Some of us suffer short bouts of it when we’re stressed out about something, while others go for years without knowing a decent night’s sleep for days. Whatever causes it and whatever the reaction is insomnia is a true mind-killer that is a very real threat to one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. It eats away at a person when they stay awake too long, as the mind begins to come up with different ways to gain the rest it needs and leaves the rest of the body running on autopilot. Depending on how one lives their life this could be a very risky proposition indeed.
These movies give a pretty fair accounting of what insomnia is really like in some regards.
5. A Nightmare On Elm Street
A new take on an old story, this version of Nightmare on Elm Street delves a little deeper into the scientific aspect of it than the original, bringing to light the very real idea of what happens when you don’t sleep. What is so important about it in this film is that any protection for the nighttime demon that is stalking the kids of Elm Street is essentially erased when the bouts of insomnia start to kick in with vicious results.
4. The Machinist
Insomnia can in some ways drive a person steadily insane. Your mind is a muscle unlike any other in your body. It needs more rest and more attention than the other parts so that it can recharge and continue to operate as it must in order to keep the body regulated in a suitable fashion. If left to run at all times the mind will begin to prioritize functions and break down whatever is needed to keep going. Sometimes it even sacrifices one’s sanity.
3. Taxi Driver
Travis probably could sleep if he tried, but he doesn’t. He gets in his cab and continues to drive the streets, getting to know New York on a very intimate level that many people might not find entirely healthy. He chooses the life of an insomniac and therefore chooses the psychosis that comes with it. What he doesn’t really know is the result of his choice until near the end of the film.
2. Fight Club
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Here’s a guy that’s not just an insomniac, but he’s a functioning psychopath that has separated his nighttime activities from his daytime illusions. He firmly believes that he and his alter ego are two different people and therefore can’t readily accept that he is that crazy and as a result of his insomnia he has perpetrated acts that his mild-mannered ego couldn’t have possibly conceived.
1. Insomnia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OY5J11CWrE
How many days without sleep would it take someone to start losing their mind? Two? Three? Four or more? The danger in this movie isn’t really the insomnia itself, it’s the fact that the man suffering through it is a detective that’s armed and coming dangerously close to an edge that he shouldn’t be walking in the first place. The lack of judgment and control that comes with insomnia should not be experienced by a man that is already having serious doubts about his career.
As far as debilitating conditions go, insomnia is doubtless one of the most insidious.
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