Sleep is the most important physiological process, without which the human body will not be able to regain strength and function normally. However, not everyone manages to devote the required 8 hours to it; dynamic life flies forward, and in order to manage everything, proper rest often has to be sacrificed. There are also people who decided on a bold experiment, managed to test their capabilities and set a world record for a person without sleep. We invite you to get acquainted with them, as well as learn about the consequences of prolonged insomnia.
Average value
Let's consider how long the average person can stay awake without significant harm to health. The number of days ranges from 7 to 11, but it is necessary to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Studies have been conducted to examine the effects of insomnia on humans:
- 24 hours. This situation is familiar to many, since preparation for exams often occurs on the last night, and projects are completed a day before the presentation. A person experiences 24 hours of insomnia without any problems; he is characterized only by a somewhat inhibited reaction and slight changes characteristic of mild alcohol intoxication. If necessary, in critical situations the ability to concentrate and maintain attention is maintained.
- 36 hours. The person experiences discomfort, weakness, and does not want to do anything. Headaches may occur.
- 48 hours. The lack of sleep is compensated by special conditions called “microsleep”: a person unnoticed falls asleep for 30 seconds, after which he wakes up, and disorientation is observed. This condition is dangerous when driving and working with serious machinery.
- 72 hours. Thinking and memory are noticeably impaired, the person feels very tired, and hallucinations and delusions may occur.
- 4-5 days. Brain cells begin to deteriorate and hallucinations become more intense.
- 6-8 days. Memory deteriorates, tremors appear in the limbs, and the person experiences difficulty with the simplest actions.
If you don't sleep for a longer period, the outcome can even be fatal.
How long can a person stay awake?
It is known that a person cannot do without water for a long time - dehydration occurs already on the third day. However, not everyone knows how long a person can stay awake, as well as what will happen to him during prolonged wakefulness.
Many people are interested in how long a person can stay awake without harm to their health. Scientists are sure that on average this period is approximately 36 hours
.
A person can live about two days without sleep maximum, without losing physical and mental activity. You can recall at least students during a session or workers with a shift schedule, for whom a day or even more without sleep is normal practice.
However, this cannot continue for long. If the sleep deprivation experiment was one-time in nature, the body will recover quickly and fully. There will be health problems if you constantly expose your body to such stress. A prolonged lack of sleep will sooner or later lead to disastrous consequences.
Experts from the University of California
(San Diego) believe that an ordinary person can live
no more than 7 days
.
But during such an experiment, serious and even irreversible changes occur in the body.
The consequences of not sleeping for the body
The first researchers who studied the science of sleep were interested in how long a person could stay awake and what consequences awaited him.
It is thanks to science that we now know what problems arise when sleep is disturbed. Here they are:
The first day. If you don't sleep for a day, nothing will happen to your health. Fatigue may appear, memory and concentration will decrease. However, a sleepless night affects everyone differently. Some experience irritation, and some experience a surge of energy, which helps them carry out vigorous activity.
Second day. Coordination of movements deteriorates, speech is impaired, and a nervous tic appears. Vision also suffers - many see so-called “floaters”. Some people crave fatty and salty foods, so the body tries to support the production of hormones that are needed for metabolic reactions.
Day three. Chills, loss of appetite sets in, a person can simply look at one point, he is no longer interested in anything. Sometimes visual hallucinations even occur, as if a person is dreaming, although he is awake. The occurrence of such hallucinations means one thing - the body is asking for help.
Day four. This is what happens to a person without sleep on the fourth day. The brain switches off, consciousness becomes confused and confused, speech becomes monosyllabic. His legs and arms become “cotton-like,” and hallucinations completely envelop his consciousness. The line between reality and visions is blurred. Complete indifference gives way to irritation and even aggression.
Day five. In addition to hallucinations, a person is overcome by paranoia, causing panic attacks. The heartbeat quickens, the person is completely lost in reality.
Day six. The immune system is weakened and stops responding to dangers, the functioning of internal organs is disrupted. A person becomes like a zombie and strange behavior occurs.
Day seven. The body begins to die. This is what happens if you don't sleep for 7 days or longer. Not everyone will be able to survive until this time without rest, and this is rather an exception to the rule.
If sleep disturbances occur constantly or a person stops sleeping altogether, he begins to have serious health problems.
It is more difficult for a person who is not sleeping to concentrate, and the brain processes information worse. Of course, each person experiences sleep deprivation individually. Some may resist sleep longer, which means they will experience symptoms later.
How sleep affects the body
The human body is a programmed mechanism. It is designed in such a way that it constantly needs to change the phases of wakefulness and sleep. About a third of a person’s life is in a state of rest and peace.
This time is used by the body to restore vitality and spent energy. This raises the question of how many days a person can go without sleep.
Every human body needs to rest at night. Sleep is the main factor in the psycho-emotional state. When sleeping at least 8 hours a day, a person feels like a full-fledged member of society with a good mood.
Sleep can be deep and fast, and all phases must be completed during the night. Only in this case will there be a feeling of vigor. And lack of sleep also reduces performance and deteriorates mental health.
