The following are portions of posts regarding sleep on a recent thread on the Neo-Talk list:
"Do not try to stay up for so many
nights immediately. I probably didn't mention it in my post but neither did I. When
I was in college I used to work between forty and fifty hours a week on the night shift
from 11pm to 7am. It was just a sit-down security job so I just studied for the
eight hours. So I was fairly used to being awake long hours. What I did was
write down all the negatives from my daily routine that would hamper my mind at all:
*No smoking as I explained, if you do.
*Very low carbohydrate diet (<20 grams distributed)
*Jogging every morning or twice a day (do not jump into this either, and don't stick to
that diet if you are not getting regular cardiovascular exercise)
*No television unless I was prepared for immense effort of focus and untangling whatever
mesh of irrationality jumped out of the
speakers mouths
*No music accompanied by singing (when you listen to music your brain tends to go to alpha
wave production of a passive state (also with TV) and you don't tend to 'think' about the
words. A good music with words would be one with content consonant with your ideas and
values. I listen to Queen's
Highlander soundtrack.
*I did a lot of reading, writing and thinking. Each bit of information I was trying to
fully integrate. I read a lot of Ayn Rand's work to minimize the contradictions so my mind
could focus on integration rather than dis-integration (although that is always a
corollary because the integration of most ideas requires the dis-integration of a
previously held false one).
*As you can see by my work schedule I didn't go to class too much (when I did I sat in the
back of the room and read). I not only skipped classes specifically during my experiments
but usually otherwise because of my work schedule a tired mind is very susceptible to
irrational ideas and I usually walked out of class after the first ten minutes in disgust.
I can't think of much else other than don't use caffeine or any stimulants.
Caffeine has contradictory effects on your brain and acts as a depressant too. Be
prepared for very lonely nights... I think that just dawned on me as part of my fear.
Anyways, good luck, I'd like to hear any experiences. Be sure to check your
pulse for a very low and off-setted very high bpm. Muscular weakness, headaches, voices,
visions, stomach aches, black eyes: get some sleep."
Submitted to Neo-Talk on 6/17/98
by
Cory-Michael Boston
"One of my ideas also for the origin of the sleep/night cycle was the application of my non-stimuli idea. At night time(esp. for the prebicameral and bicameral mind of sensori-perceptual level) the night eradicated their primary tool of perception: Sight. With little perceptual stimuli their minds retreated (which is sensori-deprivation). This could also explain hallucinations at night time: a mind that is deprived of stimuli invents stimuli (which is the exact process of dreaming- stored I.E. patterns are activated/excitory nerves and the jumbled excitation is crudely integrated to form a dream). I want to get more into that later....But, consider also when fire was discovered.At this point their stay into the night was increased. And what did they do? They created stimuli for themselves in the form of story-telling, dancing and other such activities.But consider also how are days are arranged to work, school and play during the day and sleep by night-remember when you were a little kid and you were never tired at night but your mom *forced* you to *go to sleep*. Sorry Lady but you can't *make* someone sleep. I have spent much of my life in bed thinking for hours and hours. This is where is see the fallacious nature of insomnia. Its not the insomniacs with the problem but the people who do sleep! I read many reports on insomniacs where they claimed they could not sleep because the were thinking to much, philosophizing, planning, retrospecting, their minds were*too* active (that is a contradiction in terms). Your mind only *needs* rest when it needs to eliminate garbage. Granted there will always be jobs you can't do from home but if you remained focus and integrate (even in menial jobs) you can maintain 'perpetual awareness' as I term edit. There is one aspect of dreaming I have yet to resolve at least in full: lucid dreaming. I don't know if any of you read anything on it but it is quite interesting. I will send another post as this is getting lengthy...."
Submitted to Neo-Talk on 6/17/98
by
Cory-Michael Boston