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Sleep Deprivation

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:00 pm
by Allegro
Inspired by my recent "all-nighter," what was the longest time you have ever gone without sleep, and describe the feelings you have when trying to get through the day?

The longest time I've stayed awake was about 32 hours, during a high school essay "crunch." It's brutal trying to survive in a sleep-depraved state and I had to keep up my sugar intake to survive during the day. For some reason (and I'm not sure if I am the only one who experiences this), I felt almost euphoric throughout the entire day, with a little dizziness to go with it.

But somehow I survived well enough into the 7 PM point...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:20 pm
by Doe Johnson
I have no idea how long I've gone without sleep. I'd have to guess at least 48 hours, although I might have gone longer or not actually reached that point. The first day without sleep is pretty hard. After I finally get active, I don't start to nod off, but if I'm sitting down for a while I might. Now the second day without sleep is interesting. I don't think I'm truly in touch with my surroundings, but I do notice things around me that I normally wouldn't - probably because my mind is fried and I'm just making things up. I'd probably say I have the same euphoric feeling as you. Generally I think of it more of being hyper while not actually having energy or force behind it.

Now I have an urge to try and make a local record. Do you think I'd still be healthy if I stayed up 4 nights in a row? hmm...nvm...I don't think I really want to stay up that long...I just went through a week of about 3 hours average of sleep not too long ago and it wasn't all that fun, although it did get easier after the first few days...don't know why.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:27 pm
by Slater
I think I've gone 24 hours without sleep once. My friends and I played Goldeneye all night long. I think I napped afterwards into the PM hours

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 12:10 am
by Sync
62 hours at a LAN party, I regret going because shortly after I found no joy in playing any game online.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 12:12 am
by Sammy Boy
Friday 8am - Saturday 8am - 2pm = 24 + 6 = 30 hours

10am - 12pm on the Saturday were the hardest as we were riding horses in bushland, single file, and I had the lead horse (lucky me?). Felt mentally worn out. Struggled to focus. Zillions of flies swarming around us didn't help.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:36 am
by TurkishMonky
i think this was a thread before, but it's old now.

I was up til 2 AM thursday, then up again at 8 on friday, Lan party that night, vollenteer work that afternoon, all-night prayer fast at my church the next night, and i finally fell asleep at around 10 sunday night. (that would be what, 62 hours, not counting thursday?)

eventually, one gets in this zombie like state where yo aren't tired, but you can't really think straight.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:45 am
by FadedOne
31 if i'm remembering correctly. my schedule of sleep had been screwed with and i wasn't tired at the right time and then had a full day ahead. it was interesting. i used to be pretty good at low sleep though. now i cant manage without it. :p

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:38 am
by shooraijin
My longest stints averaged around 35-40 hours but this was post-call when I was an intern, and I did this around twice a week, six months or so out of the year.

Now that I get paid, and I don't do 24 hour call (groans), I just time-shift myself 12 hours the night before. This is agony but the call goes much better.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:09 am
by FarmGirl
I'm guessing about 25-27.
We were running around working all day and getting up really early, not getting in until sometime around midnight or one. By the time we got to our rooms, we were restless and couldn't get to sleep for another hour... crazy days.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:04 pm
by Fionn Fael
I went 3 days (72 hours) without sleep once, just to see how long I could stay awake. It was about 3 or 4 years ago, I was a stupid kid, and I got bored. The second day wasn't too terrible, just a weird euphoria and some unfounded hyperactivity. By the third, though, I was literally running on empty and almost fell asleep standing up. Of course, my results may be different from other peoples' because I was pretty young. The whole thing wasn't a very intelligent idea, let me tell you...

Oh, and if anyone cares, the world record for Hours Without Sleep was done by a guy in California. He stayed awake for 11 DAYS!! It made him really unhealthy though, and experts say that not sleeping for two whole weeks will actually kill you.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:23 pm
by shooraijin
Um, "experts" say a lot of things, as do "they."

