleep even if your eyes are open and your head isn't nodding - you aren't even aware that you are micro-sleeping.