I should have shared this story sooner, but I forgot about it. Where I used to work, we had a software contractor that came in to work with us and I went out to lunch with him one day. Over the hour that we were gone, he told me about his problems with sleep deprivation after I saw him take a pill.Originally Posted by jinx
When he was younger (late teens/early 20s), he used to get no more than 1-2 hours of sleep per nite, and he said that he thought sleeping was a waste of time and he could learn so much more as a programmer if he stayed up practicing and reading all nite instead of sleeping. This seemed to work for him for a while, and he said that he got into a routine and he felt perfectly normal.
He also said that over a period of time, his system started to degrade and he actually ended up going to the doctor because his heart couldn't take it. He started having health problems and his doctor told him that it was because of his lack of sleep.
Now he gets 4-6 hours of sleep per nite and he's on medication to get him back on track. By the way, he's in his late 30s/early 40s now and he still feels the effects.
Don't do it.