Is it possible for someone to stay awake for a year?

Question

Saw it in a movie, wonder if it's possible.

Answer 1

Registered Nurse here; The Answer is 100% definitely NO WAY!
Simple as it gets, Impossible. Also studies have shown that the normal healthy Individual even after 24 hours of no sleep, will began to show signs of slower thought process and 32 hours of no sleep and one begins to display symptoms of psychosis.

Answer 2

I once had only 4 -6 hours of sleep over a 4 day period, and whoa! The effects were bizarre. I couldn't tell the difference between dreaming and actually doing things. I didn't know when i was thinking something or saying something out loud. I started blacking out without knowing it and kept on doing things while blacked out. Toward the end of the 4-day period, I started having uncontrollable movements in my arms and legs. I sometimes shook like a bowl of jello, and I became so fatigued that i could no longer function. If all this happens in just 4 days, most people would probably go insane after a week or two, and the stress would surely kill you if you went more than a couple of weeks without sleep. The world record for staying awake is 11 days.

Answer 3

No. Well, okay, I suppose anything is possible. However, for a person to stay awake for a year they could not do it naturally. They would probably have to be in a controlled environment and on a lot of drugs. But I think the world record for staying awake might only be like17 days or something.

Have you ever tried staying up for 4 days straight? That is difficult on its own. We have to do that in the military sometimes and you are a total zombie when you haven't slept. Your body goes haywire and it you start to hallucinate. Don't try it! It sucks!

Answer 4

I would pass out. My personal heck is less than nine hours of sleep a day. Last week I had to pull an all nighter and I got three hours of sleep. I had to write eight essays for English and a science report. I had an eleven hour day at school as well. I had the regular number of school hours, then indoor track practice, jazz band rehearsal, and finally a two hour seminar for the school athletes that was mandatory. 8:00 am to 9:00 pm. It was painful. I personally could not last more than 24 hours without sleep.

Answer 5

Nope. If you've ever tried to stay awake for two days, you know how difficult it gets. And as time goes on, it gets even harder. Without artificial stimulants, it wouldn't be possible to stay awake even for a week. What happens is if you refuse to slow down and get some proper sleep, your brain takes 'mini-naps' and literally shuts down for brief periods of time. Your body continues, like an automaton, but your brain is asleep.

Answer 6

nope, you go REALLY crazy after a week

then 3 more days awake in the mental hospital are not fun either

then the next month you try to sleep , they drug you up randomly and wake you up for some lame pointless groups when what you need is a week of good solid sleep, and they take a blood sample every 15 minutes and give you a roommate who screams through the night.

Answer 7

movies are very often very incorrect. This is much of the reason that mythbusters has a show. the answer is no. Lack of sleep, complete lack of sleep will kill you faster then lack of water. Sleep is completely essential for the health of our minds and bodies. After only two days completely without sleep (as in 48 hours) a person can become totally lethargic. So, it isn't possible in the least.

Answer 8

No.If it's impossible for some one to stay awake for more than fourty-eight hours.There's no way in this world that a person can stay awake for a year.

Answer 9

No, you would probably die from fatigue. I heard about this guy who played a video game tournament for 3 days straight, and he died from fatigue. Plus, no person would want to stay awake for that long.

Answer 10

The longest recorded stint of deliberate sleeplessness was a science experiment by a 17-year old (Randy Gardner) in 1965.

When actively preventing sleep, side effects pile on rapidly-

*After missing one night of sleep, expect fatigue, reduced attention span and problems with short-term memory.
*After missing 2 to 3 nights, one will also suffer poor coordination, muscle twitches, marked loss of concentration, impaired judgment, blurred vision, nausea, and slurring of speech. Often one will experience episodes of microsleep (briefly sleeping for a few seconds at a time, without being aware of it).
*At about 4 to 5 days without sleep, expect extreme irritability, hallucinations, and delusional episodes.
*After about 6 to 8 missed nights, add slowed speech, tremors in limb extremities, memory lapse, confusion concerning one's own identity, unusual behavior, and paranoia to the list.
*After 9 to 11 nights without sleep, fragmented thinking occurs (beginning sentences without completing them), and prolonged episodes of unresponsive "conscious stupor."

The effects of full sleep deprivation in humans beyond eleven days have not been explored due to the health risks involved. Presumably, irreversible damage will soon follow, then death. This has been demonstrated in lab rats which died after being prevented from sleeping for two weeks. It is also evidenced by a very rare human brain disease called Fatal Familial Insomnia, where an adult individual slowly loses the ability to sleep, and the victims experience all of the above symptoms gradually over a few months. This disease eventually leads to dementia, permanent personality changes, motor paralysis, and ultimately death.