Lost Sleep Can't Be Made Up, Study Suggests(livescience.com) |
Lost Sleep Can't Be Made Up, Study Suggests(livescience.com) |
My own experience with sleep deprivation is that the sleep it takes to make it up is longer than the amount of sleep I was missing, especially if I put off the recovery.
I get by on 2 hours of sleep a night all week and just have an extended 14 hour sleep on Sunday.
I've been doing this for about 3 years now so maybe I'm just used to it.
I was impressed by the reaction time loss. 2 seconds very long.
BREAKING NEWS: Medical residents are in fact not superhumans invulnerable to sleep deprivation. That the medical community doesn't understand this actually offends me; it's my life and yours they're dicking around with. (Yes, I know they intellectual understand it, but until their actions reflect it I will not say they "understand it".)
Why do so many journalists write in such cliched ways?
She said that even as a senior doctor, you are going to have to pull insanely long shifts at times. Under those conditions, you're clearly not going to be working at your best. So you're going to have to develop good instincts; more importantly, you're going to have develop trust in your own instincts, that will allow you to operate effectively despite ridiculous levels of sleep deprivation.
And the only way to do that is to go through that in a semi-controlled environment in your training.
Says my friend the doctor anyway.
Another factor is being on call, getting woken up at a bad time and nonetheless having to make the best possible decision.
I don't think you'd meet any older person who won't trade 20 of their older years to be 5 years young again.
So while my absolute life span may become lower, I'm living more of it now rather than later; Besides, who knows when you are going to die anyway, could even get hit by a bus tomorrow.
Also the abuse my body is going through, I doubt it will live to a ripe old age, I both smoke and drink and have cancer in my family history. I doubt I'll make it past 50 anyway.