The science of sleep.

Thursday, April 10, 2008


My blog's been asleep for some time. People who don't know me very well may jump at this stage and say "aren't you a PhD student? I bet you were busy with TA duties and project submissions and exams and what nots". People who know me quite well may nod their heads wisely and say "you must have been watching a lot of films lately". And people who are smart enough to read the title of the post would just give a knowing smile and continue reading about my sleeping stories. Yes, my blog was sleeping because I have been sleeping. A lot. Literally, a lot. I have been going to bed really early these days. Like around 2, 2:30 in the night. Which is btw, by my standards, EARLY. I wake up around 10 in the morning. Have breakfast and go back to sleep at 11:00. Then I wake up at 3:30 only by the noise of someone calling me on gtalk (which, is a wonderful thing in itself). After coming back from class I take another short nap of two hours duration. And then again at 2, I feel I should go to bed early. This has been pretty much my routine over the last two weeks. And I am worried.
Come on, I have every right to worry. Not that I slept less before. I have always had it in me. My friends used to kick me to wake me up. Sometimes, spray ice cold water. I could sleep for 16 hours at a stretch. Without any intoxicants. Actually contrary to popular beliefs, intoxicants if taken in ample amounts reduces your normal sleeping hours. Hostel life taught me that. Hostel life can be very educational. Even if you skip all the classes. I also learnt that sleep and hunger go hand in hand. If you are asleep, you generally don't feel hungry. If you are hungry, you feel sleepy. Morale of the story: if you are a single student living away from home and one night you don't have anything cooked for dinner and you've run out of maggi, lie down and close your eyes; you'll have the best sleep ever. This, I have perfected over the years.
Okay, I hereby list some more points about sleeping that everyone should know.
1) Coffee in the morning only makes you feel like taking a shit. Coffee in the night makes you all the more sleepy. So "coffee helps you keep awake" is a misconception. Advice: don't drink coffee if you have an early morning exam.

2) Insomnia is not a disease. It just signifies that you don't read. Or at least make the effort.

3) Films keep you awake. Good films, you wonder how good can it possible get and bad films, you speculate if the next scene is going to make it a better film than "Jodha Akbar". Nevertheless, they keep you awake. Advice: if you have an exam next day and need to stay awake to study, try watching films all throughout the night.

4) This is for boys only: don't let your parents come to your room before you wake up; or at least use a blanket, otherwise the poor fellas could be traumatized.

5) Sleeping is very inspirational. Seeing other people sleep gives you very innovative ideas. I shalt not emphasize further or else some people may try to get back at me real hard.

6)Sleeping increases your creativity. One of my friends used to dream about how to clear the difficult stages of computer games. And those tricks worked. Really. I, personally dream about things like the third world war where everyone dies. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Adolf Hitler survive and start playing some sort of a "identify the dead man" game.

7) I don't have any idea why some people refer to the act of having sex as "sleeping". I mean when two people are doing it(as Phoebe would say) the last thing they do is sleep. And by "last thing" I intended on a pun, if you didn't get it.

Thats all I can cook up right now. So much so for sleeping. All this writing and thinking and making up random stuff makes me all sleepy again. I will thus get back to hibernating. Wish you all happy sleeping!

16 blabberings:

March Hare said...

make it a better film than Jodha-Akbar

shala. you insult HIM one more time and I personally see to it that you NEVER wake up again. :x

p.s. and when you come down, we shall have a sleeping competition. lets see who wins. however, i am too pissed right now to comment further. :x

Satraa said...

Jodha Akbar is a great sleep-inducer. Good that you mentioned it.

Heathcliff said...

you all are going to sleep together???

ssala mass-orgy korbi na ki?? chih chih... ami to thakbo na...:(( ami dekhbo....

Hatturi Hanzo said...

Bimbo wants to sleep with me. Madhu wants to watch. What do we have? A hot guy, a sex maniac and a voyeur.

Heathcliff said...

hot guy????

duh duh duh....

voyeur?? oh, well why not?? I need raw materials for daily bitching dude.:D

interesting thing... ei post er tag e maggi ar sleep lekha... maggi ar sleep thakle ar ki chai guru/????

idle-labour said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
idle-labour said...

I agree with the coffee part. Especially when you've deadlines to meet and
are working the night before, coffee in that night WILL ALWAYS make you sleepy.
If you are trying to be awake in the class the morning after, try Hajmola. Works
better than coffee. Much better.

Point noted for Jodha-Akbar. I'm going to try it and I'll buster your belief by
a detailed report.

And go on....sleep like a child. Tui to ekta chhotto sishu

Anonymous said...

my exams are earth shatteringly near thank you muchly for all the tips....

outsider said...

some random thoughts after going through this post and the commenta thereafter:
*jodha akbar is a crap........i agree.hrithik looked like shiyal raja of tuntunir boi....=)).
*coffee is good for adda...even for cigerettes..otherwise it's also crap...everynight i'm drinking coffee only to find it impossible to keep eyes open after fifteen minutes.
*"A hot guy, a sex maniac and a voyeur".hmmm....guess will be an interesting watch.
*on a second thought you and bimbo compete.kodlu will keep an eye on you guys through something like webcam.i'll rather sleep(alone)and bitch about that later.:D :P
uff amar koto boktobbbo :D

Roddurer..unki-jhnuki~ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roddurer..unki-jhnuki~ said...

The first thing about Jodha-Akbar that I can remember now is its length.Period.

Point 1 is the most hard-hitting fact a student can learn.And there you've written about a friend of yours getting game level clearing tricks in his dreams! Ekdom amar moto :D

p.s. template dekhlaam.Khasa.Besh gothic-retro. :P

Hatturi Hanzo said...

@bimbo
interesting point. Heathcliff didn't have to say anything about you being a sex maniac.

@Koyel
Hajmola I"ll buy. And the chhoTTo shishu part I agree with. Ami sotti besh chhoTTo mishTi ekTa shishu.

@the girl with a zillion namesakes
welcum ji. and all the best for the exams. :)

@abhinanda
beshi boko na maa. mukhe cellotape eNTe debo. jodio TunTunir boi-er pointTa amar moner moto. :D

@roddurer uNki jhNuki
amar sei bondhuTa ghumiye ghumiye minesweeper-er chhok dekhto with the mines and flags and all. Mafia, Half Life ityadir strategy-o banato swopne. :D

dreamy said...

"Yes, my blog was sleeping because I have been sleeping"

Now I was unconsciously half-asleep before I read that line.

The sheer logic of this sentence has woken me up.

and post wise all this is like =))

dreamy said...

oh and vairy nice new look B-)

March Hare said...

yes yes. ami slut toh. puro nympho.
COME ON now. you have known me for so long, and you didnt even know THAT?
and YOU did not like 'Taare Zameen Par'. i do not much trust your cinematic evaluation. :P

@abhinanda - YOU were part of the TUSHAR KAPOOR FAN CLUB for God's sake. and YOU THINk hrithik looked like a sheyal? * guffaws *

nincompoop said...

coffee might not help u to stay awake,but tea and coffee can act as very good catalysts in the morning.
now facebook's scramble are coming in my dreams ;)
one person can beat u hands down when it comes to sleeping.bachcha ke harate parbi na.