Myths About Sleep | Hacker News Reader

Myths About Sleep

webmd.com

45 pointsssn8 comments

Why does this community have a minor obsession with sleep? I'm asking out of genuine curiosity.

because a lot of programmers are the type who reject their natural sleep rhythm any time it becomes an inconvenience to getting work done. since this is fairly often (lots of articles have been written on why people doing creative work stay up late, won't rehash here) they wind up with chronic sleep problems when others demand that they conform to a schedule (read: the rest of the world).

my take: One of my MAIN goals for making a lot of money is to get to the point where I can just sleep whenever I feel like sleeping.

okay so to take this further, what motivations are there for breaking the "natural sleep rhythm" that are prevalent in the world of creative entrepreneurs (hackers) but not so in the "rest of the world"

You gave the exact answer I was expecting, but I'm not convinced this suffices. It /IS/ an obsession... my late night coffee binges are the stuff of legend (mostly because I rely entirely on natural stimulants when my other friends take more unorthodox steps to maintain.... "consciousness")... but WHY is this so? My stimulated friends are there for the simple pleasure of being wrecked on particular drugs, does the brain of a hacker/creative entrepreneur expect a similar payout? you mentioned being motivated by money... so by breaking (or taming?) the natural rhythms of sleep, does one invest some abstract personal commodity in the hope of future security? What could motivate this?

[ASIDE: notice that I'm trying to _START A DISCUSSION_.... voters/recent posters would do well to take that into consideration as for some reason it has been overlooked of late]

I think money is a background concern, with the foreground being puzzle solving. the fact that you are ultimately being paid for said puzzle solving just adds to your rationalization for staying up. once you get in "the zone" you don't want to leave it, since you know that you are 10 times more productive while in it.

So it's just a quirk of a hacker's mind that puzzle solving (and possibly peer admiration) is addictive? My reasoning being that we all KNOW that it is not good for ones health, but those that can access flow/"the zone" do so to burn bright and die young? I'm also thinking of performers there...

sorry if I'm rambling, but I find this a very interesting topic... not just because I indulge in this, but because it's becoming more and more common and I can only see it as self destructive. What good is a creative outlet that forces you into burnout? Why does the hacker mindset look for ways to cheat around the obviously unsustainable lifestyle? Is it pride? being a perfectionist? simple delusion that the system is geared to reward those that over-invest their energy?

I can see myself falling off a damn rocky road any day now, and it's got me thinking: why was it that I couldn't get to the same place using an easier route? Money? is that it, does it all boil down to simple investment? most hackers aren't backed by anything more than their determination and a vision that simply must be realised .... but that's Obsession!?

/me stops having a mini-breakdown

I think this one is no longer a myth:

3. Some people function perfectly on four hours of sleep.

I read about a gene that some people have that lets them do this: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/813/2

Thanks for the tip but we'll have to wait a decade, at least, for therapeutic gene therapy.

nice read

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