hey guys, I have been getting very little sleep the last couple of weeks 3-4 hours a night at most. And im wondering how dangerous it is? my schedule is stretched to the absolute limit, with homework, skating, and doing some peta work. not to mention girls and band. and then MY band as well, so how dangerous is this? I know a lot of people who get by on a lot less. But I would like to know to be sure.

It is dangerous, you really need to get more sleep, especially at your young age.

You really should take some time out to get some as the effects could be detrimental.

Hmm I agree you need much more sleep.

At your age, you need as much sleep as possible.

Your cells have the chance to develop and repair when you are asleep, and if you don't get much you could be doing damage to yourself.

Not to mention, if you're tired all the time you're not going to have a very good quality of life.

There's no need to stretch yourself to the limit at our time of life, now is the time to enjoy before the adult world hits you and you really do lose your sleep!

Have a nap!

lol im just like u SA....altho that started at 7th grade so im used to it...teens are supposed to get 10 hrs of sleep....but i dont they realize thats not possiable..especially when ur a JR or a SR in highschool. but it is bad for us. our mind doesnt work as well w/ no or very little sleep...but that also goes for too much sleep as well. exercise works well...especially swimming lol be on the swim team or some sport w/ lots of running...ie soccer lol that will knock u out cold
then again...to help w/ falling asleep in class..just do what i do eat lots of candy no seriously it works lol even tho its not very good for ya
as for girls...lol well just try not to fall asleep during a date lol and you'll be fine
speaking of school...lol time to get ready

i know how you feel S&A i usually get around 3-6 hours sleep every nite, i try to sleep and my schedule isn't busy, so i just can't work out why i'm slowly becoming insomniac

I think it's normal when you're in high school to sleep so little, even though you need between 8 - 10 hours of sleep. Just try and get as much sleep as you possibly can, and you'll be fine.

no, it's not normal for me to be getting so little sleep. it's not that i'm doing something, it's just i'm rarely tired.

BTW: i love the ferret, it's so cute

Should I recount my tale, and let you decide? I think I will!

A while back, during a summer vacation, I made a bet that I could stay awake for a week. Absolutely no sleeping. It started out innocent, even until the second day (Video games are Godsends!). By the third day, however, I started going downhill. We started with the daily test (just saying the alphabet backwards within a minute and some multiplication). I failed the alphabet part and I only got 6 of the 20 multiplication questions right. We went outside and I was tested physically. We played catch. As long as we played, I never caught a single ball. Try as I might, I couldn't move fast enough. It was later that day, I believe, that the hallucinations started. The first one, and the last, and the most clear in my mind, was a giant purple elephant holding a teacup. I saw him across the room and I screamed! I ran into the living room, babbling continuously, and crouched in the corner. I was finally able to calm down. The next day was filled with hallucinations of all sorts. I say lions and gazelle, rabbits in the toilet, I say a brontosaurus out our back window! However, I was mostly unphased after yesterdays incident. I had enough concious sanity to realize I was hallucinating. The next day, I didn't. I no longer held my sanity, and I barely was concious of my actions. I remember climbing my roof, and screaming that I could fly. I jumped off and, luckily, landed in the grass. It was there that I nearly slept. The only thing that stopped me was the purple elephant. He appeared, and asked, in an Australian accent, if I would like some tea. I went screaming into the trees behind our house, and I was only persuaded to leave when my friends told me that he was gone. They took me inside, I ate supper, and then started my nightly regime of 8-12 hours of video games. The next afternoon, I fell asleep. I was in the corner, babbling about the elephant, half crying, and I just kind of dozed off. I slept for about a whole day! 24 hours! When I woke up, very groggy, I had to give up the money I had wagered, but I still think I deserved to win after what I went through.

The point is, if you don't sleep, you go crazy. Also, the REM period of sleep is when your brain files away things for long term memory. Get enough REM and you will do much better at school.

Of course you need sleep. Your brain needs to rest.

Trying to go a week without sleep is extremely dangerous and unhealthy.

There was a game show on tv where they had to stay awake for a week and the winner won lots of money.

By the way dis... whatsh appened to Burnsy?

SO UNHEALTHY.



He'll be on in about a half hour.

Yes ofcourse sleep is required. But like some have said, your young and you should just enjoy yourself and get at least some sleep each day. You'le be fine.

Cool.

Well the T.V. Show was criticised very much.

They let them have I think 2 hours sleep a night. They further tortured them by giving them lectures about triangles, giving them massages, watching paint dry stuff like that. They had nothing stimulating to do other than talk to each other.

If any of them went to sleep they would lose some money.

Every night they would make them do a challenge, like maths, answering the previous question and stuff like that. Whoever failed got kicked out until only 2 people were left, then the last person left awake won.

S&A as long as you're getting 4 hours of sleep a day you'll survive. The body and mind can function on that much pretty well. I did it for 3 years so I know it can be done.
Druidis the longest I've ever gone is 3 days no sleep. The first two were easy but by the end of the third I was hallucinating. Which was actually kind of fun. But when I finally had the chance to sleep it felt so good.

