How many days can you go without sleep before you die?

Question

I'm curious. A few summers ago, I've stayed awake for 4 1/2 days, went to sleep for a day, stayed up for 3 more days and have continued on in that fashion for a while. I've heard that two days without sleep can mess with your head. How many days does it take to kill you? What can my said sleeping pattern do to me?

Just a note: I had to google Pandora's answer.

Answer 1

Though it is possible to die from this, it is highly unlikely that anybody's body will allow them to get to that point. It varies from one person to the next, but the average human will/can experience fatigue, nausea, restlessness, and lightheadedness after 48 hours of no sleep. By the 72 hour mark, those symptoms can build up to audial, visual, and other basic sensory hallucinations. Though after roughly 96 hours of uninterrupted conciousness, the body will usually shut itself down, as a defense mechanism, or will begin to experience bouts of unconciousness. Whereas most people will fall asleep and stay asleep after 96 hours of no sleep, some people may fall asleep for a matter of moments and do this off and on until the body is recharged enough to stay awake for more than 5 minutes or so. The heart, brain, and lungs all are run by the medula oblongata, and without sleep, this part of the brain will "reset" the whole body to assess how much actual recooperative sleep is needed to maintain involuntary funtions. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so what the hell do I know.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How many days can you go without sleep before you die?
I'm curious. A few summers ago, I've stayed awake for 4 1/2 days, went to sleep for a day, stayed up for 3 more days and have continued on in that fashion for a while. I've heard that two days without sleep can mess with your head. How many days does it take to kill you? What can my...

Answer 3

Don't ever take the sleeping pills route!!

1. They will damage your liver big time and you can get into serious health problems.

2. You will get hooked up on them and you won't be able to have a normal life any more if you don't take your pills everyday.

The sleeping pills industry is damaging our health by capitalizing on our ignorance, and by distracting people from effective and natural ways to deal with this problem. I had been taking prescription sleep medications [Ambien] for over 5 years. It stopped working and I simply took more. Still did not work. Nights were very difficult - medication put me to sleep but I would wake up after 2–3 hours with a strong sympathetic response (fast pulse, pounding heartbeat, wide awake alert). It was a very difficult cycle to break. I was really in bad shape due to lack of sleep.

After years of struggling I was able to cure my insomnia naturally and pretty fast. I followed the Sleep Tracks sleep optimization program, here is their official web -site if you want to take a look: http://www.insomniacure.net

Ohhh..and Good Luck!

Answer 4

im on her for a reason so I mean this is the 9 day with out sleep and its 3 am where I am right now so my symptoms are im getting bad headaches and my back shoulders and arms hurt really bad oh and my eyes are a little crazy but over all im fine I mean from me not sleeping this may not make sense but when you go to sleep your stomach makes you not hungry but when you stay up all night and you cant eat your stomach kind of shrinks and you cant less food so I also haven t eatenin in 5 days either so I hope this helps im having a hard time typing this bye

Answer 5

I don't think the lack of sleep will kill you, but it might not be safe for you and other people around you. You will probably be restless and could fall asleep any time. I doubt if you could sustain enough attention to do most jobs, and you would probably be cranky and hard to get along with. If you were driving, I wouldn't want to be driving on the same road. Maybe you're taking some kind of drugs, you have a sleep disorder like Circadian Rhythm Disorder or Bipolar Disorder--people in a manic phase often go without sleep for days. I have Major Depression, when I go without sleep it makes me giddy--kind of goofy, too talkative and silly. Talk to a doctor if you really want to know.

Answer 6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_%28record_holder%29

Up to at least 18 days, although they don't give the name of the man who stayed up 18 days (and lived). The article is about someone who stayed up 11 days.

So we don't know how long, since neither of these people died. But it should be noted that Randy experienced paranoia, hallucinations, and difficulty concentrating that got worse the longer he was sleep deprived. Fortunately he went back to normal after getting some sleep.

Answer 7

I read somewhere that they did tests with rats and that they dropped dead after two or three weeks (I think it was three weeks) without sleep. I assume that you would pass out long before you got to that point.

Answer 8

in the mags, they said a week without sleep will kill you. your brain and other organs will work without stop like a heated engine

Answer 9

I often end up posting the same question on other sites

Answer 10

get more sleep