Prompt : If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
If the World didn’t sleep, then it would deteriorate very quickly, sleep is regenerative. How dangerous to think we can live without sleep. So sleep is not wasted time. The time would not be extra , it would be taking away from something that is necessary to us.
So practically, the only people who really would make an effort to go without sleep are those who feel they can fill their time with more activities than others to gain an advantage, or those who just can’t sleep for health reasons( insomnia ). Insomniacs can’t sleep as much as they need and learn to live with the feeling of being tired .
It’s the first group that interest me, the second group have my sympathy and I hope they find techniques that help them. They know not sleeping does not give them “extra time”.
The people in the World who deliberately eat into their own “downtime” and ignore it’s benefits either have to do it, eg. medical staff, people in the armed forces, emergency response staff. They will work almost superhuman hours and achieve superhuman results because they can, but then they need rest and recuperation to recover. They cannot continue at the maximum response for long, their adrenalin may keep them going , but eventually they will burn out and will need to have back up.
Those who make a choice to not sleep to gain an advantage over others , end up on a slow burn and probably cannot think straight. Although in their mind they are functioning at full capacity. They don’t have back up and see whatever they are doing as helping humanity or giving them a distinct advantage against it. They can do more , because they have stolen time.
They know little what damage they can do or what ill effects it will have on their well being. Yes , they may think they are functioning at full capacity, but they are inevitably not. They are an electric car who needs a recharge, the warning red light has come on. It’s time to switch off. The other cars who have had their charge go off on their journey knowing they have a time limit , the more cars being charged the more complete journeys. Those that have stopped half way are those that ignore they needed to be recharged. They have broken down and will need to be rescued.
Please, please , be a World that allows sleep, it is part of our Survival, we all need downtime and rest.
thenotsomightyom 