Sleeping?

[Bogie]

Guys, I've been noticing that when left to my own devices, that I'd rather be awake around 18-20 or so hours, then sleep around 10... Obviously this doesn't work around that thing we all call The Sun...
 
Fun part is that I suspect that it'd go closer to 24/12 given time... Back when I was a youngster/hacker, and had some time off, that's basically what I was doing... I'd get all over a problem, crash, wake up, get back on it... and the physical time didn't mean much.
 
Any ideas?

[Cromlech]

If we had 30 hour days, I would probably sleep better too. I get a good nights sleeps when tired, and due to my shift pattern (alternating weekly 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm) this means going to bed at times that I do not not consider to be ideal.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I'm the same way.  http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=5263.0  It used to be a real problem, but I seem to have it somewhat under control now.  Thank God.

Solution:  More exercise, more fresh air, more sunlight.  More fruits and vegetables, less prepackaged food, a small vitamin tablet once a day.  A 1mg melatonin pill every night at 11:00, in bed at 12:00 no matter what.  A cigar and maybe a glass of scotch to unwind after the really long, stressful days.

[CAnnoneer]

Following one's own biological clock is a luxury few can afford.

My own observations have been that fatigue follows exertion much more than the apparent movement of the sun. When enough fatigue is accumulated, a regeneration cycle is about to be initiated. If you decide to push through it, a state of elation ensues, especially after 24+ hours of wake, but then coordination and reasoning get progressively worse and a slump knocks you out for 10+ hours. I got a lot of that as an undergrad. In the long run, it is damaging but can help you get the job done.

[Antibubba]

Research on people who were deprived of the normal signals of day and night, with no clocks to check, showed that most subjects shifted to a 28 hour cycle. 

Proof, perhaps, that humans are transplants from another world?

[Monkeyleg]

What is sleep?

[Sindawe]

What is sleep?

Silly question that.  Rather, ask:

?: What is consciousness?

A: That annoying time between naps.

My sleep schedules have been all messed up for years, ever since working a rotating shift in the Bloodmines of Boulder and going stark raving bonkers in my "Crazy Years" of the early '90s.  Sometimes I'm awake till dawn and on through the entire day following, growing more and more irrational as the day progresses.  Others I'm dead to the world by dusk and zoned until the following dawn, with that cycle repeated for several days.  No rhyme or reason to it that I can discern.  I tried melatonin suppliments for a while, and though it did help to stabilize the sleep patterns, I found the really twisted dreams and loss of my normally lucid dreams too high a price to pay for sleeping like most of the world, so I stopped taking it.

Now, here I am awake at O-dark-thirty, yawning like gangbusters with the mind bouncing off the inside of my skull like a hyperactive Mccack on acid.  *sigh*

[Bogie]

Yawn.

Up at 7:30 ayem, ran all over the place, decided to take a nap at 5:00, slept until 10:00, now still wide awake at 3:15 ayem...
 

[Monkeyleg]

Well, it's 3:17 am CST.

Got a phone call last night at 11 pm CST (9 pm Pacific) from an old friend. So, we talked until I realized that it was 1:30 am CST my time.

And I hadn't yet checked some problems on the server. Well, there's problems, but I don't know how to fix them. And it's now 4:19 EST for my boss.

My real boss (wife) is snoring away downstairs. Usually, when I'm up this late, she comes upstairs and hits me on the head with a heavy object.

Instead, she'll get up bright and early, and accomplish all sorts of things.

And I'll still be trying to figure out why my internet boss isn't doing the stuff that he told me to do. Seems like it should be his job.