NationStates Jolt Archive

Sleeping on your belly prevents evil spirits from taking over

I was just merrily reading along...and then I came to this sentence. I need read no further. You are either clearly insane or are stuck in some sort of purpetual 1100 a.d. vortex, a bizzare rift in time causing one to be lodged permanently in the dark ages where superstition ruled the day and scientific advancement was thought to be a tool of the devil.

Maybe you have a few profound words on the boogyman, eh?

I was just merrily reading along...and then I came to this sentence. I need read no further. You are either clearly insane or are stuck in some sort of purpetual 1100 a.d. vortex, a bizzare rift in time causing one to be lodged permanently in the dark ages where superstition ruled the day and scientific advancement was thought to be a tool of the devil.

Maybe you have a few profound words on the boogyman, eh?
science can not and does not explain everything

It seems as if this debate is extremely one sided, and there is a lot of evidence against Whittier's claims. Now, i do stand by what i said about a possibility, but i will not argue about this anymore.

there are none here
There is no chaplain where you are stationed?

...nice real nice...how you can say that while not actually knowing the person in RL life is beyond me. Nice job, youve won the asshole award for the day.

You are about to earn the Flaming award for the day. KNOCK IT OFF. Disagreeing with other people does not give you license to call others names.

I'm curious to know why it is that you so hostilely discount that there could be a physical reason. I'm not discounting the spiritual, as my posts should show, but tumors, chemical imbalances, and lack of sleep can account for some of Whittier_'s experiences. Would it not be useful and in fact logical to rule these things out?

Fair enough, but that dosent eliminate the possibility of the visions actually existing, which is what I am trying to defend.


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Ledoux.html

One of the symptoms of prolonged sleep deprivation is hallucinations (10). This could also be related to the I-function since it is the system that integrates the input from all other areas of the brain. If the neurons composing the I-function become too taxed then the picture in the head that the I-function produces may be more dissimilar from reality than usual. The neurons, under pressure to continue functioning but unable to perform optimally, create an image useful enough for a person to see most of his or her surroundings. Metabolic activity in the prefrontal cortex can drop as much as eleven percent after a person has missed sleep for only twenty four hours (8). As a person loses more sleep or continues to receive less-than-adequate amounts of sleep the neurons become even more taxed and the I-function may begin to generate even less coherent images possibly resulting in temporary insanity.

Another piece of evidence supporting the location of the I-function is that mammals have REM sleep whereas cold-blooded animals do not and mammals have a neocortex, located within the prefrontal cortex, while cold-blooded animals do not. REM sleep stimulates areas of the brain used for learning and memory (10). When a person is taught a new skill his or her performance does not improve until he or she receives at least eight hours of sleep (11). An extended period of sleep ensures that the brain will be able to complete the full sleep cycle, including REM sleep. The necessity of sleep for learning could be due to the fact that sleep increases the production of proteins while reducing the rate at which they are broken down (10). Proteins are used to regenerate the neurons within the brain. Without them new synapses may not be able to be formed, thus limiting the amount of information a sleep-deprived individual can maintain.

One of the possible side effects of a continued lack of sleep is death. Usually this is the result of the fact that the immune system is weakened without sleep. The number of white blood cells within the body decreases, as does the activity of the remaining white blood cells. The body also decreases the amount of growth hormone produced (8). The ability of the body to metabolize sugar declines, turning sugar into fat. One study stated that people who sleep less than four hours per night are three times more likely to die within the next six years (11). Although the longest a human has remained awake was eleven days rats that are continually deprived of sleep die within two to five weeks, generally due to their severely weakened immune system (10), (11), (12).

In a way sleep deprivation studies help us to study the relationship between the brain and behavior in a very unique way by observing how a person's behavior changes as the brain shuts down. By taking images of the brain showing where activity is located it is possible to correlate the behavior exhibited by a subject with his or her brain patterns. Just like a person cannot jog for three continuous days a person's brain cannot operate without rest breaks. Since different regions of the brain rest during different stages of the sleep cycle, sleep cannot be cut short. In fact, if the brain does not receive a break it will soon begin to shut down for periods of microsleep. This is essentially several seconds of actual sleep; delta waves that interrupt the regular EEG of an awake person thereby impairing his or her continuity of cognitive function. Microsleep generally happens directly before performance failure occurs (8). Without sleep our brains deteriorate, and if the argument that brain=behavior is true, then our behavior will also suffer accordingly.

Also: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=effects+of+sleep+deprivation

Also: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/09/20/sleep.deprivation/

Also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3376951.stm

Psychosis

Going without sleep is intensely stressful, with unpredictable short and long-term effects. People lose the ability to act and think coherently. And as it leaves no physical mark on the victim, the interrogator can claim that they never laid a finger on those in their charge.


John Schlapobersky, consultant psychotherapist to the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture, was himself tortured through sleep deprivation, in his case in apartheid South Africa in the 1960s.

"Making a programme in which people are deprived of sleep is like treating them with medication that will make them psychotic. It also demeans the experiences of those who have involuntarily gone through this form of torture. It is the equivalent of bear-baiting, and we banned that centuries ago.

"I was kept without sleep for a week in all. I can remember the details of the experience, although it took place 35 years ago. After two nights without sleep, the hallucinations start, and after three nights, people are having dreams while fairly awake, which is a form of psychosis.

"By the week's end, people lose their orientation in place and time - the people you're speaking to become people from your past; a window might become a view of the sea seen in your younger days. To deprive someone of sleep is to tamper with their equilibrium and their sanity."

This is a possible explanation for having had visions -- especially given that Whittier_ has admitted going long periods and working without sleep because others were not doing their jobs.

science can not and does not explain everything
Okay Buddy, I've seen enough of this nonsense that I've come to a decision about you. You are clearly a menace to yourself and your command. One can only wonder how you find time to fulfill your duties in the Army. What concerns me even more is what those duties might be.

Ft Huachuca is the home to a lot of Signal Corps activities. That implies that you have access to various types of classified information, the most damaging of which could be the codes used to decipher messages. I don't think soldiers with paranoid delusions need to handle information like this. As a retired Marine Corps officer, I can't just sit by and allow this nonsense to continue, if it is real.

So Buddy Boy, get ready for a knock on the door. I've sent a transcript of this thread to the Garrison Commander at Ft Huachuca. Monday morning, Colonel Hunter will receive a Fedex Envelope with this entire thread. He will also receive a cover letter from me that states essentially the same thing that I've just wrote.

You may be anonymous, but I think you've left a trail that even a blind DIS agent can follow. Especially with the medical operation, the internet access times... I would recommend three things to you. Fess up to your superior officers. Find a good lawyer. Start getting some of that counseling that folks have recommended. That might look better at your medical discharge hearing.

Oh yeah, one more thing Whit. Bite my American ass!

Ok.

Since it seems impossible to continue this discussion civilly, and since there will be no resolution since Whittier_ believes there is no help available to him, it's time to quit while we're all ahead.