Sleep Deprivation

[Ex-User (5841)]

Ignoring the part where we all know it's unhealthy, what's the longest amount of time you've been awake?

Mine is approximately 80 hours (I remember I made it through the first 3 days but didn't go much further after that).

 

[Treece]

24 hours. I'm not sure if I can do much longer than that. And it only happened because I procrastinated homework...

 

[Jah]

4 days, (getting close to 100 hours. )

 

[MizKodomo]

76 hrs.
close to the end I literally fell on the floor and slept for 3 hours

 

[lucky12]

47 hours, just gave up.

 

[Trebuchet]

I think it was 56 hours, but I only got 2 hours of sleep out of 72. That was in college, so a while ago.

This was a bad idea. When I finally finished my project, it was about 5 AM and I was hungry, so I got in the car and drove to a diner. Must have been out of my mind.

 

[Kuu]

I've also gone almost 4 full days.

But I've had weeks of doom where there is just 4 hours of sleep in the whole 7 days. Let's just say I don't recommend it.

 

[Cavallier]

I went 48 at the longest. I was fine but definitely not functioning properly.

Anybody notice around hour 30 you hit a sweet spot where you think you are fine without sleep and then coast for another 10 hours?

 

[Kairoh]

Probably not much more than 24 hours, I need so much sleep. Ideal amount of sleep for me is 9-10 hours a night, I know it's not normal (and probably not healthy) but that's how I've always been. And I'm a young person, only 20.

 

[BigApplePi]

A little over 24 hours. It was continuous exercise ... a bike marathon for as far as one could go. I did 300 miles. I could have stayed awake longer but went to bed.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Anybody notice around hour 30 you hit a sweet spot where you think you are fine without sleep and then coast for another 10 hours?

Yes, and there's another one after that but it doesn't last as long.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Probably not much more than 24 hours, I need so much sleep. Ideal amount of sleep for me is 9-10 hours a night, I know it's not normal (and probably not healthy) but that's how I've always been. And I'm a young person, only 20.

Actually for age ~14-24 that's perfectly normal. When I am able to get into a rhythm and sleep consistently, I do the same.

 

[GYX_Kid]

76 hrs.

Same : o

 

[EyeSeeCold]

40 hours, give or take a few, is the most. All the times I stayed awake past 24 hours it's usually because I was too mentally active to sleep or I pulled an all-nighter for schoolwork.

I love going off the standard cycle and staying up late in that druggy state, but I like my sleep too much to intentionally deprive myself for more than two days. I usually get less than 8 hours and when I get more than that it's compensation for previous nights.

Also:

I've had weeks of doom where there is just 4 hours of sleep in the whole 7 days.

This.

 

[Fukyo]

No more than 24 hours. You guys must be supermen. My cognitive abilities and coordination deteriorate rapidly and I feel nauseous and extremely weak, my heart pounds too; just can't take it.

 

[The Gopher]

Yeah I think about 76 hours (but there was like 4-10 hours sleep in there it was all a bit fuzzy.

 

[BigApplePi]

Yeah I think about 76 hours (but there was like 4-10 hours sleep in there it was all a bit fuzzy.

You were awake all that time but don't recall because you might have been asleep?

 

[Crazythinker1]

Three days, haven't been able to do it since.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I've gone about 40 hours three times. I don't recommend it.

Worse, however, for me, is when I only get 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night for several nights in a row.

About two years ago, I was on a stretch of insomnia when I didn't get more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night for a few weeks. During one period in the middle of that, I went 36 hours without sleep and, thanks to all the deprivation before hand, I was just not functioning well at all. I was really, really in bad shape.

It was during this time that I got my hands on some Ambien. That was really, really important for me. I finally started getting sleep.

