Awake

**Xanatos** · 08-23-2010, 01:25 AM

After being awake for nearly two days I finally got some sleep, not much though, still, plenty considering what I'm going through. As for why I haven't slept these days, well, half of my cheek is swollen, all due a measly rotten tooth. Going to a dentist isn't an option right now, he can't do a shit until my cheek returns to normal, not to mention that lazy bum is on a vacation right now, he did recommend some antibiotics, so far they weren't of much help-

But enough about my misery, back to the subject, I don't remember ever being awake this long, this must me my personal record, still, not even close to the time my brother went without any sleep. Which brings us to my question...

What's the longest time you've went without sleep, and for what reason?

**che** · 08-23-2010, 01:27 AM

Can't go more than a day for me, and it's been a while since the last time I've done that. I like staying up late and doing more stuff, because sometimes I will be having too much fun to go to sleep, but it's not very much fun to be delusional and trying to accomplish things.

Sleep ftw.

**Furore** · 08-23-2010, 03:24 AM

A couple weeks.
I used to hardly get any sleep at all, but these days I average a good 4-6 hours after finding out my problem - I only ever start feeling tired enough to sleep in the morning. I go to bed then, am usually asleep within half an hour and then will stay out for that 4-6 hours. It makes me the ideal night shift worker...

I've gotten used to sleep these days though - worked four shifts totaling 24 hours on the weekend and the lack of sleep from that 48 hours led to me sleeping roughly eight hours straight.

**che** · 08-23-2010, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by Silver

A couple weeks.
I used to hardly get any sleep at all, but these days I average a good 4-6 hours after finding out my problem - I only ever start feeling tired enough to sleep in the morning. I go to bed then, am usually asleep within half an hour and then will stay out for that 4-6 hours. It makes me the ideal night shift worker...

I've gotten used to sleep these days though - worked four shifts totaling 24 hours on the weekend and the lack of sleep from that 48 hours led to me sleeping roughly eight hours straight.

I think you need sleep, because the question was:

What's the longest time you've went without sleep, and for what reason?

You first answered "a couple weeks", which cannot be true. The world record seems to be 11 days from some quick research. On top of that the rest of your post doesn't really make sense.

**Furore** · 08-23-2010, 03:54 AM

Originally Posted by chad

I think you need sleep, because the question was:

You first answered "a couple weeks", which cannot be true. The world record seems to be 11 days from some quick research. On top of that the rest of your post doesn't really make sense.

Verified world record. Meaning the guy would have had to have been observed for the whole 264 hours. Notice I didn't say exactly two weeks for myself neither. Perhaps I should have said between one week and two, but that would have been longer to type and I'm not trying to win any world records or anything.

But while we're on the subject, other claims of being awake longer have been reported, just they weren't observed and in some cases they've been considerably longer than 11 days. Would you be comfortable with people watching you that long to verify such a claim chad?

If the rest of my post wasn't interpretable to you, I'd think that says more about you than I. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to explain in greater detail using shorter words?

**Dodie16** · 08-23-2010, 03:57 AM

I love my sleep, but I also love gaming. Sometimes I have to give up one for the sake of the other. Most usually, I go without sleep before I go without gaming.

Longest I've stayed awake was ~30 hours. It was back when Ocarina of Time was newly released, and I played the hell out of that game. One night, I played a little too long, and when morning came, I realized that I didn't sleep at all that night. What made it worse was when my mom found out I stayed up all night gaming, she thought the most suitable punishment was for me not to be allowed to sleep until the sun set. I wound up having to do all kinds of chores and stuff to make sure that I didn't doze off until I was allowed to.

I will never try that again. I was miserable that whole day.

**che** · 08-23-2010, 03:57 AM

Originally Posted by Silver

Verified world record. Meaning the guy would have had to have been observed for the whole 264 hours. Notice I didn't say exactly two weeks for myself neither. Perhaps I should have said between one week and two, but that would have been longer to type and I'm not trying to win any world records or anything.

But while we're on the subject, other claims of being awake longer have been reported, just they weren't observed and in some cases they've been considerably longer than 11 days. Would you be comfortable with people watching you that long to verify such a claim chad?

If the rest of my post wasn't interpretable to you, I'd think that says more about you than I. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to explain in greater detail using shorter words?

Nope you pretty much got defensive to the point where I no longer believe perusing my inquiries has any point in the greater meaning of life.

**RagnaToad** · 08-23-2010, 04:01 AM

@ Silver: You mean you have had NO sleep whatsoever for an amount of time other people have intentionally stayed awake for to break a world record, just cause?

**Furore** · 08-23-2010, 04:10 AM

Originally Posted by RagnaToad

@ Silver: You mean you have had NO sleep whatsoever for an amount of time other people have intentionally stayed awake for to break a world record, just cause?

Just cause I couldn't fall asleep.
And unlike some claims where people had good health, I was more prone to illness, infections and the like, looked deathly pale, couldn't focus on detailed work too well etc.

Had mixed bag effects with medications too with one knocking me out for several days. Ultimately it was a pain in the ass even if getting used to it somewhat did have a few advantages in the long run.

**winterborn86** · 08-23-2010, 06:01 AM

The longest I've been awake for that I can think off is about 27/28 hours. It was when I had my 1st kid, waters broke at 2am friday, baby born 2.56am Saturday but after all the washing down, getting stitched up and weighing/checking baby it was about 6/6.30am before I got to go to sleep.
There was no need for me to stay awake that long, but it was a mixture of excitement and nerves that kept me awake, when I first woke up.

**Hyzenthlay** · 08-23-2010, 06:47 AM

Good lord, if you could bitch-slap via computers I think some of you guys would have red faces. Just chill, this isn't a test.