You might be able to "survive" but it would be better to actually get a proper amount, i.e. as much as possible.

Teenagers should get at least 8-10 hours, I know this isn't always possible but lack of sleep can lead to serious problems, so try and find some time, maybe on the weekend to at least catch up a little bit.

If it starts to affect you make sure you cut back on your activities immediately, you don't need to push your body to the limit, enjoy your life, have some sleep before you get into the real pressure of the adult world!

If you can get more sleep, do it.

But yeah, you can definitely survive on 3 - 4 hours. You won't be as sharp as you would be if you had 8 hours, but yeah.

And to avoid argument, I'm going to keep my opinions on PETA to myself.

I have to have quite a lot of sleep, the least I usually have is 7 hours, but then sometimes I have to sneak in a nap lol.

At the V festival on the first night I couldn't get any sleep cos the floor was uncomfy, I had no pillow, and everytime I dropped up someone would fall on the tent or start singing or something.

The next day, I was ok, but then I had a cold shower and I broke down in tears cos it was the final straw to what I felt like was a bad day, I just wanted my mom to come and get me.

My friend was a lifesaver though, I didn't want to appear as if I was upset but I think she could tell cos she really cheered me up, and she bought me an inflatable mattress to sleep on so I could get some sleep.

That night I got about 8 hours asleep, I would have liked more, but it was much better and I had SO much fun the second day!

So that's what happens to me, I get lack of sleep and I get really emotional and upset easily, some people say thet get grouchy and angry, I get that a bit but more easily upset... so I try to get as much as possible lol.

Ames

You also have to remember that everybody is different on how much sleep you need. I couldn't imagine having problems functioning with an entire seven hours of sleep.
Normally I prefer five to six. As long as I get that much I'm fine.
S&A you have to look at how you feel after three to four hours of sleep. If you like it or you can handle it great. If not you have to find time for more.

sleep is a great thing. weekends ill score 12 hours easy, and weekdays more like 8. what kind of music do you play S&A?

HAHA!! show that to my doctor!!


really? wow lol ur lucky....on weekends ill wake up at the same time im supposed to for school....and when i wake up i cant fall back asleep. same goes for summer break and vacations . on weekdays i cant seem to get up even if the alarm is blaring.

My high school years are a blur. 3-4 hours a sleep a night,. i generally need 6 to function normally. Nowadays i'm getting a good 6 hours min, and normally 8-10 so i'm quite happy. Plus if i lose any sleep i'll always catch up on the weekend.

Today I slept til like 12.

I think my body is trying to prepare for the start of college next week when less sleep begins lol

What doctor? Most students don't sleep as much as they should. That's what was implied there.

I watched a documentary about this not to long ago, it said that new studies showed that as a growing teenager the sleep patterns are off from what they would be as an adult, but because of things like high school starting so early the teenager cannot sleep the hours it needs to sleep. Therefore they don't sleep what they should.

It was pretty convincing, but i don't know if there is any truth to the matter. It makes sense though since pretty much everyone between 14-18 is awake until at lwast 2am and wants to sleep until at least, well, 2pm.

lol naw my docs always complaining on how most adults think that gettin 3-4 hrs of sleep a night is not normal...that and she keeps telling me how wrong i am when i tell her that its normal for teens to get that amount of sleep

It's normal yes, but they do need over 6 hours though.

Yeh I saw a program on it where they experimented by letting school start an hour later and it got good results.

It's cos teenagers have the same thing telling them to go to sleep late at night as adults, but they need the same amount of sleep as a child so it's kinda messed up.

Goldfinger,Anti-flag,Propaghandi, and a little bit of emo.. not to mention some oldschool bands like clash,the ramones and the sex pistols

Blech, last year for around three weeks, I didn't get any sleep. I got maybe four hours every week. The weird thing was I wasn't tired at all. I'd be running around at school and stuff, and then get home and not fall asleep until an hour before I had to get up.

It didn't really affect me at all, except that I couldn't focus.

Lol.... so it did affect you then.

An unfocused life can't be desirable.

Sounds to me like a bit of insomnia. (But don't listen to me, I'm not a doctor )

It's just that when I had it, I went through the same thing. I'd sleep for about 30 minutes to an hour every night and not feel tired at all. Thank god it only lasted a couple of weeks.

Are you not sleeping because you can't or because you just don't want to?

I find that I'm more awake in the morning if I get 3-5 hours of sleep instead of around 8. I did this throughout pretty much all of school last year and I was fine.

Aren't there people who don't sleep at all?

I wouldn't swear to this... but I think that's impossible.

There's one guy I saw on Discovery who had brain damage and hasn't slept in 17 years.

Does he suffer from hallucinations?
Waking dreams.

I'm not sure. It was on Daily Planet, but it was last summer. I wouldn't wish my hallucinations on anyone, so I hope he doesn't have them.

Well, I'm usually not focused anyway. Lol, I just don't like to listen.