Here's a bit from ABC News:

"I was so tired," said Ellen MacArthur, who broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in 2005. "Oh, God, it was just too much."

Doctors also suffer from sleep deprivation. "I was so tired I prescribed 20 times the right dose," one doctor said.

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The Science of SleepIn our own very small way, even journalists suffer. Covering the tsunami, the combination of what we witnessed and a heavy workload kept us awake for days. This reporter looked and sounded drunk while doing a live shot from Banda Aceh.

"Researchers have compared the effects of alcohol intoxication to the effects of sleep deprivation," said professor Derk-Jan Dijk of the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Center.

But when you get right down to it, we don't know exactly how or why sleep revives us. What we can spend nearly one third of our lives doing, we know very little about.

"Sleep has been ignored by part of the scientific community and part of the medical community," said Dijk. "It's so much easier to study wakefulness."

I guess we all know it's quite bad if you don't get enough sleep, but I suppose we'd think it'd take three nights or something like that. These here folks say it takes only one skipped night to get you in a state comparable to drunkenness. I'd wonder about permanent damage, but that's not addressed.

Linky (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3863979&page=1).

One big difference between missing a nights sleep and throwing back a 6-pack, though, is that caffeine actually can temporarily mitigate fatigue. When drunk people drink coffee, it just makes them wide awake and drunk.

Let's just say I know something about that, hehe. On the other hand, the mental impairment does seem to be similar IMHO, although loss of sleep doesn't affect the stomach and motorical impairment isn't there either. At least not to that extent. I don't think the author really wanted to claim it was identical.

You're definitely playing Russian roulette if you go out and drive your car after 24 hours without sleep.

Well, this will save me a lot of money on booze. :p

Plus, think how much more time you will have!

Plus, think how much more time you will have!

Good point! - Rich, drunk, and lots of time on my hands. :D

Why, I feel like the male version of Britney Spears! :thumb:

(Now excuse me while I go find my underwear.)

Edit: Oops! Forgot this was the Alley.
I wonder if it's possible to be Member of the Week and Idiot of the Week at the same time? :hmm: :D

[Hmmmmm... -Tal]

Every student know this :)

Done that many times, it didn't feel like I was drunk, but more that everything around me was suddenly more confusing. And of course using simple motor skills (like walking, moving objects and etc.) was hard and depth perception gone.

Now I know why my 3AM posts are so weird. :eek:

@Splunge, please don't give Tal ideas! We are all idiots from time to time.

Interesting article. I also thought it was 3 days without any sleep. Now is sleeping 8 hours straight better than say 6 hrs and then a 2 hr nap. I find I sleep straight for from 4hrs to 6 hrs and then latter need a nap of about 2 hrs.

Yes, Nakia, that may explain some of my posts as well--especially in the Alleys when it's busy. It would be interesting to check the RB threads with time of day to see what can be noticed...

The two kinds of "intoxication" don't affect you in quite the same fashion. There was a car programme some time back where they had checked how people drove (on a closed circuit!) after 24 hours of sleep and after two pints of beer. It turned out that tired people drive better in towns where they have to stay alert at all times, but that drunk people drive better on a motorway or other straight stretch. Drunks didn't have the quick reactions necessary in built-up areas, and tired people fall asleep behind the wheel on a motorway.

Of course the general rule remains, :nono: don't drive if you're tired or drunk!

I dont get drunk, but after a while of staying awake I notice you are either dead on your feet or wide awake. Dont know why

I think after a while of struggling, your organism defeats the urge to fall asleep.

Unless I'm sick or REALLY nervous or cramming I don't think I could go a whole 24 hours awake if I weren't drinking, and/or engaging in some kind of sexual activity. Really. And I'm an insomniac.

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though I have done the whole "haven't slept in x>24 hours" a few times, while you feel so tired, numbed and really don't give a crap about anyone I don't think it feels much like being drunk. I wouldn't engage in any activity where you needed to be alert though. Like driving.

