There was some interesting material on the
On Thin Ice programme about a race to the South Pole last night (on BBC2).
The celebrity team decided the only way they could get ahead was to ski for
longer and sleep for less each day than their competitors. This worked
for a few days until their bodies began to fall apart. The scene where
one skier had to go back for the sledge he had forgotten to re-attach after a
break looked a good advert for avoiding prolonged sleep deprivation if
possible.
Paul Wilson
From: Outdoor and adventure
education research [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Crosbie
Sent: 20 July 2009 21:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: (The Third Man
Factor) - sleep deficit
Although fascinated by concept of sleep depravation for changing
cognitive and behaviour patterns I too question the morality of using the
"ends" to justify the "means" in OE.
Personally I would have thought that any aspect of sleep
depravation in OE would be related to providing an increased challenge though
night exercises in which some sleep depravation would be an unfortunate
consequence, rather than an intention. An alternative benefit may be to
demonstrate what people may achieve even when they are tired, especially if
this is a team effort which would providing a shared experience with resulting
in team building attributes. In either case I would not expect the depravation
of sleep to reach any level that may be described as sleep depravation.
On a different subject, I hate to think what my IQ may now be,
having endured years of quite severe sleep deprevation in in training and
operational contexts in military situations!
John Crosbie B.Ed.(Hons), APIOL,
Ph.D. Researcher (Outdoor Education)
Simon Laurie House
The
tel: 0131 651 6384
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Email: [log in to unmask]
Hello
outdoor researchers,
As
this is a research list, it may be helpful to explore how research informs
practice (and vice-versa) regarding what appears to be a strand of thinking and
practice that supports the use of sleep deprivation as a deliberate strategy
for achieving some purposes associated with outdoor and adventure education.
Even
putting the ethical issues aside (which I find very difficult to do), shortage
of sleep can easily result in retardation ...
"A
report in Sunday's Observer says that every hour of sleep lost leads to a drop
of one IQ point. Two more points go if another hour is skipped. This means it
is easy for someone with an average IQ to become borderline retarded in the
space of a week, the paper says. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/300940.stm
A
Harvard Magazine review concludes that shortage of sleep has no benefits ...
“We
are living in the middle of history’s greatest experiment in sleep
deprivation and we are all a part of that experiment,” says Stickgold.
“It’s not inconceivable to me that we will discover that there are
major social, economic, and health consequences to that experiment. Sleep
deprivation doesn’t have any good side effects.”
http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/07/deep-into-sleep.html
...
and leads to a very simple conclusion ...
The
moral of much sleep research is startlingly simple. Your mother was right:
You’ll get sick, become fat, and won’t work as well if you
don’t get a good night’s sleep.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/07/deep-into-sleep.html
Are
there yet any OAE research studies that provide any evidence of the benefits of
sleep deprivation? I think not. Unless and until such evidence appears we can
sidestep the ethical issues.
I
thought Maslow's view was that it was difficult to achieve higher goals unless
basic needs are met. Sleep is a basic need and without enough of it,
educational goals are harder to achieve.
I
see 'The Third Man Factor' as a warning from misadventures (well outside OAE) -
with absolutely no guarantee that hallucinations when tired will result in the
best course of action for survival.
Sleep
well my friends (and let others do so) - that is what the research recommends.
Roger
Reviewing Skills Training
The
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