But trying to sleep 4 hours a night and then failing does not mean that something like uberman can't work. Of course, it's notoriously hard to prove a negative, but still…
I wasn't trying to negate it. We're capable of much and we know very little.
A few years back, I had a vegetarian roommate who was a boxing coach and ultimate fighter. He killed any misconceptions I had about the diet. My capoeira had never been better than during the few years I was on a high nutrition vegetarian diet (before moving to the Arctic); I was lighter, faster, slept less, fucked longer, more energy and mental focus than a teen.
Atlas, you mentioned studies proving that meditation was a supplement/replacement for sleep. I suspected that's true, but I'm curious if you have reference sources?
The Burmese Theravada work I was doing assumes that sloth is one of five mental hindrances to be observed, understood, and defeated. I'd used that numerous times since, for example separating the observer from the drunk guy in my body.
But during retreats I've wondered if the reduced sleep is attributed to less physical work and worries, meditation restoring vitality, or if the whole system is just designed to make practitioner crazy and susceptible to persuasion/transformation.BTCurious, that link reminds me of recent research that suggests a huge number of people previously considered vegetative actually have mental clarity. They didn't communicate with their eyes, but with different regions of the brain. They were asked to imagine, for example, playing tennis if the answer to a question was false, and asked to imagine following a map or rotating three dimensional objects if the answer was positive. Because these thoughts activate very different regions of the brain, the researchers were able to scan their answers in real time. I'll find a link, so we'll be prepared if Atlas goes comatose on us.