You're not going to die after two weeks without sleep, but boy, will you be one messed up camper.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:02 pm
by ishy
72 hours when I went to Japan. I don't sleep in moving vehicles. Like planes. And then I was wide awake when I got there....

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:14 pm
by Kaligraphic
I believe at the final limit you are simply unable to remain awake. I don't think you can really die from sleep deprivation.

Still, you really shouldn't be driving after 20 hours or so.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:20 pm
by Dante
umm about 30 hours without sleep, it was an all nighter to complete a lab write-up for my advanced physics class. I was annoyed because my lab partners didn't complete their labs despite the fact that it was due that day and we were already given an extension. Then the teacher gave them an extension... which continued beyond the semester and acted as if turning in assignments on time didn't mean anything and that deadlines in physics were just suggestions despite what was written on the syllabus. It was also my birthday, and I was looking forward to a wonderful colloqium on the physics of bubbles the next day... I fell asleep during the colloqium because they turned the lights off and consequently missed one of the few non-biology cool coloqiums of the semester! I also got a B in my lab class while my late lab partners got As...

Pascal

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:32 pm
by Joshua Christopher
I've given up sleep all together.

I run on a healthy mix of tunafish, melodic death metal, and powerade.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:54 pm
by Lynx
i think my record is 24 hours. it sucked. my secret? caffeen

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:56 pm
by Warrior4Christ
I can't remember exactly, but it's probably something like getting to sleep at 2-3PM, from waking up the previous day at about 9AM, and this was also probably during a LAN. So probably 29-30 hours. Lots of probablys.
I have also done homework-related all nighters which are not recommended.

As a bonus, I'm currently tired, and it's 3:30PM.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:27 am
by soul alive
I frequently pull all nighters doing studio projects for architecture. Longest probably 36+ hours.

If I've slept well for several nights before, an all nighter usually doesn't affect me beyond normal tiredness. But if I've been missing sleep, forget operating normally.

My nerves get shot, and I hugely overreact to everything. I get really jumpy. I also tend to fall asleep if I don't move for a minute or two. And if I'm really bad, I'll get really emotional too, crying.

I once fell asleep while marching in a homecoming parade, having pulled an all nighter recently. The band was behind the Air Force ROTC rifle drill squad, and had to march in place every block or two while the squad did their drills. I kept nodding off, and actually fell asleep standing up for a few seconds, and missed stepping off, falling behind for about 10 feet before I caught up.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:51 am
by Raiden no Kishi
Longest I've ever gone was staying up 'til 3:30 AM with my Dad playing Halo. That ruled SO much.

I've wanted to try getting my crazy friends together and doing something that involves going 24 hours without sleep, just to have done it once. Maybe someday I'll pull a World of Warcraft all-nighter . . . for fun. Wow, I'm weird.

.rai//

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:22 am
by dreamhacker
I think I've managed 42 or 43 hours without sleep. That was a weekend when I was on LAN...I was awake from 7 o'clock friday morning till somewhere around 1 or 2 o'clock at saturday-to-sunday night. It was really fun, I tried to play Starcraft, but after a moment I found out I couldn't keep my eyes up while playing a so slow-paced game. So I tried CS, but found out I couldn't sit still anyways and then I went to sleep :)
The plan was to sleep the first night, and get someone to wake me up after some few hours, but I got too caught up in the gaming and when I decided to go to sleep (9 o'clock saturday morning), I found out it was impossible to sleep :P

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:22 am
by Felix
Erm...lleme see, I know I stayed up at least 30 hours on that one long trip to Nicaragua....but my longest was...52 hours, I believe. And I fell asleep only because I wasn't doing anything, if I had been active, I could have kept awake no problemo.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:54 pm
by Peanut
I have stayed up for about 24 hours several times with my youth group at several events. Afterwards I felt really tired and sort of crusty since I hadn't taken a shower yet and I had been sweating a lot.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:11 pm
by Mangafanatic
That would be 23 hours the last day of my mission's trip. It felt like the longest 23 hours of my life.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:18 pm
by Kawaiikneko
woah I totally did a research paper on sleep deprivation! While it can cause depression it can also be used as a therapy to treat severe depression. Cool stuff. You learn something new everyday.