 

[thelithiumcat]

I counted about 36 hours, or something like that. I only kept track that once though. I might have gone longer since. The last time I did it properly I spent the morning absolutely freezing (the sort which isn't affected by how many jumpers you put on) and then fell asleep around eleven. I stopped after that. Nowadays I'm either unable to do it or I go to sleep somewhere around five to nine am because I think I should. I might like to see whether I could do it again, but I don't see the point in it. I'm just interested in having the night and maybe the sunrise. Not that interested after early morning and my dad usually tries to make me feel bad about it.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

I'll spend 30 hours awake and 12 hours asleep rather often. Isn't particularly disruptive. I'm not entirely sure how long my longest stretch was, I tend to lose track of time when sleep deprived, but between 64-70 hours by rough estimate.

I attempted to adopt a Dymaxion schedule once, but I'd miss naps and on day 6.5 I sort of blacked out for a whole day.

My Dad tells me I had become exceptionally bizarre and completely lost my ability to communicate coherent thoughts. Nowadays, my general rule is that once I starting seeing things, it's time to sleep.

@Cavallier
I relate to that quite strongly.

 

[BridgeOfSighs]

I went 48 at the longest. I was fine but definitely not functioning properly.

Anybody notice around hour 30 you hit a sweet spot where you think you are fine without sleep and then coast for another 10 hours?

Yep. But usually I drop off shortly after that because I know it's that 30 hour mark.

The longest I *think I've ever stayed awake is about 36 hours. This is usually due to insomnia or random trips and it pains me to count exactly.

 

[Puffy]

Why are so many of you going for 4 days without sleep. Are you literally trying to see how long you can go, or is it so you can work? I couldn't relate to the latter personally, after 24 hours of being awake things are just too fuzzy, I wouldn't be able to focus on things like study.

Though, I guess I could stay up for 3 days and train myself to write in a really fragmented way. Would probably be rubbish.

I think between 24-30 hours though. Generally if I pull an all-nighter around a friends.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Three days, haven't been able to do it since.

Any particular reason? I haven't passed the 3 day mark since then, but I haven't needed to either.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

Why are so many of you going for 4 days without sleep. Are you literally trying to see how long you can go, or is it so you can work? I couldn't relate to the latter personally, after 24 hours of being awake things are just too fuzzy, I wouldn't be able to focus on things like study.

In my case it was a typical day followed by an "idea flash" all nighter, followed by a day interspersed with boring repetitive work, the pursuit of ideas, and feel good food, followed by a morning playing video games (at that point I tried to sleep and couldn't) and a night at the race track watching my ISTP dad speed loudly and precipitously down the track to make enough money to pay for the next time he could speed loudly and precipitously down the track.

Throughout the entire time, good music was the only consistent theme.

 

[Smooch]

interesting topic. I think the longest I've stayed awake was 2 1/2-3 days (details are fuzzy).

The last couple of hours I was awake I remember feeling LIVID. I was driving(dear lord) and I just remember feeling like the world was moving at an abnormally slow pace, if you know what I mean. I was on fire!

Then I started to crash, and that was a horrible feeling. I never want to do that again.

On a side note, I too seem to need more than 8 hours a night. Or at LEAST 8 hours, or it messes with my whole mindset

 

[warryer]

36 hours... It's awful. I am barely aware and only functioning on a level that keeps me breathing.

There's a reason why those creatures on methamphetamine look like zombies.

 

[kamari rised]

was going on 5th day back about a year ago, When I first developed "flow" i believe that's what it was called. I was taking vyvanse. 1 in the morning and 1 at night and I would just fall into this trance, and read the never-ending wikipedia. Had about 100 tabs open lol, Than I would go to work, and all I would do is think, think, think. Only hallucination's I ever got was like, smoke in my peripherils. It wasn't very... uhmmmm fun i guess haha. Than smoked some weed and passed out in my spot. I believe sleep deprivation can be very beneficial to people though, I read somewhere that it helps develop your prefrontal cortex, which is the decision making part of the brain.

 

[Jennywocky]

I think 40 hours or so is my max uncontinued period of awake time.

however, I very commonly run on sleep deprivation. With my commute/job/life situation, I've habitually only been getting about 3 hours a night during the workweek, for months.

yesterday I left work early to see Hunger Games, fell asleep after I got home (about 7:30pm), and didn't get out of bed today until 8:30am or 9, whereupon I finally started waking up every 15 minutes or so because I guess I was done sleeping. My body just shut down for 12 hours to recharge. I couldn't stay awake any more.

