10. You can speak your mind. Well, you’re tired and you’re grumpy, right? So you can say whatever you want, and just follow it up with, “Sorry, I’m tired.” Sure you may get “the look,” but you’ll be forgiven. Use this opportunity to say those little things you usually have the good sense not to say. You know you want to. Be a little rude and grumpy, and enjoy the new found personal space.
9. More time for productivity. If you’re not sleeping, you might as well be doing something. Got a book you need to catch up on? A movie you’ve been meaning to watch? 2 am is a great time for productivity! So go ahead! Put those shelves in you’ve been meaning to do! Vacuum the hall, or go clean out the attic. It’s time to get things done!
8. It lets your family see your emotional side. I don’t know about you, but when I’m sleep deprived my emotions are fragile. Sure I get grumpy, but I also get my feelings hurt easy. Guys, this is a great time to show your wife your emotional side. Bring out the chick flicks and let the tears flow! Cuddle up and let her comfort you! If things go well, you may have a very good reason to remain sleep deprived for at least one more night!
7. Lack of rationality can lead to creativity. It has been said by Merit Antares that “The only cure for writer’s block is insomnia.” I’m at my most creative when I am at my least alert. Why? Because my subconscious brain runs amuck. And my subconscious brain can come up with some really weird stuff. It may be out there or a little silly, but once you finally get some rest and start thinking rationally you’ll appreciate the creative genius sparked by lack of sleep.
6. It gives you an excuse to try gourmet coffee. If you’re going to be sleep deprived, you need something to sustain you through the day. But drinking the same old thing gets old. So start trying good gourmet coffee! The flavors and aromas are bountiful, and unless you’re in a situation where you need constant variety, you might never get to try them all. So start sampling!
5. It gives you an excuse to nap. And who doesn’t like a good nap? Especially on a cool Sunday afternoon, with a blanket to curl up in on the recliner, and a football game on the tele. What a great sleeping opportunity! So stay up all night, and enjoy the pure wonder and enjoyment of a nice nap!
4. It gives you a free pass on forgetting important information. This is perhaps one of the most useful benefits of sleep deprivation. Whether you’re a single-minded guy or a scatterbrained girl, a frazzled mommy or a daddy with a honey-do list a mile long, if you haven’t had any sleep, nobody expects you to remember everything. Did you forget to take out the trash? Sorry, I haven’t had much sleep. Did you forget to bathe the children? Sorry, I haven’t had much sleep. Did you forget an anniversary or birthday? I’m sorry, what day of the week is it? I can’t remember, I haven’t had much sleep. Mmm… such a useful tool.
3. Time passes quickly in boring situations. When you’re sleep deprived, something has to be real engaging for you to pay attention, right? Well, if it’s not engaging, that means I’m not that interested. It’s going to be a long meeting or… sermon. Know what I mean? Well, revisit point number 7 and let your creative juices take you to a foreign land. Before you know it, it’ll be time to go home! Instant time machine, and you probably got some great story ideas at the same time!
2. It can give you a pretty good buzz by the end of the day. No need for alcohol, crack, weed, meth, or anvils, sleep dep can give you all the buzz you need. It has the same effect. Loss of memory, impaired judgment, slurred speech, and you get this nice buzzing sound in your head. It can be a real rush! Easy, free, and LEGAL!
1. You can see the sunrise and the sunset in the same day… everyday. Ok, so you can do this without being sleep deprived, but honestly who does? And besides, some of the fun of doing this is being awake the entire time it’s dark. If you go to sleep, it’s almost like it’s cheating. So, stay up all night and get some stuff done (see point 9), letting your creative juices flow (see point 7). I promise, near the end time will fly (see point 3). You’ll have a nice buzz (point 2), and you can share the emotional experience of seeing the sunrise with your spouse (see point 8). And when she reminds you the next day that you forgot to do the dishes (see point 4), you can insult her and get a free pass (see point 10). Go get you some coffee (see point 6) and take a good nap (see point 5).
As I write this, I am currently sleep deprived. It’s a quarter to midnight, I’m going on about 5 hours of sleep the day before. And I still have one more hour to go before I can crash, only to have to get up with the sun in the morning for another long day. I do hope this blog has been coherent and not too fantastical or creatively bloated. But those things can be fun the next day, much easier than a hangover, so I’m going to post it before I get the good sense to revise this crazy list.
Good night.
-KN
The New Authors Fellowship 
Aw man… Keven… this was so funny! You’ve just put a massive smile on my face. I especially love how you rounded everything up at the end.
Thanks! You read it before I woke up this morning, reviewed it, and cringed at all the bad grammar. I’ve fixed it now.
Ha! Excellent post. I second Zoe. 😀
Why no anvil in the tag? 😛
Oops… I’ll fix that tag issue there.
Nice! I never knew there were so many benefits!!!
And I have all of November with NaNoWriMo to try them out!
And there are more, I think. Like being able to enjoy jokes more and stupid movies, when otherwise they just aren’t funny.
They were probably thought of or written during periods of sleep deprivation. 😉
Laugh-out-loud funny!
There’s an acronym for that, my friend!
I’m starting a campaign to rid the world of over-used acronyms. My slogan is “Back to the Days Before TLAs”. I suggested to my slogan writer that having an acronym in the slogan was counter-productive. He just said, “Lol”.
Mrs. Newsome has my sympathy… I would exercise my quirky sense of humor here, but–don’t want to get in trouble for commenting under the influence of sleep deprivation myself.
She has my sympathy too.
