Just before Christmas, I had to work two twelve hour shifts in two days (12pm-12am both days). After the first shift, a couple of workmates and I got together at one of our houses, played instruments, PlayStation, got drunk. By about 5am, the Sun was appearing, and we just could not be bothered sleeping -- the whole 'a little bit of sleep will make us more tired' idea.

So we popped No-Doz (which are 100mg caffeine tablets). I was buzzing until lunchtime, when I had a bottle of V (not sure if this exists elsewhere -- just think Red Bull and similar products). That lasted me until 4pm, when I really began to crash. The four of us were at work, zombie-like. They really should have sent us home, but we stayed on until 12am.

Given I had gone to the gym before work the day before, the total time I was awake was 39.5 hours. The worst thing about it was that, because you haven't had the reference point of sleep, the second day feels really, really long.

I'm not going to forget how I felt then. I am always going to get some sleep.