how to stay awake w/o drugs*long read*

i found this a while ago, it seemed interesting enough so i thought i'd share. it goes down to the science of brain awareness and activity. i use it all the time now. again i warn, its a bit of a read.

originating site:http://www.comdemco.com/new_page_1.htm

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT​

(Please feel free to copy this article)​

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How to stay awake and alert without drugs​

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This is becoming more important to more people with each passing day. It is particularly important to everyone who drives on the freeways and interstate highways. In fact, drivers falling asleep is one of the principal causes of fatal accidents on the nation's highways. But there are many other situations where the ability to stay awake and alert are crucially important.​

Is there truly a natural method to stay awake and alert without using drugs?​

The answer to this question was outlined in a book, now long since out of print, that was entitled: How to Increase Your Intelligence. ​

What is the relationship between how to increase your intelligence and how to stay awake while driving? The relationship is very direct because it is a method to increase the blood flow to the brain in response to possibly life threatening circumstances that the unconscious mind has recognized that triggers the increased blood flow into the brain to cause the conscious mind to take important corrective action.​

The author of the noted long forgotten book was a scholar with a Phd. His study of this subject was stimulated when he encountered the record of a government sponsored research to try to determine what the factors were that caused some children to be brighter than others in school. In order to eliminate the heredity factor, they selected families with several children in which one child was brighter than his brothers and/or sisters. The research gradually produced a most unanticipated common denominator among the brighter children. ​

The single factor that came to the surface was that the children who had taken a keen interest in swimming underwater were the brighter children. ​

How could there be any basis for a connection between improved intelligence among children and swimming underwater? ​

The answer was very simple. A natural mechanism, which nature has incorporated into our bodies, recognizes when the level of carbon dioxide in the blood stream increases above normal. This, in effect, is a red flag that demands immediate attention and action to preserve the physical life of the body. The action produced by the unconscious mind's recognition of danger is to open the blood vessels to the brain and to flood the areas that are the source of mental alertness and thinking. ​

The consequence of holding the breath and swimming underwater is the automatic raising of the level of carbon dioxide in the blood stream and thus the stimulation of increased blood flow to the brain. The by-product of the increased blood flow to the portions of the brain involving alertness and thinking is increased development of brain functioning, especially for children, when such stimulation occurs frequently. ​

It was learned by applying this principal discovered by this research program that children who were considerably below average in mental abilities could be stimulated to become not just normal, but in some cases very far above average in intelligence. This kind of development occurred with growing children when they were still pre-teens and in their early teens. ​

The method applied to raise the level of carbon dioxide in their blood to stimulate increased brain development was very simple. The selected children were asked to sit quietly for one half hour a day with a brown paper bag over their heads. The open bag allowed adequate fresh air for safe breathing, but the warmer air tends to rise to the upper part of the bag, so that the child re-breathes enough air to raise carbon dioxide level in their blood stream. This effectively triggered the increased blood flow to their brains. Children with IQ's initially below one hundred were, in some cases, raised in mental development to Mensa level. (The top 2% in the country).​

Now the question is: how can we make practical application of the foregoing information to maintain mental alertness, to stay keenly awake while driving, to enable ourselves to complete a project requiring mental clarity, whether for a business organization or a scholastic assignment, or to listen to a lecture or similar discourse? ​

This is a relatively easy question to answer when we understand the principal involved. The following are only suggestions, since there are so many various ways that such an elementary principal can be applied by individuals.​

1) While driving a vehicle;​

a) Take a deep breath and hold it until you must expel it. Wait for a minute or more and repeat. This will not suddenly create a lasting wakefulness but when persisted in for one half hour or more, such a procedure will create a state of wakefulness that may last for several hours. ​

b) With a little forethought, a much more comfortable method may be used while driving. This requires a suitable plastic bag. The bags one finds for putting in lettuce or other items at the grocery store vegetable counter are excellent. They may be used simply by making a ring of the thumb and forefinger to hold the open bag to one's mouth. It should be fully inflated with the breath at the start, so that the bag will not collapse when the air is being withdrawn. Several bags should be taken when going on a trip, so that bags may be discarded when moisture accumulates, rather than being reused. It is convenient to cut the bottom out of a 2" diameter or so plastic bottle with a serrated knife and attach the plastic bag at the top. As one breathes in and out of the plastic bag, it will be noticed that one begins to breathe more and more deeply. This is a reaction produced as the body recognizes that the oxygen supply is decreasing and the carbon dioxide level is increasing in the blood stream. It is easier to be persistent with this method. It is very effective, but initially takes effect more slowly. One should experiment to learn how the various techniques take effect. ​

2) While performing a task that requires mental alertness and thinking, such as preparing reports, reading or studying material that demands the ability to concentrate, or doing school assignments. ​

a) This requires a method that frees both hands and does not interrupt ones thinking. With one modification, it is the same as the method used to stimulate improved development of children's minds. Nothing more than a brown paper bag with a panel of clear plastic of suitable size taped into one side is required to accomplish this purpose. A structural engineer who uses this technique has found that, when a deadline demands such, he can work a sixteen hour stretch. This method allows full concentration and keen alertness to persist undiminished to the last. ​

b) It should be unnecessary to comment that this method may be misused to a detrimental excess. ​

3) While listening to a lecture that demands full attention to absorb and comprehend the subject. ​

a) Preparation using any of the above methods over a period of an hour or more prior to the event can accomplish such. ​

b) When necessary, due to the circumstances, apply the same technique of holding the breath that is used to maintain alertness while driving a vehicle. ​

IN CONCLUSION, when due consideration is given to appropriate diet and other related health considerations, the side effects of using the above methods of creating mental alertness with some regularity by mature adults can be expected to create some improvement in the functioning and development of the mental faculties. ​

 

alright ...if your an insomiac, why care to even open the thread?...this was for the people like myself that have problems staying up for long periods of time, also science is great.