If you stay awake for a very long time, the body will suffer serious consequences. Next, we will tell you by day how long a person can stay awake and what will happen to him on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth days of wakefulness.
What happens if you don't sleep for 24 hours?
If a person does not sleep for a day, then nothing bad will happen to his body. In the modern world, many people work on a three-day schedule. Where you need to spend 24 hours at work in a state of wakefulness. After the end of their shift, they come home and go to bed to sleep.
It will be very difficult for a person whose work schedule is standard, that is, 8 hours a day, to work a daily shift. He will really want to sleep, and due to this, attention and concentration will decrease. In this situation, a mug of coffee and a cool shower may help.
However, a night without sleep can affect each person differently. There is a category of people who, after being awake at night, feel a surge of strength and energy, and this contributes to the development of vigorous activity.
But there are still people who, without sleeping for a day, become extremely aggressive, start scandals over trifles and provoke conflicts. But this condition manifests itself in them if they are deliberately not allowed to sleep. In other cases, their behavior may be standard.
Such changes occur in the human body because even after the first day of wakefulness, brain activity is greatly impaired and some may even experience mild symptoms of schizophrenia. Speech becomes unclear, they see colors distorted, emotions are suppressed, but if there is pressure on him from the outside, then everything comes out through hysteria.
Without sleeping for 24 hours, a person may experience headaches, apathy, lack of appetite, high blood pressure, and mild arrhythmia.
Fatigue will be clearly visible on his face: the skin will become dull, bags and dark circles will appear under the eyes, all wrinkles (if they exist, of course) will become clearly visible.
What happens if you don't sleep for 2 days?
At this point we can answer how many days a person can go without sleep without serious consequences. If he stays awake for 48 hours, that is, two days, then his body will just begin to gradually collapse.
Due to the fact that brain cells begin to die, not only attention will deteriorate, but also coordination in space, focusing thinking on the task at hand, and clarity of vision will be disrupted (many people experience the appearance of spots in front of their eyes that diverge and converge in circles).
- Many people have an increased appetite. To a greater extent, they want strong salty or fried foods.
With the help of such products, the body supports the production of hormones that are necessary for metabolic reactions. Diarrhea and heartburn are often present in people who have not slept for two days.
Very often a person who has been awake for a long time cannot fall asleep for a long time. This happens because the body begins to produce hormones responsible for insomnia.
What happens if you don't sleep for 3 days?
If a person does not sleep for 3 days, then first of all he will need a scarf and a blanket, since with such a number of hours without sleep, chills will begin, regardless of the weather outside. The brutal appetite will go away instantly from the second day.
The stomach will try to return all its contents to its owner, showing that it refuses to function in such conditions.
The person will lose interest in everything and may even sit, look at one point and not move. His brain will no longer have control over the situation and even consciousness may turn off completely for several minutes. But this will still be considered not a superficial sleep, but a microsleep
. It can last from 1 second to 1 minute.
What happens if you don't sleep for 4 days?
If a person does not sleep for 4 days, then his brain will no longer be under his control. He will literally switch off. If after the first 24 hours without sleep the brain loses the ability to process information by a third, after 48 - by 60%, then on the fourth day thinking will be completely absent.
Neural activity will be zero and the main parts of the brain will begin to work offline. Consciousness will constantly be confused and come true, speech will become primitive and monosyllabic. Tremors of the limbs, chills, and a feeling of wobbly arms and legs may begin.
In 4 days, a person will visually and internally become 10 to 20 years older.
He will have hallucinations and the line between reality and visions will disappear.
Because of this, emotions and mood will become like a sleeping volcano. A person will move from the stage of indifference to the stage of causeless and uncontrolled irritation, which can sometimes even border on aggression.
What happens if you don't sleep for 5 days?
If a person does not sleep for 5 days, then paranoia will be added to the existing hallucinations, which will sooner or later cause panic attacks. During this period, a person’s heart rate will increase, cold sweat will appear on his back, and he may even forget who he is.
His hallucinations will become more and more similar to the real world, they will become bright and clear. It will be very difficult to distinguish them from real reality.
There are several people who can stay awake longer, so the symptoms that we described for 4 days without sleep can continue on the fifth day.
What happens if you don't sleep for 6 days or more?
Now we have come to the most interesting question: how long can a person stay awake until he dies?
If he stays awake for 6 days, he will become like a drug addict. His immunity will cease to resist and refuse to respond to harmful microorganisms.
The fact that people who have not slept for 6–7 days are defenseless against germs, viruses and bacteria has been proven by multiple experiments.
Animal experiments
Before considering the world record for sleeplessness in humans, let’s take a look at the experiments on rats conducted by American researchers in the 90s of the last century. They kept the rodents from sleeping using electric shocks. As a result, even the most persistent subjects died after 11 days. True, there is no need to talk about the reliability of the experiment, since the cause of the death of the rats could be the current itself, constantly passing through their bodies.
