>> The =must= sleep necessity can be defined not only in terms of
(input/output)*noise/whatever, but also in more easily understandable
terms like:
- which cognitive functions do not need sleep (logical reasoning,
learned abilities: these are not impaired by sleep loss), and
- which do need sleep (decision-making, finding solutions in a new setting,
creativity: these are cumulatively impaired by sleep loss, and cannot
according to present scientifical knowledge be restored by any other
means than actually sleeping).<<
if such a disctinction is 'valid', it's valid only with respect to relatively
short-term sleep deprivation... i've done the experiments.
folks =SHOULD NOT= try it without =full= understanding the stuff of NDT, but i
routinely deliberately go into sleep deprived 'states' because it's always the
case that, in recovery from the sleep-deprived 'state', i'm able to capture new
correlates of the TD E/I-minimization, which occurs very-strongly, during
recovery from 'sleep deprivation'.
i've been using this 'method' for decades... stumbled upon its usefulness
during the days when i was able to work almost around the clock for days on
end. i'd eventually 'crash', sleep for 20-30 hours, and noticed that, as a
result, things that had been 'out of reach' just 'fell into place'.
once i saw this stuff, i'd just work to 'cram' information, of course
endeavoring to comprehend it in fullness, until i could go no further without
'sleep'. never fails. but it's 'frightening in the beginning. before adequate
'training', i experienced "falling into 'sleep consciousness'" so violently
that even low-'level' reticular activation got screwed up, and i'd awaken in
'panic', heart pounding, literally fighting to breathe. but that only lasted
for about 18 months, and since i not only kept at it, but pushed ever-harder,
the only explanation is that my nervous system came to 'recognize' all the
internal ramifications of the 'sleep deprived state', and actually 'learned' to
treat it as a 'natural', non-life-threatening condition... that is, my nervous
system obviously rewired itself because, after that ~18 month period, no matter
what i did i couldn't replicate the 'non-breathing' 'crashing-into'sleep'
'state'.
i still use the 'methodology' when i recognize that i've encountered something
that tends toward 'intractability'. the normal course is a simple 'ratcheting'
in which the problem i'm working on becomes gradually reified, via a
'saltatory' process, whole pieces of the problem at a time, with each cycle
through 'sleep deprivation'.
so, i know first hand that =nothing= escapes the need for 'sleep'. i once
pushed so hard that even my ability to walk was effected for a period of days.
i experienced semi-flacid 'paralysis' in a lower extremity. it was back when i
was reifying the mechanism of volition. this effort went on for months,
urelentingly, via 40-60 hour 'periods of waking consciousness. i was using a
visualization technique in which i'd study the Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology
intensely, and then 'project' and animate its dynamics on the low white ceiling
of the garret in which i was then living. when i saw (literally) that the
mechanism didn't function properly, i researched the 'point' of failure. and so
forth, via many iterations, all the while maintaining rigorous correlation with
everything that was documented in the literature. (i was not, then, using the
'sleep deprivation' 'tool', but was only looking to the long 'days' as a matter
of efficiency. i'd not yet mastered the Neuroanatomy, so each time i broke off
to sleep, on awaking i'd have to reread all of the stuff that i was working to
integrate. the long 'days' were resorted to to minimize this rereading 'time'
that was a necessary prelude to coming up to speed with respect to the
visualization technique i was using. got so proficient at it that i could
actually 'make myself small' and 'go for walks' within the Neuroanatomy, just
as folks walk through familiar landscapes, only i 'moved' in 3-D :-)
anyway, i traced the semi-flacid 'paralysis' back to its most-likely
substrate... my invoking an intensely-visual 'method' probably resulted in some
of the functionality of lower extremity motor cortex, which is near the frontal
eye fields, to be 'taken over' by the needs of the visualization task.
the condition gradually disappeared in the weeks following fruition with
respect to the mechanism of volition, returning to 'normal' in all respects. (i
imagine it's possible that, if i'd undergo a sensitive scan, traces of this
'journey' would be visible in the scan.)
i've got hundreds of similar, if more-mundane, experiences.
so you see, Dag, i know, first hand, that nothing escapes the need for sleep,
including 'logic', 'learning'... and even breathing.
and [to all who meet here, not Dag] it's sad that one can so devote one's self
to doing the Science, and yet be so totally 'ostracized' by folks who,
self-appointedly, deem their primary purpose in life to be the 'guarding of the
gates', even though the understanding with which they 'guard the gates' is
flat-out-demonstrably' almost-nothing.
is it too-late to, in this way, explain the 'disdain' that's been apparent in
my posts over the years?
i mean, who are these self-appointed 'guardians of the gates' to 'just'
'wave-off' devoted work without allowing it to be published?
who are these people to do such?
in the 'name of Science'?
that's why i've been 'angry'.
i see folks, unwilling to do the work comprehension necessitates, nevertheless,
blocking communication... 'normal' publication.
i can think of nothing more-Sorrowful than this sort of ascendence of Ignorance
to the 'throne' of Censor.
so, there, i've said it. in the past, i've endeavored to 'just' get folks
'pissed-off' enough to do something, knowing that i'd be able to 'take care of
business', no matter what transpired.
but i can no longer do so because it's clear that 'folks' are taking the stuff
of the Forgiving approach that my "putting on 'anger'" entailed and
'transforming' it into something 'recriminating'.
if i allow such, all's lost... and =that= just will not happen.
K. P. Collins
