Do Games Prevent You From Sleeping?

Sleep, it’s such a valuable commodity. A human resource frequently mismanaged by a society intent on utilising every sliver of available time at the expense of necessary slumber. Boy do I miss it. Never underestimate the rejuvenating properties of extended convalescence. It’s like concealing yourself behind conveniently situated crates and barrels for a short period in an FPS after a gunshot wound, in an attempt to heal yourself. The screen stops flashing, you’re vision is no longer impaired by a blood splatter that looks as though someone has thrown a used sanitary towel at you’re face and you can proceed to inflict severe retaliation on you’re aggressors. Sleep deprivation is a naturally occurring malady for most gamers who don’t know when to quite, with the immediate task taking precedence over any deteriorating concentration and mental fragility, both considerations being an affliction reserved for the morning stupor. Trouble is that same adolescent fervour that drives you to succeed dictates you’re actions, with the inhibiting fatigue very much a regrettable afterthought that you’re repeat again. There’s a conflicted sense of reasoning that goes into ignoring bedtime. Rationally I know that if I go to bed at a reasonable hour I’ll get a good nights sleep and feel fresh and invigorated, prepared for the complexities the day may bring. But on the other hand why waste valuable free time not doing anything when I could be finishing Ratchet and clank? (Which is ironically developed by Insomniac. Coincidence?)

I can’t condone or even rationalise such a detrimental ideology, but for me not sleeping for the recommended amount of time is an appropriate sacrifice, certainly a congenial one that affords special dispensation to the extension of time. Sleep merely detracts from the marginal interim I get to play games, allowing the following work day to recur that much more imminently. By the time I arrive home from work I’m obligated to perform further labour intensive jobs in a domestic setting. Cutting the grass, washing up, changing the baby, cooking on occasion, perhaps driving around at 3 am in an attempt to coerce my 1 month old daughter to sleep. If I don’t take the time to relax, even for an hour I’m liable to drive through next doors living room naked, going “cluck cluck, I’m a chicken” and defecate a brown egg their new carpet. I associate sleep as a negative contribution, negating the spurious time I have and would rather resent it’s absence in the morning. You anticipate just how tired you’ll feel come morning, but you’re living in the moment, fixated on getting to the next stage, with rest becoming the annoying sibling that persists in kicking you in the back.

This flagrant regard for sleep has endured for a number of years, from a time when I’d reach 2 am playing my PS1 and think “I’ll just do that next little bit, then stop” but don’t. Nowadays I have little control over my interspersed gaming, where time to do so is subject to availability. It’s not until around 10 pm that I’m finally able to gain a redeeming, solitary hour to play games. And if the sacrifice is irritable lethargy in the morning then game on!

Does gaming prevent you from sleeping? What’s the longest night you’ve gone playing a game? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers.