Fatigue and fighting zombies

[Debbieangel]

I got to thinking about how much I need my sleep at night. I can't motivate too well if I have interrupted sleep at night. Can you imagine how it would be trying to get sleep with zombies being around? Lack of sleep can cause so many mistakes so I have a few questions: How much sleep do you require at night? In a zombie situation how would you manage to get a few winks before getting up to fight the zombies again? I have to get 7 to 8 hours a night to be able to motivate through the day.

[Trencher]

I think that is a big factor in making living people turning on eachohter. Having a bunch of zombies outside moaning and hammering the wall would drive anybody nuts.

[AcesandEights]

Yup, this has always been the thing about zombies, especially in Romero's movies. They never stop and just keep coming. I think that is a big factor in making living people turning on eachohter. Having a bunch of zombies outside moaning and hammering the wall would drive anybody nuts. Yeah, exhaustion + preternatural levels of stress = bad day to be human

[Trin]

I only sleep between 4 and 6 hours a night. If I get short on sleep I can supplement with little naps during the day (like 15 minutes at a time). I can fall asleep literally anywhere. I think the key would be to isolate yourself someplace completely safe, or with the watchful eyes of other survivors. Dawn and Day both had areas where I think sleep would be possible. If you read Matheson's I Am Legend (or even the movie) the main thing I wondered was how the man slept. His place was not impregnable. In the book the vampires all stood outside talking to him and taunting him all night long. His house was not a stronghold. The primary defense was crosses and garlic. I just can't imagine being so vulnerable as that and getting sleep. Especially while being completely alone.

[DawnGirl27]

I get around 6 each night, and although not a big napper (unless sick), think that would be easily changed when not getting a lot night after night. Your body would have to adapt, and power naps would be a big part of that. Plus, like Trin said, having a safe place, and/or others in your party that could be look outs, would greatly help. I know some people would use ear plugs to drown out any noise from the zeds, but for me, I'd rather hear. When I slept (very light sleeper), I'd wake up if something happened, and have a heads up. It'd be too freaky to just have silence, not knowing if zombies are breaking in and coming (regardless of how safe I thought I was or who was watching my back)...

[EvilNed]

I get about 4-6 hours a sleep tonight. I have a really hard time falling asleep, actually and it's very annoying. The conditions have to be just right for me to fall asleep. If it's too hot, you can forget about it. If I'm hungry, it's a no-go. If there's even the slightest ambience I usually have to put music on, otherwise I can't sleep. So, in other words, I'm fucked.

[Eyebiter]

When your young it's no big deal to run on a few hours of sleep for three or four days then crash out and sleep for 18 to 24 hours to recover. Once you start getting older it's more difficult to operate without a good night's sleep.

[Yojimbo]

When I was younger, I could get by with 2 hours of sleep every night, no problem. Cup of coffee and a good shower and I would be absolutely fine. Nowdays in my forties, I need at least 5 hours min to be ok, otherwise I walk around all day in a bad, bad mood. I have, however, done whole workshifts recently on less (worst was 2 hours of sleep) and I was able to maintain. Don't really know that I could keep up for more than a few days on such a sleep deficit. Likely, if it was an emergency situation, you would have a lot of people dosing with sitimulants to keep going (like the Air Force "go-pills") but anything stronger than coffee taken over a period of time makes folks psuchotic, which in and of itself would likely not be a very good thing in a ghoul situation. This is why I would have to ally myself with other surviviors so that someone can always be on watch while others are sleeping.

[SRP76]

We might be able to get by on fewer than 8 hours per night, right now, in our fat and happy lifestyle. Not so come outbreak time. When you have to get your dead ass off the couch and start toiling constantly (which you WILL have to do - running/escaping, shoring up your meager defenses, searching for and attempting to acquire food, firing weapons, beating ghouls with a hammer...you name it, you'll be doing it, and it will damn sure be physical), you'll realize that when you burn up 15,000 calories a day, you're going to need to sleep deep and long. Especially since you'll be lucky to find 1,000 calories worth of food to supply this activity. And you also WILL be doing this every single day - zombies don't give a shit if it's Saturday.

[MoonSylver]

And you also WILL be doing this every single day - zombies don't give a shit if it's Saturday. One of the best quotes ever.