I understand what you mean Silver. I had insomnia whilst I was in the hospital when I went for an op. I think a mixture of stress, pain and terrible lighting kept me awake. They even gave me pills to knock me out but they didn't work. Staying up for approximately 2 weeks doesn't sound that bad. Besides, you followed it with 'I used to hardly get any sleep at all'. Getting hardly any sleep is a characteristic of insomnia, as well as getting no sleep. I couldn't tell you how long I was up in the hospital. It felt like weeks but I'm guessing that was the medication and my mind playing tricks on me. Either way I was only in hospital for a week, which felt like a year, and the only time I know I slept is when they put me under for my operation.

Anyway, I'd say the longest I've stayed up is around 48 hours. I had just come back from Florida and decided to try to beat jet-lag by staying up until it was 10pm GMT. This backfired when I started to feel awake again. I ended up passing out on my couch the next morning. That must've been between 36 and 48 hours.

I used to stay up a lot for around 24 hours. These times were back when I just didn't want to sleep because of a game I was playing. I used to stay up all night and some of the next day to see what happened. It's never the same sleeping in the day, though. I always felt groggy afterwards.

Oh, and so that the record is straight:

Originally Posted by Mail Online

'After more than 11 days without nodding off, Tony Wright crawled into bed yesterday in the happy belief that he had broken the world sleeplessness record by two hours.

But the poor chap is in for a rude awakening.

His 266-hour feat of endurance will not feature in Guinness World Records because it has stopped acknowledging such attempts for health reasons.

And to make matters worse, someone has already beaten Mr Wright himself by a full ten hours.'

So the record of 11 days can never be beaten. Do all the research you want and you can only get unofficial readings on how long people have stayed awake.

This guy did it by drinking tea and playing pool. I'm sure people could do better by drinking coffee and playing computer games.

Besides,

Originally Posted by Mail Online

'Guinness World Records said its staying awake category had not been recognised for several years after consultation with the British Association for Counselling and Psycho therapy.

Researchers were informed that attempts to break the record could pose serious risks, both physically and psychologically.

They were also concerned that victims of chronic insomnia could have stayed awake for far longer than anyone claiming to have broken any records.'

Silver may very well have Chronic Insomnia.

What a silly argument. Ha ha.

Hyz.

**RagnaToad** · 08-23-2010, 07:52 AM

Sleep deprivation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On very rare occasions people have been known to go without sleep for a very long time, mostly due to medical problems, but I find it hard to believe that people on these forums have gone without sleep for 'a couple of weeks', even with insomnia. But then again, I cannot prove anyone wrong over the www.

**Unknown Entity** · 08-23-2010, 08:57 AM

I don't know the longest amount of time I've been awake without napping/sleeping in-between.

I'm supposing it was some years ago when I had insomnia at secondary school. I'd be up at 7am every day, but wouldn't be able to sleep until gone midnight, and even then I'd be waking up a couple of times for no apparent reason, and then not going back to sleep. I do remember being on holiday during the time, and I was literally out all the time. I barely remember sleeping because I didn't feel like I needed to; I had bike rentals, a swimming pool, amusements, late night entertainment in the clubhouse, the beach, at the caravan we had the Playstation hooked up, etc. If I did sleep, it wouldn't have been more than an hour or so.

The longest I can remember (but it wasn't the longest I've EVER stayed awake) was more or less 24 hours. Last week of college and getting all that work done... it almost killed me. In fact, that whole week was pretty poor with me getting less than five hours sleep everyday. It also happened to be the one week that the shit was hitting the fan for everyone, and all everyone wanted to do was rant and yell and cry at me. All I wanted to do was get the work done so that I could have some me time. It was horrible, but I've learnt my lesson.

I can see where Silver is coming from. I think I'd be better suited to night shifts too, considering I'm still wide awake from 9pm.

**loaf** · 08-23-2010, 10:39 AM

About 3 and a half days giver take. It was when I had to work 5am-2pm shifts at Best Buy, and I would usually stay till 5pm...stay up...then around the time I was going back to sleep like around 10pm....someone was having a party so I said whatever and stayed up and went back to work at 5am. Not very healthy but it was fun.

**Furore** · 08-23-2010, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by RagnaToad

Sleep deprivation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On very rare occasions people have been known to go without sleep for a very long time, mostly due to medical problems, but I find it hard to believe that people on these forums have gone without sleep for 'a couple of weeks', even with insomnia. But then again, I cannot prove anyone wrong over the www.

Believe it or not, those with handicaps of some kind can access the same technology as those without!

Now me, my neurological state has never been typical. I was born with several neurological conditions (though am considered high functioning as my IQ isn't effected) and was medicated from around the age of five til my late teens - multiple pills a day, always fun!

Still, I had it good. My conditions usually manifested as eccentricities making me feel different rather than sub-standard. And I well and truly kicked the average student's arse in school as well.

Doubt me if you wish, I care not. Call me on it and I'll be sure to reply.

**Block** · 08-23-2010, 12:16 PM

I've done a few full weekends before. Wake up on Friday morning go to class (or work depending on the point in my life) and then not go to sleep until Sunday night. Most the time I'm junking out on some game that requires little to no cognitive thought on my behalf (like a FF game for example). Other than that, I've gone longer periods in which the amount I sleep would be considered insubstantial like an hour or two that night followed by a full day of activity and repeat. As far as the two weeks or so, I was pretty sure you started to hallucinate pretty heavily after the one week period, but that's just a tale I've heard I've done no research to back that up.

**loaf** · 08-23-2010, 12:19 PM

I also forgot to note my hospital stay last july in 2009...was there for 5 days and probably the only sleep I got was from when I went under and the night before I left. So roughly 4 days of no sleep.