Interesting thread on sleep deprivation. I decided to start a thread on the effects of being deprived of something else vital to the body: food. What are your experience with starvation and how long have you fasted/gone without food? Do you find starvation more or less difficult than sleep deprivation? Many scholars believe that starvation was the cause of many mystical revelations described in the Bible, such as those of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Orthodox eastern orthodoxy, orthodox catholisism, and most sects of Islam do a certain degree of fasting.
on a non psych point of view, fasting one or two days a week is beneficial for the body. fasting is good for you as long as your not doing much physical activity. give it a try.
Recent fasting info: http://www.asbmb.org/asbmb/site.nsf/web/B1B736D312BC2E7D852573560074F545?OpenDocument I have trouble fasting due to some blood sugar issues that become pronounced when good-for-me food isn't consumed at least once a day. I'd love to do the whole starve thing for a few days (or however long) process, but the ritual could be problematic for me.
it's easier for me to fast than it is to not sleep, even though i can not sleep pretty easily. but i get really low blood pressure and faint (which is pretty psychedelic, but happens at odd times, like at the library). fasting is amazing though. it's so beautiful. i wish i could fast forever .
I do fast sometimes if I feel like I need to, and I always fast for at least 12 hours before I trip with the exception of maybe an apple or a few strawberries. As far as sleep goes, I find just "staying up" to be really unhelpful, but I can sometimes do intenst relaxation techniques that, when done deep enough are the equivalent of sleep for me. Thats what I do at the end of a trip when Ive stayed up all night, but I can't get that deep on a regular basis. I actually think this may be related to how people who are very very high (spiritually, I mean) can go without sleep. (Like described by ram dass when he was talking about the time he spent wandering with bhagavan dass and noticed that he hardly ever slept, but meditated)
The longest fast I've evr done was about 40 hours. It was not really psychedelic but more or less spiritual. I love the idea of fasting to find deeper enlightenment but I don't really know if you can do it healthly to the point of hallucination.
