Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation can induce deep sleep

[warriorness]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 58,00.html

So THAT'S how you can get a good night's sleep in a matter of seconds at those RPG inns.

Geez, and this comes up on the week of AP exams, the one week I actually need to rest my brain for a full eight hours. Fate is taunting me, I think.

[Phenriz]

if only this would benefit the body at the same time, although i could have used this during highschool for sure.

[fjafjan]

Well it was Sky news so I remain critical.
Also uninterested because it usually takes me somehwere between five seconds and a minute to fall asleep.

[Berge]

Oh man. I need one of those, like you have no idea. I mean really, no idea. Give give give.

[cmacis]

But all the wonderful things I've proven due to lacking sleep.

Give me one of those, all those proofs were fallacious.

[FiddleMath]

hmm... I'm UW-Madison. I wonder if they'll let me try one.

[ArchangelShrike]

Bad idea... because then the raptors will be awake more for that many more hours.

Seriously, people pushing their bodies to the limit? Isn't it semi-logical that sleep time provides a time for your body/skeletal/muscular system to rest and rebuild? Sure, your mind is all good, but you can't run anymore...

Edit: I need to go to sleep already...

[elminster]

They do everything with magnets these days. Remember that patent (HERE) for the ring that is advertised in places as an "Immortality device"... amoung other magnetic therapeutic devices.

Never know though, blood and the body does contain quite a bit of iron. Id like to see the effect of a industrial scale electro magnet on someone... or just stick a rat in a box with ultra large neodymium magnets (Their far stronger than average) and see what happens after a few weeks.

[Pathway]

if only this would benefit the body at the same time, although i could have used this during highschool for sure.

Good news: A lot of physical recovery takes place if you're resting, whether or not you're sleeping.

[Pathway]

hmm... I'm UW-Madison. I wonder if they'll let me try one.

How does being at UW-Madison affect anything?

[Phenriz]

hmm... I'm UW-Madison. I wonder if they'll let me try one.

How does being at UW-Madison affect anything?

maybe because the tests were lead by a professor at UMW, thus the device may also be there?

i dunno i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's the reasoning behind the statement.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Since it takes me between 45 minutes and an hour to fall asleep on sleeping pills, I'm all for this being made available in Canada very soon.

[FiddleMath]

hmm... I'm UW-Madison. I wonder if they'll let me try one.

How does being at UW-Madison affect anything?

maybe because the tests were lead by a professor at UMW, thus the device may also be there?

i dunno i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's the reasoning behind the statement.

No, no, you didn't read that right. I am UW-Madison. I can never sleep; these darn grad students working at all hours, and half the undergrads drinking all night.

The article says that the head of the research team is a professor here, that's all.

[Berge]

I'm going to obtain one of these devices, and put it in some sort of alcove...

[gmalivuk]

Never know though, blood and the body does contain quite a bit of iron. Id like to see the effect of a industrial scale electro magnet on someone... or just stick a rat in a box with ultra large neodymium magnets (Their far stronger than average) and see what happens after a few weeks.

You mean, like the magnetic field inside of an MRI scanner?

The iron in hemoglobin is not ferromagnetic, obviously. If little refrigerator magnets improved bloodflow like the quacks say, anyone who got an MRI would explode as all their blood raced around at thousands of miles an hour...

[Belial]

It's true. Those magnets are ridiculous. They ran one a little too far down over my boots, once, and I ended up stuck to the roof of the MRI just from the little bit of metal in the eyelets.

That, and I had brackets around my back teeth, and they had to calibrate the machine specifically so it wouldn't rip my teeth out.

[fjafjan]

That, and I had brackets around my back teeth, and they had to calibrate the machine specifically so it wouldn't rip my teeth out.

Oh fuck, now i started thinking about how that must have been like the first time that happened.

[Ghona]

So THAT'S how you can get a good night's sleep in a matter of seconds at those RPG inns.

But you're still hungry...

[Gelsamel]

I'm curious, if using this machine we can get 8 hours of sleep crammed into 2-3 hours, then what the fuck is evolution thinking?

Obviously there has to be some other benefit we've missed out on if we use this machine instead of sleep normally.

[LE4dGOLEM]

I'm curious, if using this machine we can get 8 hours of sleep crammed into 2-3 hours, then what the fuck is evolution thinking?

Obviously there has to be some other benefit we've missed out on if we use this machine instead of sleep normally.

Um, perhaps it's a bit difficult to evolve bio-electo-magnets?

EDIT: The trait would probably start out as recessive (biologists: confirm new traits start recessive?) and until evolved to a massive power, probably wouldn't affect breeding that much, and so wouldn't spread all that quickly. Biologists: are there any animals that produce a magnetic field?

[Phenriz]

Biologists: are there any animals that produce a magnetic field?

I'm no biologist, but i'm pretty sure almost every animal produces a biomagnetic field of some type. I don't think that we use ours at all, compared to a way a bird uses theirs.

[Belial]

Inducing sleep this way does nothing to help the body repair, which is what stage 4 sleep is for, in theory.

So it's not a terribly good solution. Which is why we don't use it naturally.

[Sevic]

Although the machine can induce slow wave sleep, (cycles 3 and 4) it does not give you the other type of essential sleep, REM sleep. (Rapid Eye Movement) You need both types of sleep to be functional.

Its been a while since I have taken AP Psych but I believe that a fair amount of growth also takes place in the body during the normal 8 hours of sleep.

[Wordmaster]

Interesting, and great news for insomniacs, but I fear this could easily contribute further to our overactive, busy-as-beavers lifestyles. Too many people are burnt out from working themselves too much, and if we can mechanically shorten our sleep cycles then some will surely see it as an opportunity to get more hours' work in each day, further stimulating and stressing themselves.

This article itself seems to suggest this practice with phrases like, "A device worn on the head could in squeeze the benefit of eight hours' sleep into just two or three hours." Of course, it's little more than a blurb so heavy discussion of the potential pros and cons has been pruned out.

I would hope that the need for longer sleep cycles is emphasized if/when this technology is mass marketed. Perhaps it should be reserved as therapy for extreme cases of insomnia.