I remember needing an arm once in highschool. Likely a friend was around and she didn't mind. Sort of lost stable sight of the ground. Can't recall what I played, though. Maybe BG2, but I'm not sure. It was before Heroes IV.

Compared to getting drunk, it doesn't ever make you want to puke, you don't become silly and you're much less likely to become aggressive (although you do want everyone to live you alone by default).

Hmm, I don't think they are quite alike. I mean, after not sleeping for 24 hours I can still walk straighter than I can when I am drunk (not that I drink often enough to get used to it, I guess), my head is not nearly as foggy or muddy, and I don't sweat the hell out of my sheets :D

But Chev, I disagree about the silliness and aggression. Things are much funnier and sillier at 6 in the morning after an all nighter with friends (not all night drinking, mind you), but they are also more frustrating. I know when I don't get enough sleep I am easily irritated.

Actually, I have gone 24 hours without sleep a few times. Once there was drugs involved, so it's not much of a test. the other times I didn't feel like I was drunk, just really freakin' tired. I somehow managed to DM a table in the morning, but I didn't put forth a memorable performance. I didn't have much trouble falling asleep when I wanted to be awake later on however...

Once there was drugs involved, so it's not much of a test.Was this a medical thing or have you not always been quite the Stormin Mormon that you are now?

Was this a medical thing or have you not always been quite the Stormin Mormon that you are now?

He's explicitly stated, in the past, that he used to be something of a hellion.

On topic, um, drunk != sleep deprivation. At least not after 24 hours, and not in my case. Never tried going longer, so it's quite possible it might eventually reach that level; my understanding is that more sleep deprivation leads to more interesting behavior.

Aside from not giving a crap, being generally grumpy and a bit slower than usual, I get a bit "tingly" in my face and hands when I go for loooong periods without sleep. Similar to the effect that you feel when you take a drowse medicine by mistake before a test :D

Was this a medical thing or have you not always been quite the Stormin Mormon that you are now?

He's explicitly stated, in the past, that he used to be something of a hellion.

Not a Hellion, but I did enjoy my alcohol and weed. I even toyed with LSD and other Halucinogens. That's all behind me now, but the memory remains--no matter how screwed up or embarrassing...

Congrats on leaving it behind.

Thanks, Chev. My mind is sharper now, but not what it once was...

I never really got into weed, I disliked the feeling of laughing at something but not understanding why :D

never hit any of the major hallucinogens though. some ecstasy but thats it. now I drink so much that it compensates for all the stuff I've stopped/never taken :P

gnarf, did it really leave noticeably lasting damage?

Noticeable to me, but perhaps not to others. I used to be really fast and accurate with math. I could look at the average equation and get the answer in seconds--then have it confirmed by others that had to get a pencil and paper or a calculator (this didn't work with irrational numbers, mind you). Now I'm not as fast, and screw it up more often...

Personally, I'd throw that in the use-it-or-lose-it category. If calculators and computers have taught me anything, it's that computation skills fade when you aren't using them. I can't even remember the last time that I actually needed to do long division or multiplication in my head....

Sometimes my best ideas come when I'm away from a computer or calculator. And Toilet paper is hard to write on...

Personally, I'd throw that in the use-it-or-lose-it category. If calculators and computers have taught me anything, it's that computation skills fade when you aren't using them. I can't even remember the last time that I actually needed to do long division or multiplication in my head....

ditto, haven't had to since i graduated nearly a year ago :D

Over indulgence of alcohol causes damage to the brain cells. Don't know about the weed but LSD can cause permanent injury according to reports I have read. Never tried it myself. I wonder if continuous lack of sleep harms the brain too. Loss of oxygen?

Theoretically we never lose what we have learned unless the brain is injured in someway. But like any muscle the brain needs to be exercised or it gets soft and flabby.

According to what I've heard, Nakia, lack of sleep is indeed capable of inflict permanent injury on one's brain. I can't give you the specifics, though. I don't remember if it was related to oxygen, but I think there was more to it.