Weird coincidence time: So, my line of work is a small community, where everyone knows everyone else because there are just a handful of other companies who do biocompatible shift scheduling and night shift training.
Last night I got an email from everyone's favorite DireKobold.com editor; as it turns out, EOL happens to be the son of one of the few other people in the industry! This is like Alsih2o discovering that one of the members here is also a potter he's known about and respected for ten years. Very, very cool, and just one more reason for me to like DireKobold.com - as if I needed another one.
A few thoughts:
- Spacecrime, I know there is open gaming areas at GenCon, but I have no idea where.
- Pielorinho, remember that 5-6 am is the worst, right around dawn. Be especially careful then. If you're well-rested when you start your drive, you should be okay.
- As Know the Toe and Caliban (and Vivictus and Taren!) illustrated, this sort of thing happens to everyone - and no one is immune. You can't "tough out" fatigue no matter how much willpower you have, because it's physiological and not psychological. Sleepiness is something that happens to everyone, so you're a lot better off recognizing and dealing with it than trying to pretend it isn't going to be a problem. Hey, Caliban, I'm glad you're okay!
- A few people need less sleep than normal, but don't expect that you're one of them! The vast majority of folks require 7-8 hours in order to be well-rested. Do people always get this much? Of course not. When you're getting less than that on a regular basis, you become habitually sleep deprived. You may feel normal, but you'll drop off to sleep at odd times, and you'll be a lot more irritable than normal. You'll also find yourself getting sick more often, because fatigue will depress your immune system.
- Meepo, that's exactly right - although as Christian mentioned, the body runs on a 90-110 minute cycle for most people. During that time you'll slip from light sleep (stage 1 and 2) into deep sleep (stages 3 and 4), back up into light sleep again, and you'll dream (REM sleep). You ever wake up early and feel great, drowse back off, and wake up again feeling incredibly groggy? That's because you slipped back down into deep sleep. Everyone differs a little, but sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes (tweaked as you recognize your own patterns) is a good way to make sure you wake up feeling well rested.
- dave_o, the least amount of sleep with close-to-normal functioning? Two 2-hour naps per day, spaced 12 hours apart. You'll be tired, but it can keep you going efficiently for quite some time; it's what we recommend to emergency workers. The important thing is doing 2 per day, and not one 4-hour block, because the longer you go without sleep the worse off you become.
- Chris Nightwing, how you're doing after 40 hours depends on what time of day it is. If it's bright and sunny out, you'd be pretty useless. If it's the middle of the night, you'd be
completely useless.
- Cthulhu's Librarian, if you want to take an afternoon nap, shoot for the siesta hour (1-2 pm). Your body is naturally sleepy at that time of day anyways, so you might as well use that to your advantage.
- Vivictus, the light-headedness could be from fatigue, although it's a little odd for it to manifest that way. Does it happen when you're well rested?
Think of sleep like a bank. When you're well-rested, you can draw from your sleep bank and make it through a night or two with less sleep than normal. After one or two nights, though, your bank account is dry - and the fatigue begins to catch up with you in other ways. Luckily, you don't have to pay it back on a 1-for-1 basis, as one good night's sleep will replenish your reserves.
