is it true that a person can get by a whole day with 4 hours worth of sleep??

I stayed up late and watched Shutter Island last night, I sure didn't do well at work today on 3 and a half hours sleep. Theres alot of different theories on the net about sleep cycles, like its how long in intervals, not length that decide how it affects you. I've also read some school of thought that the shorter sleep cycles coupled with naps every few hours is a life prolonger. At any rate, I love sleeping too much to give any sleep reduction programs a try. I'd sleep 10 hours a day if I could somehow fit that into my life.

I watched a documentary on that a few years back, they got an artist to sleep for 4 hours, twice a day. It was fine for the first few days, but by the second week, he had problems doing tasks he had no problems performing before. Won't advice it :)

Do you mean day after day consistently, or just one day? Just one day, sure. There are plenty of people who can go whole days with only fours hours of sleep or without any sleep at all. People have been known to stay awake for more than 72 hours before any ill side effects start popping up. It really depends on the person though. Right now I'm running on 3 hours of sleep within the past 48 hours. Not my choice though, I've had a bad case of insomnia lately. However, if you're not getting your 8-10 hours of sleep consistently your health will slowly suffer.

Yes definitely but of course you can work well if you have enough sleep. Sometimes, I just sleep with only 5 hours and I'm good with that. I can still work well and can do a lot of stuff.

you can get by a whole day with 4 hours worth of sleep as long as you want to take the challenge and prove that you can make it whatever it takes.

I find out that lack of sleeping has a devastating effect on me, and I do have some problems with adjusting my day/night schedule. I would lots of coffee =D also I do need my sleep, once I go to bed. It's essential because afterwards you can't expect to do much and that's just counter-productive.

Hey there. I'm answering your post based on my experiences. For me, a 18 years old boy, I'll at the very least 3 hours of sleep to take on the day. I'll be needing 5 hours of sleep to stay awake for 48 hours. Some older people I know, they only need about 2 hours of sleep to finish their day. For younger children, they sometimes need more than 8 hours of sleep for a day cause they're growing up.

Well it is possible, but it's not recommended. Sooner or later it will totally ruin you, because human beings need to have a long sleep, at least 6 hours, but 8 hours is recommended.

Definitely possible, but not recommended. I go through phases of insomnia, for a few weeks.. Where I get sometimes only 2-4 hours of sleep out of every 20 to 36 hours that pass, followed by a couple weeks of hypersomnolence, where I sleep 7-15+ hours a day, for a few hours at a time. Sleep deprivation can cause problems with motor skills, reaction times, and memory loss.

I think that there are alot of people that only have a few hours of sleep and still manage to get by.I only get a few hours of sleep most nights and i do feel ill some days with the lack of sleep but then i think i will get more sleep the next night.I have children that do not sleep and when they are asleep i know that they are going to wake up during the night aswell.I tend to get about 5 hours sleep most nights,but at the weekend i get to have a lay in and that helps me to catch up on all the sleep i have not had during the week.

I read about "Quality sleep comes if you experience the REM cycle". This is the time that body cells rejuvenate and the brain regain its maximum function. That is why we feel refresh and well rested even we got only few hours of sleep. An amazing event.

Good luck! I'm sure that someone can get by with just 4 hours of sleep. I only get about 6 hours of sleep a night. But I hate it. And 4 hours would most likely just make the day drag on and I would probably get a headache. But that's just me. Some people I know only get maybe 4 hours or less a night and there fine. I suppose it depends on the person.