That being said, on some weekends I stay up til 5 or 6 talking to people, and during the summer I'm up til 3 average every night. Of course, then I sleep in til like 11 (for the up til 5 nights) and if Im up til 3... ehhh maybe 8 or 9 when I wake up. During school sometimes I stay up til 1 and get up at 7.

but I guess that's not all that bad huh. I've pulled all nighters with my church.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:06 pm
by Warrior4Christ
Mangafanatic wrote:That would be 23 hours the last day of my mission's trip. It felt like the longest 23 hours of my life.

I think you could be onto something there. You could make a TV series about it and make it go in real time (except for the 5 minute ad breaks, which would be used for eating and going to the toilet), and call it '23', signifying the 23 hours it goes for. And it would be action packed and you would always save the country.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:23 pm
by Peanut
Mangafanatic wrote:That would be 23 hours the last day of my mission's trip. It felt like the longest 23 hours of my life.


Ughh... I know what you mean... except for me Linksquest and MSP it was the first day of our trip to Poland... honestly I don't know how long I stayed up for that, though I do know that I slept for a grand total of 30 minutes on the flight (thanks to Benedryl) and then I snozzed for a little bit on the bus while we were driving around.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:04 pm
by agasfas
I would say the longest I've stayed up was about 44 hours. It was during this past christmas break and I was scheduled to open the a portion of the store which was at 5:30 am. I tried going to sleep around 12am, but I just kept rolling around. When it was finally 3:30am I just figured I would just give up on going to sleep. Because if I did somehow get some sleep, I probably wouldn't wake up in time for work anyways. Then I went all day w/o sleep and decided to go w/ my friends to a coffee shop later that night.

When I get really tired, I just get really clumsy, slow and disoriented. I think that's about it

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:33 pm
by Allegro
Kawaiikneko wrote:woah I totally did a research paper on sleep deprivation! While it can cause depression it can also be used as a therapy to treat severe depression. Cool stuff. You learn something new everyday.

Interesting. From what I've heard, sleep deprivation can also reset your biological clock as well. Though I'm not sure if that's entirely sure, because I have also been told that you'll still be tired the next day, even after trying to recoup for those sleepless hours.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:35 pm
by SnoringFrog
Around 36 hours. My friend and I played Super Smash Bros. Melee all night, and I fell asleep after dinner the next evening. The following night, we got about 2-3.5 hours of sleep. After all that, I was wiped out and couldn't keep my eyes open. During the first night of playing SSBM, at the end of a battle, the word "GAME!" appears and the announcer yells it as well. I thought the word on the screen said "CAMEL" (the G looked like a C adn the ! like an I) and I couldn't figure out why the heck it was saying camel.

THen there was my 7AM Friday-3PM Saturday without sleep when I went camping. I slept the whole 2 hours back home.

After a week at camp without much sleep, and the final day having only 1 uncomfortable hour from 6-7AM, I got home and fell asleep playing my gameboy and ended up sleepwalking to bed.

I went camping on anoter occasion, got 1 hour of sleep, and got up the next day to go to an activity at a corn maze with my youth group.

At my grandma's, on the night before New Year's Eve, I stayed up till 6 and got up at 7 or 8 after having gone to bed at 4 the previous morning and got up and 7 or 8 that morning. I was actually quite awake and since no one asked what tiem I went to sleep and no one knew, I don't think anyone noticed. THen on New Year's Eve I was forced to go to bed at midnight.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:41 pm
by Yumie
Well, once I worked a six hour shift, went out and stood in line to buy X-Box 360s all night, came home, slept for one hour, and went back in to work for another six hours. That was pretty rough, lol.

On a minor note, this is twice now that I've looked at the title of this thread and thought it said "sheep deprivation." :lol: