Blackjack and Health Impacts (including Sleep)

[sbrugby]

Pssst. Am I the only AP that uses a full spectrum
natural light to "jump start" myself upon awakening.

It is close to amazing how well these lights work.
Caffeine (via beverage) takes an hour to stimulate
your brain.

Not the only. I highly recommend too. My routine is Breakfast + Stims, then cardio for 10-40 min followed by shower, stims now have kicked in, finally 15 min blue light therapy once I begin work.

From https://www.reddit.com/r/nootropics/...ness_enhancers

Our bodies have evolved to use blue light (~480nm) as a signal that it's daytime.^[239] Blue light is a key master regulator of our circadian rhythm and wakefulness. Blue light, in addition to repressing melatonin levels also increases our metabolic rate and alertness.^[240][241] Exposure to blue light seems to have significant cognitive effects. In randomized controlled trials bright blue light seems to be able to improve attention, working memory, verbal memory and mood.^{[241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248]} Blue light in combination with caffeine seems to increase alertness and mood more than caffeine alone.^[241][243] Interestingly, blue exposure duringtheday actually seems to increase sleep quality.^[247]Whereas blue light exposure at night has the opposite effect. The current theory for blue light's cognitive effects has to do with ultimately increasing norepinephrine release, which is associated with alertness and mood, but it's a complex process that may involve other important factors including the modulation of orexin (hypocretin) neurons. Blue light seems to have positive effects at intensities as low as 40 lux (which is function of the distance and the intensity of a light source), but lower intensities are not as fast acting as higher intensities of blue light. Given its low risk profile and the substantial benefits, blue light devices should be considered a cognitive enhancer with one of the best risk to reward ratios.
Standard Dose: 40-200+ lux of blue light (~480±20nm) for 10-60 minutes in the morning.

In regards to the sleep, I know that bi-phasic and poly-phasic sleep cycles are kind of a thing. I remember reading about polyphasic in this blog:
https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/20...yphasic-sleep/
TLDR; He did it for a while but the transition was brutal and he eventually reverted back to a normal sleep schedule. *EDIT* Nvm this polyphasic stuff just looks like pseudoscience after further review.

[stopgambling]

As an approximation, I would divide
each day into three thirds. I could have
two 3/4 hr. naps and a regular sleep
of 3 to 4 hrs. I have found that the more
naps that I take, the less sleep I need.
If there are 3 or 4 naps, I can do entirely
without the normal 7 to 9 hrs of daily sleep

interesting , i did a few times and i can say from personal experience that i only sleep 6,7 hours and an hour nap . It makes me refresh for a much longer period of time than just a 8,9 hour of sleep.

[Freightman]

interesting , i did a few times and i can say from personal experience that i only sleep 6,7 hours and an hour nap . It makes me refresh for a much longer period of time than just a 8,9 hour of sleep.

That mid afternoon nap is a huge recharge.

[Fire Walker]

ZMF:

"It is close to amazing how well these lights work.
Caffeine (via beverage) takes an hour to stimulate
your brain. This is actually instant. I am a first-class
skeptic and I was surprised at how well these lights work."


Flash, you have seen my "Nature Bright" light! lol
I will attest that the thing is Amazing.
When I used to start playing a couple of hours before the sun came up,
it would take too long to be fully alert and functioning on all cylinders. Not anymore.
(Sorry, I realize this is coming across as an infomercial. But, it does work wonders.
"Place your order in the next 20 minutes, and we'll throw in this no-need-to-wash cleaning cloth FREE!!!" :-) )

[sbrugby]

4 days?

My record is like 52 hours. Somehow I managed to stay awake through the last fours hours while watching a theatre film. Think it was one of those Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Have you guys seen those things? They are great.

[Bubbles]

Light doesn't work on me. I think I'm nocturnal. I feel most awake any time there isn't sunlight.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[ZenMaster_Flash]

"I think I'm nocturnal."

I see Batman, you are an alien.

Note: I used to own a lakeside
manse (erected in 1772) that
was home to a sizable swarm of
bats. I really enjoyed watching
them return home at dawn, with
their little bellies filled with the
recently deceased, perhaps partially
undigested, flying insects.
As sunset would arrive ~(the gloaming,
the twilight dusk), perhaps five hundred
of them noisily greeted the evening in
a wave of oddly noisy blackness. I miss
their friendly nocturnal ways as they
'paid their rent' by freeing the air of
summertime mosquitoes; and when it
rained, the bat's primaeval presence
was complemented by the delightful
scent of petrichor, the lovely scent
accompanying a summer rain, that
virtual olfactory intoxication.

Today's bonus question: Why is ZMF
obsessed with tildes?

[Tarzan]

If you were to intentionally stay awake for as long as possible (like they had to do on "Invasion of the body snatchers"), pushing to stay awake with no drugs or stimulants of any kind other than coffee, at about the 3 - 4 day mark you are going to start hallucinating. You will begin to see little cartoon bugs bunny looking things dancing across your field of vision, your manual dexterity is impacted, your ability to focus. Lots of studies have been done on this. Some hold out longer than others, but eventually regardless of age, strength, or mental ability to deal with stress, people will begin to hallucinate (without having to take any hallucinogens) if you go without sleep for long enough (beginning at 3-4 days in).

