My friend told me that. He said your brain needs to rest.
2006-08-22 05:20:45 · 21 answers · asked by Don Dons! 3 in Health ➔ Mental Health
yes, lack of sleep leads to a total body shutdown after 10 days.
2006-08-22 05:28:41 · answer #1 · answered by Brad 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Einstein once said: "Sleep is such a waste of time".
Sleep is overrated. If your body wants rest, it will tell you. Just don't push it to take rest it just won't. Brain activity is different for different people.
I know of people who only get an hour of sleep a day. They lead normal lives for the past 30 or 40 years. This person is highly productive because he can get caught up with so many things.
He is able to perform very well the following day and keeps going.......!! He does not feel tired at all.
His doctor advised him the same thing.
2006-08-22 12:32:38 · answer #2 · answered by Nightrider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sleep deprivation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sleep deprivation is an overall lack of the necessary amount of sleep. A person can be deprived of sleep by their own body and mind, as a consequence of some sleep disorders, or, actively, by another individual. Sleep deprivation is sometimes used as an instrument of torture, but it has also been shown to be an effective treatment of depression. Sleep deprivation afflicts 47 million adults in the United States.
Lack of sleep may also result in irritability, blurred vision, slurred speech, memory lapses, overall confusion, hallucinations, decreased sex drive, nausea, psychosis, and eventually death.
As a cause of death
There are no documented cases of a healthy human dying from total sleep deprivation (excluding accidents), aside from those suffering from Fatal Familial Insomnia. In carefully monitored experiments, several normal research subjects stayed awake for 10 days. While they all experienced cognitive deficits in memory, concentration, etc., none of them experienced serious medical, neurological, physiological or psychiatric problems [1]. Total sleep deprivation in rats leads to death in around 28 days. Death occurs later if only REM sleep is eliminated. In humans, extended sleep deprivation causes microsleep sessions to develop. A person who has fatal familial insomnia may die after several months with no sleep at all; people without this condition may experience dementia or develop permanent personality changes within the first few weeks.
2006-08-22 12:31:04 · answer #3 · answered by KIT-KAT 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are no documented cases of a healthy human dying from total sleep deprivation (excluding accidents), aside from those suffering from Fatal Familial Insomnia. In carefully monitored experiments, several normal research subjects stayed awake for 10 days. While they all experienced cognitive deficits in memory, concentration, etc, none of them experienced serious medical, neurological, physiological or psychiatric problems [1]. Total sleep deprivation in rats leads to death in around 28 days. Death occurs later if only REM sleep is eliminated. In humans, extended sleep deprivation causes microsleep sessions to develop. A person who has fatal familial insomnia may die after several months with no sleep at all; people without this condition may experience dementia or develop permanent personality changes within the first few weeks.
2006-08-22 12:30:17 · answer #4 · answered by daanzig 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's true, but it has to be a pretty severe lack of sleep. I saw on an episode of some TV news show that there's a family that has a genetic disorder where some of them suddenly stop being able to sleep. The ones that get it eventually die.
2006-08-22 12:30:12 · answer #5 · answered by Danaerys 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your brain and body DO need to rest. The body isn't designed to function 24/7 in an 'awake' state, that's why we sleep...it's not just to keep us from getting bored because we don't know how to occupy ourselves constantly...it's a requirement for our bodies to be able to perform as they are designed to...along with food (nutrition) and air to breathe...these things are not optional...
2006-08-22 12:35:06 · answer #6 · answered by . 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
some interesting sleep deprivation experiments were carried out in the USA I think during the 1950s which resulted in some participants experiencing psychotic episodes and never fully rcovering their health. Not sure if anyone died but going mad is not much of a choice either
2006-08-22 12:30:46 · answer #7 · answered by lutterworthwrr 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sleep deprivation can cause all kinds of harm to a person's body, though I could not find any evidence saying that a person could die. You could have "drunk-like" symptoms such as slurred speach and poor coordination. You could also hallucinate. No death though.
2006-08-22 12:32:09 · answer #8 · answered by Peapod 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A friend of mine who is a soldier said that if you don't get a certain amount of REM sleep, you can die.
2006-08-22 14:41:15 · answer #9 · answered by silvershard 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The longest you can go without sleep is approx 10 days.
2006-08-22 12:28:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