 

[Lydia]

48 hours.-- Two nights/Two days.

 

[Architect]

Three or four days once. I'd have to figure it out considering the time zones. Let's see, I was up 24 hours door to door (US to Japan), then I got some distressing news and couldn't sleep until the following evening, so 50 hours.

Jenny, yeah I also run low - generally. Five to six hours a night, plus a nap oftentimes. Recently I've been running more a full night.

 

[Stoic Beverage]

I'm in high school, and I try to see how long I can stay awake fairly frequently. I've heard it's bad for growth and such, but I'm already fairly tall, so whatever.
The longest I've ever gone was 48 hours, although I've been there at least three times. I usually stop because the idea of going another day (and it doesn't feel "worth it" unless I can say it's been three days) is too daunting. Interestingly enough, I don't get quite as fuzzed up as some of you seem to. I function perfectly fine, my eyes just burn like hell.

Fun and relevant story. I was napping on a Saturday and woke up at 3:00 pm. I decided to see how long I could stay up. I proceeded to stay awake through the following Sunday, and went to school on Monday. My last class of the day was history, and I had a final that day. Mind, I get to history at 1:00 pm. So, having gone ~46 hours without sleep, I took my history final. I went home and crashed.
I later got my results back and found out I got a perfect on that final. I felt like such a badass.

I think I'll try for that elusive 3-day again, starting today. Woo!

 

[gruesomebrat]

Just finished a 34 hour, but only slept for ~8 hours afterwards... like Jennywocky, I'm usually running really low on sleep. 2-3 hours per sleep session is normal, with 20-24 waking hours in between. My sleep schedule refuses to correspond properly to a 24-hour day, though.

Interestingly, while incarcerated, I was sleeping 18-20 hours a day, simply to pass the time... as soon as I was released though, right back to "short nights long days".

 

[snafupants]

Just finished a 34 hour, but only slept for ~8 hours afterwards... like Jennywocky, I'm usually running really low on sleep. 2-3 hours per sleep session is normal, with 20-24 waking hours in between. My sleep schedule refuses to correspond properly to a 24-hour day, though.

Interestingly, while incarcerated, I was sleeping 18-20 hours a day, simply to pass the time... as soon as I was released though, right back to "short nights long days".

That qualifier leaves something to be desired.

I prefer to sleep for nine/ten hours each night. Doesn't always happen.

 

[Hadoblado]

Approx 3.5 days multiple times, usually something to do with a drinking bender, a college halo weekend, travel, a festival, a back to back assignment deadline, or a good book. I haven't done any more than 50 hours in a few years, I used to have insomnia, now I can't stay awake! I preffered insomnia...

 

[Rakshasa]

A week. It was a psychological experiment, you could call it a success. Hardly practical, however. I survived off of a mixture of coffee grounds and chocolate sauce. I was miserable. I slept for more than a day afterward. My mother was convinced I had died.

 

[Cosmic]

72 hours. i was cramming for finals, and it was honestly as easy as poppin' caffeine pills. then i took ephedrine to be ultra awake for my last final and i got lost three times getting there due to loopy absent-mindedness. and i looked cracked out when i got there half an hour later. =x aced it though

 

[C.J_Finn]

I've gone about 30 hours one time. When I finally went to sleep I wasn't even tired. I was just bored and decided that there was no point in staying up any longer.

 

[Meer]

ephedrine

Uh, I dunno. 40 hours or so is pretty common for me, I'm not sure what the longest was, though. Early mornings and afternoons are definitely the worst for me.

 

[Dragonmythos]

A very long time, provided that I have my micro-naps in between. After twenty hours or so I start seeing fleeting shadows and body parts and I hear the echoes of past voices and footsteps. An impending sense of dread quickly fills me so that I keep the lights on well through the night. I am at my highest in regards to paranoia. It's amnesia all over again.