gherkinlad asked me to start up a thread to discuss insomnia. How many of u guys have suffered from insomnia since starting comics. Recently i dont sleep until 3 am since i started this stuff six weeks ago. Gherkin lad is about to go to work for the night.

I have a hard time sleeping as it is. Normally I just drift in and out of normal daily life and start daydreaming, wanting to escape and whatnot. That's how I come up with stuff for my comic. A need for escape, amplified by my lack of sleep.

I don't think comics cause my sleeplessness. I think it's other factors smashed together creating a border of me closing my eyes and falling asleep normally. It does suck.

i know its not just that, ive just got no self control, and i love the drawing :D u ever get so tired that u see things

Today I only slept for about 4 hours because I was woken by fireworks. They sounded like distant, constant, snare-drums and very close, ponderously irregular, kettle drums. And there were the flashes on my walls…
So I had to get up and see where it was coming from. I don't know where it was for sure, but it was obviously a big expensive show because of the size and the amount. I managed to see a bit in the distance.

Normally for a few days I'll sleep from 3 to 4 hours and then I'll have one day where I sleep 9 or 12 hours and then I'll go back to 3 and 4 again. I don't have any trouble sleeping but I normally don't sleep enough because once I wake up, I can't go back to sleep.

Yeah, it's pretty common to see things when you haven't had enough sleep. That's a bad sign.

Drunk duck isn't the cause though. But I could see someone being over anxious about their comic… But that's not the site, that's you and your obsessive behaviour. ;)

F_Allen
i know its not just that, ive just got no self control, and i love the drawing :D u ever get so tired that u see things

Yeah, I could see that.

This is site is more like an addiction, it has consumed my daily life. There are times when I spend my entire day on DrunkDuck, all the way to 2:00 am, and not noticing what had happened. I guess it's more the various factors here that make things to addicting. Like the need to show your comic, the want to have someone comment, and the hope that someone out there is reading. It's why the first thing I do, as soon as I turn on my computer in the morning, or come home from work or school, it's to check at DrunkDuck before any other thing. Me? I have another addiction at DrunkDuck.

It's those damn PQs.

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to it. It may appear that I'm always on, even though I may not always be ‘on’. I usually leave DD open even when I'm not there or not using it.

It seems wherever I go, there's a computer nearby. So even if I'm not at home I usually have access to the duck.

But to answer your question: no, atleast not for me, and my terrible sleeping habits are still the same.

it encouages compulsions disorders in most of us i think. Hope its the kind that leads us all to genius :D not bloody likely lol

yeah this site dosen't CAUSE insomnia, it just attracts crazy people! (like myself) ^_^;

I was crazy long before I joined.

Priest_Revan
I was crazy long before I joined.

Join the club!

Do you guys even KNOW what insomnia is?

Insomnia is not sleeping for days, or only managing a few hours a week total.

Going to bed early in the morning and waking up around noon is not insomnia, it's just poor sleeping habits.

True insomnia is much worse than “going to bed at 4 in the morning”.

A true insomniac gets virtually no sleep during the span of a week. Therefor, your claims of insomnia are not accurate and you're just not sticking to a normal sleep schedule.

The whole “I have insomnia” excuse for lacking the ability to adhere to a normal schedule is so incredibly overused, much like those people who mask their poor behavior and social skills as a “condition” because it is in vogue.

So try not sleeping more than an hour or so in the span of five days and then you can classify it as insomnia. Until then, you're just making poor decisions about your sleep pattern and making a joke of people who have real sleeping disorders.

Actually, insomnia can affect anyone on any level.

WebMD
Insomnia is an inability to sleep well. It's a common problem, affecting almost everyone at one time or another.

That said, sure, I have had sleepless nights. Short-term stress and certain foods usually being the culprits.

I got better. ;)

I highly doubt that DD or other webcomicking things could cause insomnia directly. Addiction to webcomics and webcomic related sites may cause a lack of sleep, but only because you're online when you shouldn't be awake.

I have never been “good” at sleeping i should say. When i do finally fall asleep i wake up to gun fire (i live on a military base with tanks practicing in the distance, i can hear it very well)

But i don't blame it on DD for it is my love.

SpANG
Actually, insomnia can affect anyone on any level.

WebMD
Insomnia is an inability to sleep well. It's a common problem, affecting almost everyone at one time or another.

That said, sure, I have had sleepless nights. Short-term stress and certain foods usually being the culprits.

I got better. ;)

webMD
What makes people with insomnia different from people who generally sleep fewer hours or have a different sleep disorder is the quality of their day.

True insomnia results in depression and a lack of ability to do anything, much less draw comics. So, once again, poor sleeping habits and “sleepless nights” =/= a case of insomnia.

That being said, there was a point for several months where I averaged only about 4 hours a sleep a week because of specific stressors (sometimes less), resulting in a nervous breakdown. It's quite an annoyance to see someone say “Oh man, I only get about three hours of sleep a night, god I must have insomnia.” It's irresponsible and rude to anyone who has truly suffered from it. It's even worse when the person goes to bed at 4 in the morning and wakes up in the afternoon saying “Oh man, I went to bed at four, I must be an insomniac.”

The definition for insomnia tries to encompass any sort of sleeping issue that can crop up, but there are people who take it lightly and wear it like a favorite pair of pants, and it's disgusting. Insomnia is not cool and just saying you're an insomniac because you sleep on a slightly different schedule to everyone else is incredibly rude.

So, if any of you were actually suffering from insomnia, you wouldn't even be motivated to do comics, working late to draw is not the same thing as being unable to sleep from a medical standpoint.

hpkomic
True insomnia results in depression and a lack of ability to do anything, much less draw comics. So, once again, poor sleeping habits and “sleepless nights” =/= a case of insomnia.