[Three]

I have been knocked out of my body a few times from being knocked unconscious or actually dying. I have memories of seeing things after leaving my body that can only be explained by having actually left my body. Even the skeptics couldn't explain how I saw the things I saw and had to believe I left my body. When I was in college I worked full time, went to school full time and played hard full time. I got 2 or 3 sleeps a week and would be out for over 24 hours of sleep once every few weeks. Eventually it started affecting my health so I had to stop burning the candle at 3 ends. But when I was operating in extreme zombie mode, I would try to mentally stay awake while my body went to sleep in bed. I managed to leave my body regularly but rarely got very far like I did when knocked unconscious or my bodily functions ceased. Only once did I leave the room. But if one got good at this ability, it does have applications in the casino. I haven't tried it for decades. The last time I did it was when my vitals ceased in the hospital. That was also a long time ago.

The government did some top secret research into this kind of thing called Remote Viewing during the Cold War just to keep up with a Russian program that they thought was a bunch of crap but felt that just in case they didn't want the Russians to have an upper hand. They were surprised to find people had the ability to remotely view things on the other side of the planet by projecting their mind and supposedly even used results from remote viewing as intel for an airstrike. That didn't involve any drugs or sleep deprivation as far as I know. So, for all the paranoid conspiracy theorists, if you ever feel like you are being watched by the government, you probably are right. LoL

[ZenMaster_Flash]

I have memories of seeing things after leaving my body that can only be explained by having actually left my body. Even the skeptics couldn't explain how I saw the things I saw and had to believe I left my body.

Clear gibberish. Scientists and skeptics are aware that the person making such statements about dying, white lights, tunnels, seeing deities, have long been understood. These experiences can be created in two ways, namely drugs and anoxia (lack of sufficient oxygen); but the best example, (as it duplicates these 'experiences' so closely), happens during astronaut and fighter pilot training, using a large fast centripetal force machine, where powerful acceleration makes it progressively more difficult for oxygenated blood to reach the brain. Soon anoxia sets in and the flyboy generally reports the usual Western Religion (subjective) silliness.

[Three]

Scientists and skeptics are aware that the person making such statements about dying, white lights, tunnels, seeing deities, have long been understood.

LOL. You assume that is what I experienced. You are wrong. I didn't experience anything of which you speak. Like as I wandered the hospital away from my body I entered an area that was off limits and behind locked doors where I had never been awake or sedated. I described an odd feature of decay in the room. It was a strangely shaped stain near the ceiling and wall intersection. I described it in such detail that all the hospital staff said I had to have been there but also said my body was never even close to being in that room, nor could I have entered the area of the hospital without card key access. Like it or not we have a physical body and a portion of ourselves that exist beyond the physical.

Also when in the hospital in the worst level of shock trauma, after being in a car accident that resulted in a loss of time, or black out of time that I was conscious for. This made me qualified to be in a study for brain injuries that tested and interviewed people for months after the incident. Since I would be in the hospital for over a month it was a good way to make some extra money. Upon the drugs wearing off, I had developed an additional depth to my sight. I was seeing something like an additional texture that was not there for most people. The doctors reported that it is common for individuals in my situation to either have impaired or enhanced sensory abilities. They mentioned someone that had developed the eyes of an eagle and could identify people from almost a mile away. I couldn't see farther than originally, but I was seeing additional information that I hadn't seen before the accident. After a few weeks the enhanced sense subsided. At one point, while I had the sense, I saw a spirit walk through the wall and go up toward the ceiling. Seconds later from the adjacent room I heard the most horrifying shriek I have ever heard. I knew the one occupying the room had died and I had seen his life energy leaving his body. I reported this to the doctors conducting the study and they said they had never heard of this specifically happening but people that experienced visual enhancements after losing time from a brain trauma described seeing similar things. It was really interesting to hear about all the various ways the brain's initial rewiring of abilities can either enhance or hurt the sense being affected. Abilities such as sight, smell, taste and touch were enhanced in some people. And when I say enhanced I mean almost altered to be something more than they originally had been. The guy with the eagle eye vision kept his enhanced ability for life. Most only get the enhanced ability until their brain has been rewired to perform the task it was supposed to do.

Flash, I am not about to say what all this means except that things are a bit more complicated than the limited vision that you believe. The research is there that continually proves it. Science is prejudice against calling it spiritual energy or the part of us that is linked to the universe, but they know it exists. Too many have very accurately described in great detail what they couldn't possibly have ever seen from their body to deny the phenomenon. The stain I saw I found interesting because it was something that looked like an artists rendition that was done naturally. I admired nature's art for a while and could recall every detail of it.

But it is good to hear from you Flash. I hope you are well.

[DatabaseGuy]

the usual Western Religion (subjective) silliness.

Which one is that? Materialism?

[bjarg]

I have done some research on sleep in the distant past.

Of course you have.