Medical cases
There are many shocking world records without sleep, which were caused by diseases. Consider the most famous case, the story of Michael Cork, an ordinary American music teacher who, at the age of 40, realized that his brain could not turn off and go to sleep. The reason for this strange phenomenon is a rare hereditary disease. One of the teacher’s genes stopped encoding an essential protein, which disrupted the functioning of the thalamus, the part of the brain responsible for the sleep-wake cycle.
As a result, Michael Cork lost the ability to sleep with all the ensuing consequences: hallucinations, memory loss, delusions, physical exhaustion, which ultimately resulted in dementia. Doctors tried to help the man by putting him into an artificial coma, but all efforts were in vain, and after 6 months of insomnia he died.
The best
Randy Gardner, who decided not to sleep for the world record, was able to prove that prolonged sleep deprivation will not have a total impact on the human body. The young man was only 18 years old when he decided to get into the book of records and not sleep for more than 10 days.
The documented record is 264.3 hours. At the same time, the young man did not use any stimulants, coffee, or energy drinks, and the purity of the experiment and the absence of violations were observed by researchers at Stanford University. Lieutenant Colonel John Ross, whose task was to monitor Randy’s health, noted that the young man, during a period of continuous wakefulness, periodically experienced memory problems, hallucinations, forgot what he was doing, was distracted and depressed. So, on the 4th day of the experiment, he confused a road sign with a person.
However, after his 11-day sleepless state, the young man was able to take part in the press conference and answer the questions posed intelligently, without hesitation. It is interesting that after this incident, representatives of the book of records reported that in the future, achievements associated with the refusal of sleep would not be registered as life-threatening.
Previous result
Let's continue looking at world records without sleep. Randy Gardner, the absolute record holder, broke another shocking result - 260 hours without sleep. It belongs to Tom Rounds, a resident of Honolulu, to whom a self-experiment “gave” nightmarish hallucinations, memory loss and a paranoid state. In addition, disc jockey Peter Tripp, who not only did not sleep for more than 200 hours, but also worked during this time, should also be included among the “prize-winners”.
As a result, Tripp began to see terrible pictures, instead of people he saw monsters, but the condition passed after proper rest.
The most famous sleepless volunteers
How long one has lived without a dream is recorded in detail in the Guinness Book. This contains information about all volunteers who remained without sleep for a long time. Doctors warn against carrying out such an experiment - abuse of the body without preparation, which takes years, ends in life-threatening problems.
There are many record holders who have gone without a night's rest for a long time, but these ones especially stood out:
- Randy Gardner. The only one who lasted 11 nights and days without sleep. The experiment was observed one by one by comrades, who encouraged their friend and did not allow him to fall asleep.
- Tom Rounds, Peter Tripp. Raising money for charity, independently of each other, the disc jockeys decided on a dangerous experiment that lasted 5 days. Hallucinations, nervous breakdowns, exhaustion are part of the problems that arise due to insomnia.
- Thatcher Margaret. Considered the record holder among females. The Iron Lady managed to sleep only 2 hours a day, feeling good and without experiencing any discomfort. Lack of sleep had no effect on health.
Experiments in the USSR
Of course, these shocking experiments are not directly related to world records without sleep, set voluntarily, but they perfectly illustrate the capabilities of the human body. So, in the 1940s, a terrifying experiment was carried out on Gulag prisoners who were considered enemies of the people - people had to completely give up sleep. For 30 days of wakefulness, freedom was promised.
It is known that no one was able to hold out for the required time, and those who did not sleep for more than 10 days began to go crazy. True, some are still convinced that this condition in prisoners was caused not so much by sleep deprivation as by being in a confined space.
We got acquainted with the Guinness record without sleep and other unusual stories related to the refusal of proper rest. At the moment, the issue has not been studied enough; we do not know how long a person can stay awake and how prolonged wakefulness will affect his health.
The dangers of insomnia
A person can live without sleep for 1-2 days without serious harm to health. Further lack of rest causes disorders of all organs and systems:
- Mental functions suffer - memory and attention deteriorate. A person cannot work or learn new information. In this condition, the risk of car accidents and other disasters increases. Irritability, depression, and depression appear. With prolonged insomnia, the picture of dementia and hallucinations increases.
- The risk of cancer increases. First of all, the large intestine and mammary gland are affected.
- Since the body does not have time to recover overnight, the condition of the skin worsens.
- Blood pressure increases, and the risk of developing cardiovascular complications - heart attacks, strokes - is high. In people who sleep 4 hours or less per day, the heart rate is 2 times higher than normal.
- The body's resistance to infections weakens. Those suffering from insomnia are 3 times more likely to catch a cold. They have an increased concentration of C-reactive protein in their blood, an indicator of inflammatory processes. There has been a decrease in the effectiveness of vaccinations in people who sleep little.
- Body weight increases. Type 2 diabetes mellitus develops. These problems are associated with disruption of natural biorhythms and metabolism. As a result, insulin resistance increases. The body stops properly absorbing glucose.
- Weakening of skeletal muscles up to their complete atrophy. During rest, the body produces growth hormone and muscle fiber proteins. With insomnia, this process is disrupted.
