does a man need to sleep?

[jaycatski]

is it better to be a nocturnal night owl partyin and seein all the stuff at nite and sleepin through the heat of the day,or is it best to take in nite and day?

[Bob]

Read the Survival Guide and handouts from the Greeters to check for scheduled burns & other events, stay out of the afternoon heat, & consult your doctor.

[Alpha]

I would not recommend the use of pharmaceuticals to allow you to stay up all day and night for a week. (not that you suggested as much, except I don't know how else anyone would do it)

If you can handle the inverted schedule, I'd recommend sleeping from about 11am - 4pm most days, and maybe breaking it up one or two days so that you can experience it both ways. You'll need shade over your tent to be able to sleep at Noon, though.

[Worthy]

In my opinion I think the best way to get your sleep in is to stay up at night till an hour or two before dawn (4 or 5am) and pass out while the temperature is nice and cool, and then sleep as long as you can until the heat wakes you up around 11am. This is probably the best time to sleep on any given day. Then I usually try and get an hour or two or three nap in the evening when the temperature has cooled down again. I deffintly think you need to experience night and day at BM they are two different worlds.

[crazycat]

I totally agree with your description of two different views : day/night. Like kids in a candy store we found it difficult to allow time for sleep anyway because we were always wanting to see/do a little bit more day or night. Sleep for us was best found whenever we could or needed to catch a few zzzzs. While sights and new experiences called, sleep often won over.

[Dork]

I can't sleep during the day. It's too freakin hot. I can lay motionless with my eyes closed but that's it. So, I try to get to bed in the middle of the night and wake up when it gets hot. The night before I drive home, I tell myself I'm going to go to bed early that night but never actually do it.

Assuming you'll be there for a good part of the week, there's plenty of time to let your body tell you what it needs.

[Lydia Love]

I think we did all our sleep last year in cat naps. An hour nap at midnight would let us stay up until dawn. A slightly longer nap at dawn and a snooze somewhere in the heat of the day. It was great.

It also completely fucked our sleep schedules so that arriving back at Camp Reality was more hellish than previous years...

[Tancorix]

Catnaps and sleeping from 9 to 2 with fans and misting equipment is what I do. My attitude is there are 51 other weeks of the year to sleep in, BM week is the exception to the rules. BRC at night is unlike any place on earth, it has to be experienced and it's worth staying up for. But there's a lot to be said for the sunrises...regardless of what sleep schedule you end up with, sunrise on the playa is beautiful. So I usually go until I can't go anymore, catnap, then go again.

[theCryptofishist]

Not completely sure what the original question implied, or what is advocated in the answers. (But when has that ever stopped me.)
Just want to remind everyone that sleep deprivation is (justifiably) considered torture. Make sure you get enough, or you'll be in realities that make the playa look like Main Street USA.

[Jordan 10-E]

Staying up all night is awsome to say the least. People have given good suggestions. Truth is if you don't find a way to regulate your sleep yourself then sleep will regulate you. My first year I had quite the intense headtrip/sleepdep/dehydrated/blissedout experience ever! When I did finally make it back to camp after my arduous journey I crashed in less than a minute and didn't wake up alllllll day. Life was much better after that. If you are not particularly looking for some sort of mental breakdown find at least a few hours to rest.

[shitmouse]

one thing to remember as well,
make sure you have a shade structure over your tent, then you'll actually get those hours of sleep that you *need* and keep you away from "the grouchies". --that way, *you* get to choose when you sleep.

--- i've been cooked out of my own tent so many times when i really needed sleep... and knew better.
-b

[dingo]

Last year was bad for me. I got so little sleep. It is crucial to have some type of shade over your sleeping area. Tent material does not block the sun. You also want ventilation for the desert breeze. In teh 8 days that I was there last year, I probably slept less than 2 hours a day. I strongly recommend against it. Cat naps are also very, very good. I did find that going to sleep around 4 or 5 was the best. A little bit of light out, but calm and cool outside. I drove our truck out of BRC, but had to change drivers at Empire.....yeah Empire. It did take us an hour to get there though. Sleep is key before you head home, not only for yourself, but for your brothers and sisters driving home too.

[Jordan 10-E]

I got a full night sleep Sunday night and still was drifting on the way out Monday. Be safe.

[Captain Goddammit]

To get to the meat of your question, Burning Man is really a night time city. There's a lot of stuff done with lighting effects and a lot of it is ugly during the day when you can see all the shit holding it up. And they're right, daytime is hot!
But then again, sometimes at night it gets cold enough to suck.

[III]

>>Burning Man is really a night time city

well, there are those who see it that way. it's a 24 hour city - some people focus on the day time stuff, some on the night time stuff. you'll find your own way to appreciate it...

[robbidobbs]

Sleep??? It is to laugh!

I'm on day-shift, get up at dawn and go to sleep at dusk. Earplugs are a must to have around, for whatever time you happen to crash, esp if you're next to a rave camp.

[actiongrl]

"Night time city??" Jeesh. I love playa days. Luckily, since I get up at 8 AM to work, and these days can't do that play-all-night-and-get-four-hours-of-sleep that I did a few years ago. By the end of the event at cleanup time I was a worthless shell.

Earplugs, earplugs. Really. And get some sleep, lest you wither into a dust mote.

[Dr. Pyro]

Not only earplugs, but I use those industrial headsets they use at the airport to guide in 747s. A little uncomfortable at first perhaps (use two pillows) but better than being kept awake by techno or the occasional explosion.

The Doc

[Captain Goddammit]

Well yeah, gotta agree.