longest period of hours and days human can be forced to stay awake?

Question

can physiologic damage occur if someone is forced to stay awake for several days.

Answer 1

Randy Gardner holds the Guinness world record for the longest period of time a human being has gone without sleep for 264 hours (11 days) with the help of friends, TV reporters, and games of pinball. On his final day without sleep, Gardner presided over a press conference where he spoke without slurring or stumbling his words and in general appeared to be in excellent health.

Sleep experts now believe that such sleep deprivation stunts are dangerous. Sleep deprivation brings about detrimental effects to the human health. It can be a cause of diabetes, obesity or can even lead to death. It has known bad effects to the brain and impairs ability. It affects growth and there is a recent study that proved lack of sleep can cause heart ailment. It also simulates aging.♥

Answer 2

a sturdy night of sleep, 6 to eight hours is terrific, yet once you sense drained and sleepy each and every now and then, take what's termed a ability nap. in case you like relax interior the midst of the day, and you are able to make time for a nap, try this. lay your head down, conserving a pencil or another merchandise. whilst your physique has sufficient relax, be it 5 minutes or 15. once you drop the article, you will awaken, and sense refreshed. works. attempt it.

Answer 3

Ive been awake for 72 hours at the hospital.

And yes but under a prolonged time it can lead to neurological disorders.

Answer 4

permanent psych damage? none known of
physical and mental fatigue, unable to concentrate, hallucinations and co- ordination is off after awake more than 36 hours straight

Answer 5

http://www.supermemo.com/articles/polyphasic.htm
Polyphasic Sleep: Facts and Myths

Answer 6

18-19 hours per day.

Answer 7

In humans, it has been demonstrated that the metabolic activity of the brain decreases significantly after 24 hours of sustained wakefulness. Sleep deprivation results in a decrease in body temperature, a decrease in immune system function as measured by white blood cell count (the soldiers of the body), and a decrease in the release of growth hormone. Sleep deprivation can also cause increased heart rate variability.

For our nervous systems to work properly, sleep is needed. Sleep deprivation makes a person drowsy and unable to concentrate the next day. It also leads to impairment of memory and physical performance and reduced ability to carry out mathematical calculations. If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop.

Release of growth hormone in children and young adults takes place during deep sleep. Most cells of the body show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep.

Sleep deprivation is a relative concept. Small amounts of sleep loss (for example, 1 hour per night over many nights) produce subtle cognitive impairment, which may go unrecognized. More severe restriction of sleep for a week leads to profound cognitive deficits, which may also go unrecognized by the individual. If you feel drowsy during the day, fall asleep for very short periods of time (5 minutes or so), or regularly fall asleep immediately after lying down, you are probably sleep-deprived.

Many studies have made it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous. With decreased sleep, higher-order cognitive tasks are impaired early and disproportionately. On tasks used for testing coordination, sleep-deprived people perform as poorly as or worse than people who are intoxicated. Total sleep duration of 7 hours per night over 1 week has resulted in decreased speed in tasks of both simple reaction time and more demanding computer-generated mathematical problem solving. Total sleep duration of 5 hours per night over 1 week shows both a decrease in speed and the beginning of accuracy failure.

Total sleep duration of 7 hours per night over 1 week leads to impairment of cognitive work requiring simultaneous focus on several tasks. In driving simulations, for example, accidents increase progressively as total sleep duration is decreased to 7, 5, and 3 hours per night over 1 week. Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle crashes and 1500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Since drowsiness occurs just before falling asleep, driving while drowsy often leads to disaster.

According to the National Sleep Foundation “If you have trouble keeping your eyes focused, if you can’t stop yawning, or if you can’t remember driving the last few miles, you are probably too drowsy to drive safely.” It is important to know that caffeine and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of severe sleep deprivation. Therefore, if you find yourself driving in a sleep-deprived state, it is imperative that you find a safe place to stop and catch up on your sleep before continuing safely on your way.

Answer 8

duh.... imagine someone staying up for a week, he'll be nuts by the weekend