[darth los]

One of the best quotes ever. Indeed !! We might be able to get by on fewer than 8 hours per night, right now, in our fat and happy lifestyle. Not so come outbreak time. When you have to get your dead ass off the couch and start toiling constantly (which you WILL have to do - running/escaping, shoring up your meager defenses, searching for and attempting to acquire food, firing weapons, beating ghouls with a hammer...you name it, you'll be doing it, and it will damn sure be physical), you'll realize that when you burn up 15,000 calories a day, you're going to need to sleep deep and long. Especially since you'll be lucky to find 1,000 calories worth of food to supply this activity. And you also WILL be doing this every single day - zombies don't give a shit if it's Saturday. That's such a good point. You can also equate it to every day life. I'm positive that, generally, those who have easier jobs or lifestyles require less sleep. Obviously, if someone has an office job, while stressfull, they're not going to be as spent ant the end of the day as someone who works construction for 10+hours. That being the case you're going to require less sleep and recovery time.

[SRP76]

There's also the effects of the repeated adrenaline dumps into your system. Think about the last time you got into a fight. A real one, not slapping your girlfriend around. Someone's punching the shit out of you, you start scrapping, the adrenaline simply starts coursing through your system. It keeps doing it while you're beating on each other. The fight finally ends, you're lucky enough to walk away from it, and get home. Half an hour later, once you've "cooled down", you get that blown-out feeling because the adrenaline feed isn't set to wide-open anymore. You feel about as lively as a bruised turd, and need a nap. Now, imagine being shocked, having to fight, getting away, and "crashing"...and then having to go through it again... and then again...about 10 times in one day. That's just about what life would be during the outbreak. That WILL wear your whole system out by the end of the day.

[darth los]

There's also the effects of the repeated adrenaline dumps into your system. Think about the last time you got into a fight. A real one, not slapping your girlfriend around. Someone's punching the shit out of you, you start scrapping, the adrenaline simply starts coursing through your system. It keeps doing it while you're beating on each other. The fight finally ends, you're lucky enough to walk away from it, and get home. Half an hour later, once you've "cooled down", you get that blown-out feeling because the adrenaline feed isn't set to wide-open anymore. You feel about as lively as a bruised turd, and need a nap. Now, imagine being shocked, having to fight, getting away, and "crashing"...and then having to go through it again... and then again...about 10 times in one day. That's just about what life would be during the outbreak. That WILL wear your whole system out by the end of the day. You know, people can say whatever they want about how nerdy this all is but it never ceases to amaze me how time and again we take lessons learned from debating a zombie outbreak that could easily be used in "real", everyday life situations. GOOD JOB!! Now try doing that based on a discussion about a level 50 incapacitation spell !!

[Debbieangel]

There's also the effects of the repeated adrenaline dumps into your system. Think about the last time you got into a fight. A real one, not slapping your girlfriend around. Someone's punching the shit out of you, you start scrapping, the adrenaline simply starts coursing through your system. It keeps doing it while you're beating on each other. The fight finally ends, you're lucky enough to walk away from it, and get home. Half an hour later, once you've "cooled down", you get that blown-out feeling because the adrenaline feed isn't set to wide-open anymore. You feel about as lively as a bruised turd, and need a nap. Now, imagine being shocked, having to fight, getting away, and "crashing"...and then having to go through it again... and then again...about 10 times in one day. That's just about what life would be during the outbreak. That WILL wear your whole system out by the end of the day. Exactly! You crash and burn constantly your body can't take all that adrenline rush without some good rest. I was also thinking of people that said before that they would go it alone. I don't see how that would be at all possible? or even two people? One would fall asleep and the other would fall asleep out of the same exhaustion because face it, you both would be fighting at the same time with the zombies. Can you imagine months of nonstop fighting with the zombies,running and hiding and trying to find food all at the same time?

[darth los]

Exactly! You crash and burn constantly your body can't take all that adrenline rush without some good rest. I was also thinking of people that said before that they would go it alone. I don't see how that would be at all possible? or even two people? One would fall asleep and the other would fall asleep out of the same exhaustion because face it, you both would be fighting at the same time with the zombies. Can you imagine months of nonstop fighting with the zombies,running and hiding and trying to find food all at the same time? Well, we know for a fact that 4 can do it, don't we? (For those not in the know, it's a Dawn 78' reference)