Hypersleep

"Pricey, but probably healthier than just not sleeping for five days. Trust me... I've been on tight schedules."

Hypersleep technology is a combination of advanced neurotechnological procedures that together induce an unconcious state similar to that of "natural" sleep, also referred to as intense or accelerated sleep.
The term "hypersleep" has previously often referred to the concept of suspended animation - to temporarily shut down most bodily functions in order to preserve a human body and life for much longer than usual, often done via extremely low temperatures (cryogenic sleep). The nature and purpose of accelerated sleep is quite different, however - to speed up neccessary functions done in the brain during natural sleep, making the required time unconcious much shorter. While a full night of sleep for most people takes around 8 hours, a complete hypersleep session can be done in as little as 40 minutes.

Discovery

In 2055, a team of neuroscientists led by Adam Blake were on their fourth year of a large, cutting-edge research project studying - amongst other related things - why our brains need sleep. In one experiment, laboratory animals were injected with different substances affecting the production of sleep-controlling hormones such as melatonin. One chemical compound, metachronoprodin, stuck out - the scientists could increase certain types of brain activity depending on how large the injected dose was. Blakes' team put the original project on standby, and began researching this new discovery full-time with funding from several interested corporations. A combination of the metachronoprodin injection, a catalyst injection and several other acceleration technologies created the state that Blake in his report called "Accelerated Nocturnal Processing (ANP)", a technology later refined and rebranded to the hypersleep of today.

Availability

Hypersleep is fully available to the public at a few "clinics" in Fortune City, but it's still only an option for the wealthier members of society. First-timers are required by law to sign a disclaimer contract, and are given a short rundown of the major risks and hazards associated with hypersleep: for example, both staying "hooked up" too long and prematurely ending a session can result in severe brain damage. Despite high risk and cost, people from all walks of life in the city use hypersleep services to spend more time awake - a 2082 study reported that this time was mostly spent working (legality not specified), studying, partying, or simply to fix a broken sleep schedule caused by the previous three. Many major airports also have clinics to help affluent travellers with jetlag.