how long can you survive without sleep?

Answer 1

Long enough to persuede the girl to throw the leg over

Answer 2

The most I've ever done was four days, but I was pretty loopy at the end of it. I'm not sure how I got good marks on the papers I wrote at the time. I slept for about 30 hours straight after that.

I've heard stories that Keith Richards used to stay up for a month at a time back when he was heavy into drugs, however I don't know if they are true or not.

The longest recorded, documented period without sleep was 11 days. A man named Randy Gardner stayed up for 264 hours in 1964 to make it into the Guiness Book of Records. He showed all kinds of irrational behaviour, paranoia and hallucinations near the end.

So far as is known, no one has actually died directly from sleep deprivation. Rats have died after two to three weeks, but no one's really sure why (the general explanation is a severely compromised immune system).

However, hundreds, if not thousands of people are killed by sleep deprivation every year as they operate heavy machinery or motor vehicles while tired. It's probably more dangerous than drunk driving, but there's no breathalyzer for it, so the cops don't care.

Answer 3

supposibly you can survive without sleep for quite some time, i can only stay awake for about 2 days at a time. A 17year old high school kid did not sleep for 264 hours (11 days) and felt and looked healthy the whole time. He did however have some signs of behavioral changes like irritability and forgetfulness. I found an article about a man who has not slept in 33 years after an illness came over his. He also has no health problems and functions normally thourghout the day and night. I think the only time sleep deprivation can be harmful is if it causes the person to make potentially harmful miskates while operating machinery, working, etc.

Answer 4

I looked for this yahoo answer cuz iv been awake for 5 days.
the 3th day i felt sick
the 4th day i was not feeling things normally (wasnt really feeling things) and i was feeling awkward.
but tonight i spent like 9 hours reading intresting things and i feel really better. i feel like i can stay wake for another couple of days or more without any problem.

so apparently it depends on the brain's activity.
u know, the brain is like a muscle, when it works it becomes stronger (of course when it overworks it 'hurts')
i can say thanks to my own personal experience that if u dont do anything, u'll feel really bad and your body is gonna force you to sleep. and same thing if u do too much.

so the best thing to stay awake is to make it work, and then rest a bit by not really thinking, and it goes on.

but honestly i dont think that i can survive 6 months or 1 year.. after 2 weeks some guy will find my body and take me to a hospital...

ps: do i sound odd ?

EDIT: I am having some hallucinations. i saw myself many times in another country.

Answer 5

About 8 months to a year. I watched a documentary about fatal familial insomnia. It runs in families and when you're affected you have complete insomnia until you are so exhausted that you die.

The third stage lasts about three months and is total insomnia with weight loss. The individual at this point looks much older and may experience incontinence. The fourth stage is around six months long and is recognized as dementia, total insomnia and sudden death after becoming mute.

Answer 6

I don't know the real answer...but personally I did 4 days without sleep then crashed for about 20 hrs.

Answer 7

Randy Gardner holds the Guinness world record for going without sleep for 11 days.

Answer 8

The average person will last between 4 and 5 days. Aft6er 4 days, they will start to suffer hallucinations, as their brain requires rest.

Answer 9

personally i suffer from insomnia and so far i have not slept for 2 weeks but i am feeling exhausted and drained and struggle to concentrate on anything for too long.

but it has been recorded that people can go for up to 10 years without sleep.

Answer 10

When my dad was in critical condidtion in the hospital for 52 days I averaged 2 hours a night. I was physically and emotionally drained.

Answer 11

The human brain can function somewhat normally with only missing 48 hours (2 days) of sleep.

However, the human brain NEEDS sleep.

Did you know, that you will die faster of insonmia than of starvation?

Poor insonmiacs..