Hello. 23M here. Upon considering my routine, I found out that If I need to do well in my studies and overall life, I can allocate myself only 4 hours of sleep at most. And I need to continue this for at least 4 years.
Though I had been skipping sleep for all sorts of loser-oriented reasons, from my high-school days. Binge watching a series or gaming all night etc. But never too strongly on a regular basis that can be considered as insomnia or anything.
Scientists, upon researching individuals with sleep found out various life-concerning symptoms and outcomes when they weren’t getting “Enough” sleep on a regular basis. Even though symptoms weren’t reflecting that quickly, but some brought devastating outcomes later on life. These results are found in journals and research papers.
But I want opinions and advices from people who weren’t a part of the research. Just regular guys who chose to focus on life too seriously by less prioritizing sleep.
My question is specifically towards the elderly people. Those who used to sleep less, around 4-5 hours daily for some years in their teenage, post-teenage years like me.
Did any of you guys face concerning health complications later in life that were then diagnosed as a lack of sleep in your teenage era?
Additionally, I have a slight memorization problem. I can’t remember more than 90% of what happened to me back in my high-school era( 2016-2021 ). I used to vaguely remember until 2023 when I started to forget.
So I don’t want to have any more cognitive complications by sleeping less hours in my thriving time.
Considering that I only need to continue this for at most 4 years and not more, How severe of a health complication I might face in future?
I generally advocate against these absolute recommendations like when people say “you need at least 8 hours of sleep”. Bullshit, some people need 6 or 7 and feel refreshed. But I think this post reads like you’re planning a very unhealthy lifestyle. I can say with full confidence that you will burn out and you will perform worse without enough sleep (and without enough downtime).
I recently read a great book called Do Nothing, which advocates for a better work/life balance. It points out that research shows that you need idle time to be healthy and happy. In fact, the idea of even working as much as we do now is only 200 years old, and it’s led to a sharp decrease in happiness and even productivity. Humans require downtime and relaxation, and those things will literally help you achieve more.
Throughout all of human existence until the industrial revolution, we’ve worked FAR less than we do now, yet almost all the technological inventions we benefit from today were invented and built with such a lifestyle. You’re not going to be more productive on that much sleep. It won’t even be close, you’ll be far less productive than you would if you rest enough to feel relaxation.