Poll: How long have you stayed awake for?

[shirin238]

You would be amazed how long you can postpone sleep when you have a deadline coming very near.

 

[Hashime]

I volunteered at a golf tourney which required a full night of prep. then a full morning, I started at noon, the tournament started at 3 the next day, we cleaned up and left at 2 in the morning. with travel time I got home at 4, and had to get ready for work for 5, I didn't have time to sleep. I then worked a 13 hour day, drove home and gamed until I passed out at about 3 in the morning.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

I'm an insomniac; I've been known to go a week on 10 hours of sleep or less, but to actually avoid sleep altogether usually involves some effort. On the other hand, the last 2 nights I've actually failed entirely to go to sleep, and I start exams in 2 days... So my current record (as of now) is about 60 hours. It may well get longer, depending on when I just collapse. I'm not even trying to stay awake, which worries me...

EDIT: Is there some link between the mindset of the members of the escapist and insomnia? Because there seem to be a lot of sufferers out there...

 

[Nerples]

Couple days. I would wake up at 9am, go to uni. Get to bed around 2am, lie awake. Then some flat would come back loud and drunk at 2.30am until around 4 or 5am. I would get up, have some coffee and go into uni for 9am again. Not fun, although I would usually get sleep high which was fun. But if something happened that I didn't like it would really upset me. So I basically turned into a manic depressive!

Oh yes, and to that troll, please shut the fuck up. What applies to you does not apply to everyone else, so give it a rest.

 

[B4D 9R4MM3R]

48 hours, no problem. No caffeine as well; I was well chuffed.

Well, each time I approached the point I would normally go to sleep I got tired, but a cold room sorted that out.

Oh, and my eyes felt like they're on fire if I didn't blink every other second.

However, I didn't have any hallucinations or other adverse effects, and I actually felt better during my 24-48 hour stretch!

 

[Spinozaad]

About sixty hours. A friend who was home alone in his parent's house in the woods, lots of friends over, lots of drugs and the entire James Bond collection.

We began early on friday, I collapsed sunday evening.

 

[Trebort]

40 hours is my record, never again.

 

[Outright Villainy]

This is not an insult, just some solid no nonsense advice.

Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me. Where's your proof that resting exclusively and not sleeping at all can still allow a human to function normally? After about two weeks they'd probably snap. Have you done rigorous testing with large control groups? Have you tested for extended periods of time?
The consensus in the scientific community is that the body needs sleep to function. You can go a few days without, but you'll always need it in the long run.

 

[Wolfie89]

3 weeks is my record

 

[UnwishedGunz]

i remember about a few months after Lost came out i downloaded the episodes and watched it...i couldnt go to sleep without knowing what happen next!! so i stayed up about 2 1/2 days watching it then bloging about it

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Between 36-48 hours. It was on a holiday to Florida I woke early in the morning to drive the 100 or so miles to the Airport, fly to Florida, and by the time I arrived the time difference meant it was still early so I went about doing stuff. So I woke up in the morning and went to bed at night, but with the time differences it was a lot longer than a regular day.

 

[Boba Frag]

around 48 hours. I had to work two 18 hour shifts in a row and wasn't able to fall asleep between them because of the stress of working a very public case. It was horrible and stupid of me to do. It was the only time I've gotten involved with a homicide case though. Thank god for 'energy drinks'

Ah, you're the law enforcement guy, if I recall correctly.

It sounds really intense, but I certainly wish there were more officers like that in my area- willing to go the extra mile to catch a murderer.

I hope you got a few days of rest after that.

 

[Srdjan]

67h, no sleep and lots of drinking, coffee drinking and box of Lucky Strike.

 

[Mukil]

Around 36 hours... I live to sleep

 

[EHKOS]

Sleep and I have an akward relationship. Sometimes I wake up two days after I fall asleep, sometimes I don't sleep for a day. Usually every month I wake up and night and have to spend a week working to make myself wake up in the day like a proper human.

 

[James Hueick]

Around 48 hours. Funny story really; so I went to visit my dad in Canada (Currently living in Malaysia) I find getting over jet leg is much easier if you don't sleep on planes. So I do exactly that, get to Canada at 4 in the morning. Stupidly decide to play games until 8. So ya, BTW I suck at math so if thats wrong don't bother telling me.

 

[freakyalex]

About 30 hours. I went to a sleep-over at a friends on a Saturday, and was still awake on until 2AM Monday. At the sleep-over we managed to watch:
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead
Evolution
Hancock
An episode of Primeval (the one with the rhino-like mammals from the Eocene who's names escape me)
and play A LOT of Mario Kart Wii.

Afterwards we went on the trampoline. We were so tired, we were unable to move.

 

[GrinningManiac]

This is not an insult, just some solid no nonsense advice.

Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me. Where's your proof that resting exclusively and not sleeping at all can still allow a human to function normally? After about two weeks they'd probably snap. Have you done rigorous testing with large control groups? Have you tested for extended periods of time?
The consensus in the scientific community is that the body needs sleep to function. You can go a few days without, but you'll always need it in the long run.

Yeah, you are right, not resting and just being active for 24 hours is better than resting. Trying to rest for the 6 hours a day you don't sleep has no actual benefit, nor does it promote any chance what so ever for actual sleep. You have studied this well, and I have not.

Mr. Thal, can you prove that you have managed to function with this 6-hours-of-rest-not-nessecarily-sleep method? Or are you, as I somewhat suspect, taking figures and facts out of your own backside or some strange website with no real basis in fact?

In any case, you cannot, and will not, say that insomniacs are 'doing it wrong'. It is a condition they suffer from, and they cannot do anything about it. You think they sit up all night going "Gah, I cannot sleep!"? Of course not, they lie down in the bed and try to sleep, thereby indicating that they are resting IN THE BED

However, it amounts to nothing as they garner no sleep from the attempt, and they cannot function properly.

If we could all survive without sleep and just rest alone, why the F*CK do you think we sleep in the first place? Sleeping, for our ancient ancestors, would have been dangerous, because some mean ol' sabertooth might come along and attack 'em when he's down. If we could get by without dropping our defences and conciousness, I'm pretty sure the nessecity of SLEEP would have never risen.

 

[Yureina]

I'd say about 36 hours. I start passing out after 20 hours usually, so getting that far was not a very easy feat. If memory serves, it was a day of alot of intense films and games that kept me awake.