WebMD
Many of us experience temporary insomnia from a few days to a few weeks. This kind of insomnia usually results from normal events in our lives such as:

* A stressful event
* Emotional stress
* Illness
* Temporary pain
* Disturbances in sleep hygiene (environmental factors under your control that may contribute to disturbed sleep and insomnia)
* Disruptions to circadian rhythm (the 24-hour rhythmic regulation of our body processes)

When stressful situations resolve, when you recover from illness, when the pain goes away, when sleep hygiene improves – then sleep usually improves.

But I'm sure you'll tell me that's wrong too. ;)

SpANG

hpkomic
True insomnia results in depression and a lack of ability to do anything, much less draw comics. So, once again, poor sleeping habits and “sleepless nights” =/= a case of insomnia.

WebMD
Many of us experience temporary insomnia from a few days to a few weeks. This kind of insomnia usually results from normal events in our lives such as:

* A stressful event
* Emotional stress
* Illness
* Temporary pain
* Disturbances in sleep hygiene (environmental factors under your control that may contribute to disturbed sleep and insomnia)
* Disruptions to circadian rhythm (the 24-hour rhythmic regulation of our body processes)

When stressful situations resolve, when you recover from illness, when the pain goes away, when sleep hygiene improves – then sleep usually improves.

But I'm sure you'll tell me that's wrong too. ;)

Your quotation there does not retort any of my points, so I am not sure what you were attempting there.

However if you're trying to counter me in saying insomnia keeps people from working, your quotation there implies that the person recovered whereas my statement was in regards to people who claim to be current suffers who are still able to be bright, peppy and manage to keep a full hobby going with no issue.

So no, you're not wrong, people who are not suffering from insomnia are capable of being productive people. But those who are truly suffering can't. :)

But seriously, what were you trying to prove there? My statement was that those who suffer are unable to lead entirely productive lives. Not that they can't recover.

sleep i ytook anap now im out of it

i had insomnia properely on summer was a wreck, lost loadsa weights aswell, the doctor said u just need a job and a girlfriend/boyfriend and gave me some pills to help me keep an apetite. it was bizaar. im not a suffer now havent been for a while.

I get about 4-6 hours sleep a night, and I just call myself a vampire. Don't tell me that it's insulting to anyone who actually suffers from vampirism

Wow, you would think that DrunkDuck causing less sleep is total balony, it's what I would've tought IF it was not for the fact that I've been having sleeping problems the last few months and it's getting worse each week! And guess what? At the same time I'm being more active on the Duck (especially the forum). Maybe it's just a nasty side effect.

Seriously, this site has grown for me at being the site I hardly checked, to being my most visited site on the web. I mean, when I'm at my pc and not visiting DrunkDuck I don't really know anymore what else to do….

We are all part of the Duck's drunkness :O

Mark
I get about 4-6 hours sleep a night, and I just call myself a vampire. Don't tell me that it's insulting to anyone who actually suffers from vampirism

Anyone who calls him or herself a vampire has more issues than the inability to get over 6 hours of sleep a night. ;)

I think I'm the only person here who has zero sleeping problems. No insomnia for me!! I get into bed, conk out in under twenty minutes, and get from six to eight hours. I love sleeping. Even if we didn't have to do it, I still would.

I DO find it pretty damn tough to sleep. But I attribute that to a diet based around caffeine. And too much stimulation at night when, as luck would have it, I happen to be at my most creative. Dammit.

hpkomic
True insomnia results in depression and a lack of ability to do anything, much less draw comics. So, once again, poor sleeping habits and “sleepless nights” =/= a case of insomnia.

Although I comizerate with the insomnia you experienced, what you went through isn't the only form of insomina.
Insomnia comes in varying stages and have different effects on different people.
So to say that someone who only sleeps 3 hours a day DOESN'T have insomnia is wrong. Assuming that it's because they CAN'T sleep and not because they just don't both going to bed.

One of the forms of insomnia i went through was staying up 24-30 hours then sleeping for only 4-6.
That went on for a few months and it was pretty rough…and it sucked. :)

Uh oh, a few days ago I began to see strange things! Or maybe it's not insomnia this site is causing, but paranoia :| I mean, I was just totally freaked out that night!

i cant help staying up till midnight, so i can see all the comics then and not have to wait till tommorow…also, when im really bored, i check the site like every 20 min to see if anyones commented more on my comic. yeah……..im on this site waaaaaay too much…

I find the internet in general as an insomnia enabler. It's so easy to stare at the screen, mindlessly surfing the internet, clicking on the same stupid things over and over again. You can get stuck for hours at a place like youtube watching entire series of shows you really don't care about but you watch them anyway, just because you can. So, I don't think it's just getting into webcomics itself, but it's the fact that it's online that may help keep you up when you shouldn't be.

personally, I've been told I have the absolute worst sleep schedule ever ever ever. Depending on my situation with school… I've been known to go days and days without any sleep, and then sleep for like 25 hours. It's fun. Last night I slept 16 hours… in preparation for tonight, in which I anticipate about 15 minutes sleep (I have a paper to write. BUT! MY PAPER'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!! It's relating Freudian theory to Neon Genesis Evangelion! and it doesn't even have to be all that long- just like eight pages or so!!) …but I have a terrible procrastination problem, so it'll probably be a few hours before I actually start writing it.
Also, I have an obsessive-drawing problem. I've been known to paint or draw for like eight hours without even getting up once. It's kind of like a smoking addiction, where you can't think straight because you just want a cigarette and that's clouding up your thoughts– that's how I am with drawing. it's weird.
So in summation, yes. Internet + comics= zero sleep.

if i could i chose my comic life over my real life. i never sleep and my girlfriend hate it. thanks drunk duck. now that i have a place to show my work i cant sleep.lol