A World Without Sleep
We truly live in a world that never sleeps. The Internet,
television, radio, and customer service telephone lines are
continuously available, all day, all night, 365 days of the
year. It's like a "we never close" Las Vegas, everywhere. We are
so used to doing whatever we need to do, at any time that's
convenient to us, that we could easily eliminate sleep ffrom our
lives altogether if our physiology would only cooperate.
Are you old enough to remember when banks closed at 3 in the
afternoon? When 24 hour time displays were restricted to
hospitals and the military? When television studios went off the
air around 11 at night to the strains of the Star Spangled
Banner? When graveyard shifts were limited to emergency
services, manufacturing plants and Ma Bell?
Research has clearly demonstrated that after 7 to 10 days of no
sleep, individuals become so confused and disoriented that they
can no longer be held legally liable for their actions. As a
nation, we are chronically sleep-deprived. Not to the extent of
being awake continuously for days at a time, but we never quite
get enough. We have no idea, yet, what effect our busy,
overactive minds will have on us over the long term.
Will we adapt to sleeping less as human beings have always
adapted to changes in their environment? Or will we start to
suffer new maladies and distressful physical conditions because
our bodies can't keep up the pace?
We have 21st Century brains exploding in our Paleolithic bodies.
Whether they can eventually accommodate each other is the big
question.