January 11, 2006
ZZZzzzzzzzz
Gary the Ex-Donk posts on a study about the physiological effects of sleep inertia and how long it takes the brain to wake up:
Finally, a study that makes sense. Sleep researchers have found that the our brains are so impaired by sleep intertia when we wake up that this state can be credibly compare to the effects of having stayed up all night or having a blood alcohol level of 0.08%.
According to the study, it can take anything from one to twenty minutes for the brain to reboot.
I don't know who the research subjects were, but speaking personally it takes my brain a hell of a lot longer than that. Most work mornings, I set the radio to wake me up about 5:25 AM or so. Then I need a solid half hour to forty five minutes of drifting in and out before I feel sufficiently competent to aim my feet at the floor.
Furthermore, it needs to be peaceful, uninterrupted time. On occasion, one or more of the Llama-ettes will burst in while I'm in mid-drift. On most days like that, I feel like I never really do wake up.
It takes me 90 minutes to reboot my brian in the morning (actually when it is finally rebooted its not morning any longer), I pretend that is the result of having such a large brian, but in actual fact I might need a hard-ware update.
Posted by: lemuel at January 11, 2006 12:55 PMMy blood alcohol seldom dips below .08%, so it's hard for me to say.
Actually my sleep has never been normal since I was in the Army. I have no in-between mode any more, I am either on or off. I also rarely sleep for more than 2 hours at a pop. I get about 6 a night, which seems sufficient, but I also have the ability to sleep at any time should I decide to.
I always dream. I also dream lucidly about 25% of the time (am aware I'm dreaming), though my efforts to develop a doppleganger through the methods outlined by Carlos Castaneda have proven unsuccessful. So far.
As I child, I used to sleepwalk, and my siblings tell me that my trancelike states were quite frightening, until they learned to just tell me to go back to bed, with which I always seemed to comply. I eventually grew out of it.
I have a number of powerful recurring dreams, including the common "last day of class and you have a class you have never attended and need to find for the final", which used to upset me when I was young but which I have learned, in dreams, to control.
I also always dream about returning to the military as either a private or an NCO, rather than as an officer, and I hope (in the dream) that I'm not found out to have been an officer, for fear I might be put in charge -- a fear I never had, as an officer, in the waking world.
Posted by: The Colossus at January 11, 2006 02:37 PMThat explains why my mother and I always refer to that period of time as "stupid time." Huh, interesting, and it explains why I always feel drunk or hungover when I'm snatched from sleep by my daughter.
Posted by: GroovyVic at January 11, 2006 02:49 PMI've got a nice set routine going in the morning, allowing me to sleepwalk (and sleepdrive) all the way until I get my coffee at work.
Posted by: rbj at January 11, 2006 03:15 PMZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
*blink*
ONLY 45 minutes?
Posted by: Lysander at January 11, 2006 04:02 PMI'm usually asleep five minutes after I hit the pillow and sleep six or seven hours. The only exception (other than stress) is the occasionaly sleep-in at the Rescue Station, where sleeping is tempered by keeping an ear open for the alarm bells, announcing the next call....
Posted by: KMR at January 11, 2006 07:32 PM
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