Can You Fake Sleep?

If you were sleep deprived, could you just fake that you got more sleep the night before? Science has some interesting answers.

References
Draganich, C., & Erdal, K. (2014). Placebo sleep affects cognitive functioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol 40(3), 857-864. doi: 10.1037/a0035546

[xirix]

I thought this video had to do with closing your eyes without falling asleep (perhaps because you can't fall asleep), and staying the entire night like that. This happened to me once, and I didn't know if that counted as sleeping. :(

[thembluetube]

but... but... but Homer Simpson faked being awake, not asleep...

[danielricardobarrero]

Watching this video in 2017. I follow your channel constantly, and the change in your voice amazed me! I just came from a 2017 video, you currently have a deeper voice ;)

[BrandonSchleifer]

There's nights where I've gotten zero sleep, in spite of trying to sleep, and nights where I didn't even try to sleep. I find that I have more energy the next day and feel more awake if I spent the night laying in bed in the dark letting my mind wander compared to nights when I am up and doing something (like playing video games) all night.

[erikziak]

I know it is just coincidence and I am imagining things, but good work on the sound processing and also the lights setup! Really makes the video a lot better.

[PivotBoom]

1:19
When she was about to say "Worse"
I thought she was gonna say "Worser"
fml

[justinschroeder]

Great channel! Just binge watched like 15 vids and they're all great! Thanks Vsauce for introducing me!

On a side note, I have always been a morning person, which is always reinforced by family members, and I feel quite sure that even on mornings where the previous night's sleep was short or restless, the fact that I identify as a morning person helps me to get out of bed feeling great in the morning.

[peterDcontact]

thx for the tips in the end but i find hard to believe that i can tell myself "you slept 5 hours last night but most of it was rem sleep so... you are good"
i like this kind of videos where you talk more than the animation ones, your body movement helps you deliver better

[practicaldeduction]

I'll have to utilize this Method. I discovered a trance like state that let's me avoid getting car sick, It's similar to a nap, but I'm still conscious, I wonder if this is related.

[RodanJoe]

Subscribed, liked and favorited because Constanza

[julianmontes]

Speaking of afternoon naps; in some countries, it's actually the norm or it's at least expected of. It's often practiced in Spain and spanish influenced countries like Italy, Philippines, Mexico, etc.

[robroywoodman]

What happened to stage 4 sleep, the restorative part of the sleep cycle? A nap during which you fake sleep or really sleep can cure the afternoon blues but for restful sleep at night you need to reduce your day time stress.

[slugfiller]

Your conclusion from the research is flawed. The participants weren't simply told that they had more or less sleep. They were also told that they would have better or worse performance as a result. It is more likely that the difference in their results were based on their expectation to perform better or worse. You've already covered in another video how setting expectations can influence actual performance.

To properly demonstrate a placebo effect to sleeping, rather than to anything else, the researchers would have had to first find a way to directly test a symptom of sleep deprivation or improper sleep, and then test for it with the placebo of sleeping, but without the suggestion of doing better or worse on the test.

[AnimeReference]

Are you sure it's not because the participants were told effectively that they had failed?
Perhaps the opposite approach; telling people they slept too much and would therefore have lower concentration during the test would provide conformation (or more likely that you can't "fake sleep").

[FirstRisingSouI]

There are so many things like the placebo effect, where people actually feel/perform/etc. better because they believed there was a reason for it. I wonder, is it possible to intentionally psyche yourself into feeling/performing/etc. better even if you're fully aware that there isn't some extraneous factor?

[Awntry]

I don't know if this is known or legit but a trick I've learned that helps when I am low on sleep is what I call a half sleep in which I am still completely capable of sensing and processing the world around me (minus sight of course) but for the most part, I choose to ignore it. It starts with controlled, slow breathing and conscious muscle relaxation until you go into a state where it feels like sleep except that you are aware. When you 'wake up' later, you will feel much more refreshed and is a great boost if you are low on sleep.

The great thing about this technique is that you don't need to fall asleep completely so you can entertain those insomniac thoughts as you like. I have done this several times at the station or the airport while having a 'touch' on all of my belongings. It's nice since you still want to keep watch on all of your stuff and so whenever you hear someone comes near, you can just lift an eyelid just in case

[lizness_cm]

I have a young daughter, I've had poor sleep for years because of her, but I've convinced myself that I've got used to it, and cope.  After watching this I can say that I've done this myself, I believe I'm OK. 

[itarfer]

Well you can't sleep in a lab every night but there is an iPhone app that you put in your bed and it tracks your movement to tell you how well you sleep the night before. It seems to work because what it said about my quality of sleep correlated to what would make sense based on my environment. For example, on nights when I'd had a stressful day or had trouble falling asleep or had stayed up too late, during the time I WAS asleep the app indicated that I hadn't slept very well, and on nights when I fell asleep easily or took melatonin, it showed that I had slept much more deeply.

[teesha]

10 years ago when i used to do yoga we would do the active rest routine at the end and she said it's worth 3 times as much asleep. So i used to active rest when i couldn't sleep and i'd doze off and wake up always feeling like i had enough sleep! :) placebo!

[jelomi]

I find this works, when staying up late look at a clock say around 8:00pm now don't look at any more clocks you brain will think you fell asleep at 8:00pm where you really fell asleep at 2:00am you wont wake up sleepy. Try it see if it works for you.