Effects of sleep deprivation

[Coconut]

SWIM got about five hours of sleep last night and went for a forty-minute cycle upon waking so naturally he's exhausted. He has noticed that as he struggles to stop from dozing off he has pressure around his eyes and temples and a general feeling of altered consciousness not unlike the feeling he gets while stoned. The last psychoactive he had was alcohol and that was two days ago.

Does anyone know why this is? He has only really noticed it since he started consuming cannabis and mushrooms, so in the last year. Perhaps these have made him susceptible to being able to reproduce the effects somewhat while bordering on unconsciousness (sleep)?

It's not unpleasant, it's just interesting.

[GForce]

I don't know why this is, but SWIM has stayed awake for 2 nights and 3 nights in a row multiple times in the past, and has also noticed this feeling. In fact, sometimes after a particularly long stretch, his body almost switches into a survival mode where he has his own energy, motivation, and lack of desire to sleep. When this happens he becomes noticeably more creative and thoughtful. To me it seems scientific oxymoron, sleep deprivation and the symptoms I described, but it happens anyway. I'd like to know why too, but I haven't really found a good answer.

[Coconut]

Three nights in a row? That is impressive. Staying awake for even one night completely breaks SWIM down. It induces suffering and, paradoxically, insomnia and he has to down sedative-hypnotics or alcohol to finally get asleep.

SWIM has noticed this feeling more and more lately, almost every day now. Perhaps it has always been present but he just never noticed it before.

[ADVOR]

A few years back, SWIM used to experiment with sleep deprivation. SWIM would go days, even weeks without sleep. SWIM found that after about 36 hours of waking life, SWIM's consciousness began to shift. He would go from awake to awake + dreaming. SWIM would find himself laying back in a chair watching television and upon sitting up, forget everything he watched and feeling exactly how it feels when you wake up. Confused on his whereabouts, not sure what is going on, etc. At one point, after SWIM had been awake for 5 or so days, he watched the movie "King Kong". After watching it, he sat up to go eat some caffeine pills to help him stay awake. Upon standing up, he did not know where he was, who he was, what was going on, or anything. The next thing he remembers is waking up in his bed about 28 hours later.

SWIM should also note that during his experimentation, he discovered hallucinations are very possible during sleep deprivation. Most are not enjoyable because you are too tired to realize you are hallucinating.

[lostmente]

swims sleep deprivation is quite amusing. literally, swim has periods of histerical laughter, fear, anger, love etc..intense and prob multi-polar emotions...followed by utter lack of emotion and some what socio-pathic tendencies

lately swim has been sleeping but not enough and thinking too much, depleting key nutrients. back to the fish oil, b vitamins and mineral supplments for swim

[marek_gen]

Originally Posted by lostmente

swims sleep deprivation is quite amusing. literally, swim has periods of histerical laughter, fear, anger, love .followed by utter lack of emotion and some what socio-pathic tendencies

swim hasalso experienced this
bit swim also became paranoide at night in the woods or in the empty streets

[kaczynski]

Long periods of no sleep for SWIM equals extreme paranoia, delusions, and auditory hallucinations. So SWIM stays awake as often as possible!

[cra$h]

if you want to know what it's like not sleeping for a couple days, take around 300mg of diphenydramine(benadryl), and you'll see. it's weird. that's the best way swim can explane it. but for those who don't have drug experience, they don't analyze what's going on in their head as much, since they've never had a reason to think, wow, i'm different, why? how?.

[chl182]

And to sum it all up...
Sleep deprivation is like taking drugs?

[RaverHippie]

Okay for a like report of sleep deprivation. Words on a computer screen act like they would on a visual-inducing hallucinogen, as far as I know since I've never taken any, the words look like someone blew a bubble behind them and they're conforming to the shape of a sphere momentarily as it inflates and then deflates back into the flat surface of the computer screen. I have to manually force my eyes to focus using muscles etc. they go slightly crossed when relaxed.

[sirdrugalot]

what do mean buy staying awake, just by will power or with the aid of drugs? swim has often stayed awake for 3 or 4 days taking e's, coke and speed but and has found the longer you stay awake taking drugs the harder the come down and the more depressed you become when you do sleep and wake up.
but swim has never tried staying awake with out and drugs to keep him awake or like wise when withdrawing from drugs that tend to put you to sleep. swim is not to sure if he would like to stay awake for a number of days by will power. but perhaps it might be worth a try to see what its like.

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim won't stay up past 3 days, terrified that sleep deprivation would be like a diphenhydramine OD, delerium is terrifying to Swim.

Swim commonly skips sleeping a day, on a whim Swim will go a night without sleeping, and when he does sleep, if can be from 1-16 hours, averaging 5-10. This is with zero drugs involved, to note.

Swim finds he hits the next day hard, full of energy until reaching about 48 hours no sleep, he gets very tired and moody. Missing one night of sleep has no negatives of Swim. He feels like he is on a low dose stimulant for the first part of the day.

[cra$h]

when swim pulls an all nighter, with no drugs, the morning you feel fine, actually great that it's a new day, but once late afternoon hits, you just crash. Especially since this only happens 3 to 5x a year. That second night is nearly impossible to stay awake for swim, but a low stimulant and an old western would probably change that relitively easily.

[fiveleggedrat]

Originally Posted by cra$h

when swim pulls an all nighter, with no drugs, the morning you feel fine, actually great that it's a new day, but once late afternoon hits, you just crash.

Exactly same here. Except Swim does this at least a few times a month.

It allows for a decent amount of late night productivity.