Ah…I’m used to it, and occasionally suffer from SIS (Sleepy Idiot Syndrome) myself. 😉
Funny. I especially liked #1.
Great article Kevin!! Funny, as I sit here working, eating cookies and on my 5th glass of diet coke for the hour I realize I have been QUITE productive after 3 days of no sleep. It suddenly hits me that I’ve generated my own “buzz” by tunring “no sleep” into a form of therapy when I am feeling unmotivated and depressed. I decided to Google it and came across your article!!! Funny, entertaining, and completely on target!!! Here’s to the smart people who figured out a legal & free way to get high and work it to our advtantage!
I absolutely LOVED this post! This is totally me. I’m glad someone has finally come up with a valid list of excuses. I’m a musician and I work best in the middle of the night so I can relate on the creative flow you get! I’m currently sleep deprived too. Joining the party!
Cheers!
Reading this, I thought, “This article has to be some type of joke.” This article really made me laugh. I’m sleep deprived as well and this is the first article I have ever seen where someone spoke of the “benefits” of sleep deprivation. LOL. Nice article. Keep em coming.
I love you man. 3PM on a cold sunny afternoon.. feels like you wrote my future.
sleep deprived atm. 24 hours no rest. not in the mood for jokes. bad article idea
Just wanted to correct the following:
“Lack of rationality can lead to creativity. It has been said by Merit Antares that “The only cure for writer’s block is insomnia.” I’m at my most creative when I am at my least alert. Why? Because my subconscious brain runs amuck.”
it’s not because your subconscious brain runs amuck, my belief and this is backed up by scientific studies is the following:
I believe that acute sleep deprivation, which I define as only one sleepless night is beneficial for generating new ideas, as it significantly reduces executive function making one more creative as the prefrontal cortex isn’t interfering with the creative process of generating ideas (which occurs in it’s particular creative brain region), this is similar to how drinking alcohol reduces brain activity in the same region leading to lack of fear and less decision making process so that one can enjoy oneself freely in social situations where otherwise the prefrontal cortex would be constantly analysing and evaluating everything about the interaction and the person who you’re interacting with.
For this reason I would even encourage acute sleep deprivation (on a weekend night e.g. a Friday where one doesn’t have to get up for work the next day) as a way to generate new ideas, it works I’ve done it, I know, try it, you need to be having ideas and thinking though first of all to get any benefit, I don’t just mean that acute sleep deprivation will suddenly cause you to have novel ideas, I mean you’re already working on some things and thinking of ideas and solutions to whatever project or problem you’re working on and then the ideas will come more easily during acute sleep deprivation period. Acute sleep deprivation only around once or twice a month is harmless I believe and won’t incur any negative health consequences.
So I reckon this could become a thing similar to fasting like in the 5 2 diet to reap a whole range of health benefits of which you should know include: weight loss, reduced appetite, extends your life by slowing down the aging process as your cells aren’t in a state of growing then dividing (we only have so many cell divisions before a cellular line finishes), this enables time for any DNA mutations to be noticed and repaired (as the cell now is only growing extremely slowly and not dividing) including natural mutations, radiation mutations, damaged telomere ends can be repaired, oxidative decay within the mitochondria (cleans the waste products from the cells). And this is all because fasting>no food>no protein, sugar intake>significantly less IGF1 (insulin like growth factor) production so>cells aren’t in growth phase>so cells aren’t dividing>more time for genetic (DNA code) based and cellular (waste products removal) reparation.
Some other benefits which are also awesome are we become mentally sharper and even scientists from studies have shown that neurogenesis occurs (as an evolutionary coping mechanism) in an attempt to enable us to find a food source and survive. There is even rest for digestive organs. Also we burn fat as well as a little skeletal muscle which is fine (as it’s only a little lost skeletal muscle mass which we regain once we break the fast what I call muscle memory), and low body fat percentage is the number one factor in reducing the chance of weight related diseases.
So the thing it could become is simply this: an acute sleep deprivation period involving only one sleepless night once or twice a month. Because we do need new ideas to drive our choices, time and energy in life, which will determine our future destiny and where we end up in life, what we do in life, how happy we become, how happy our families and relationships are, etc.
I encourage you to definitely take up the 5 2 diet of which I do the two days in a row (one block) eating 25% DEE of 2500 kJ per day. And I also encourage you to perform acute sleep deprivation once or twice a month and see what comes of it as long as you remember that the following day you have the time where you’re not doing anything important and so can have an afternoon nap to make up for lost sleep and this is important as the nap will be really deep sleep and intense dreams, and then return to normal sleeping routine that night, also following the sleepless night it is really important not to fill up on stimulants to trick the brain, you need to leave the brain to itself as it has evolved to be exactly the way it is by itself without any stimulant, let it be, because it naturally will beckon you back to sleep.
Cheers, I hope this leads to new found happiness in your life.
I recently stayed awake for 40 hours because I wanted to see how long I could stay awake (It was a 32 hour challenge). So productive, I got a solid 8 hours of work on my business done then went to work. I had a natural high when I arrived at work, still managed to function with ease. The only hard part was staying awake on the underground to and fro work, it almost had me!
Anyway sweet article, would definitely encourage you to test yourself because when you can stay awake for 40 hrs, that push every other night to stay awake just one more hour becomes mentally very easy to tackle. I now push myself every 1 or 2 weeks to stay up, about 2-3 am the world gets so quiet!
these were funny 😀
//hannah
hannahrodriguezwriter.wordpress.com
Thanks for the article. MGTOW saves lives.