# Sleep and Dreams > Sleep and Health >  >  Or you could stop sleeping altogether...

## asher

> Tony Wright, 42, from Penzance, was trying to beat the Guinness world record of 264 sleepless hours set by Randy Gardner in the US in 1964. 
> He fought off tiredness by drinking tea, playing pool and keeping a diary. 
> The Guinness Book of Records has since withdrawn its backing of a sleep deprivation class because of the associated health risks.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6689999.stm

Not my cup of tea, but it must have made for a very interesting rest once he finally got to sleep. Anything past 24 hours and my whole reality starts to change. Can't imagine your brain patterns after 10 days straight.





> During the record attempt, Mr Wright noticed his speech becoming incomprehensible at times and colours appearing very bright.



#asher

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## 2Fruits

I've done a few 24 hours before. Wouldn't want anymore than that. I had hallucinations, headaches etc. But wow, 11 days... I wouldn't think it was physically possible. I mean, for a few days mind over matter might work but 264 hours!!!!

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## asher

> I've done a few 24 hours before. Wouldn't want anymore than that. I had hallucinations, headaches etc. But wow, 11 days... I wouldn't think it was physically possible. I mean, for a few days mind over matter might work but 264 hours!!!!



Yeah. You've got to wonder how he did it. Apparently he videotaped the whole think so he could prove it. He should post a time lapse of those. 

#asher

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## Marvo

Damn, now that's a killer :O

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## Mes Tarrant

Wow. I'd like to try that next time I have 11 free days in a row with nothing better to do... I bet you'd start thinking you were having a lucid dream and then you'd go jump off a building.

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## Oneironaught

I'm far too lazy to remain awake that long. Besides, it's far from healthy or wise. After two days I'm so tired I'd probably fall down.

I wonder how doped-up the moron was.

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## Horizon_Diver

The longest I went awake for was about 4 days. By day 3 I was a complete robot, just droning along. Yeah, like this guy said, things did seem more vibrant and at times a little distorted. And all the aches and body pains I had progressively got worse.

Not a good time.

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## SKA

I wonder how many days and nights you'd have to stay awake to risk serious seizures and even death.

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## abasza

Heh, staying awake can have some interesting effects. I had this long hike, starting around 1pm and ending around 3pm the next day. I have to say that really tested my mind. If you don't do anything physical staying awake won't be so hard but if you do something really tiring(like that hike with a 30-40 kg load) the tiring grows exponentially. I remember having lots of hallucinations especially around 5am when it was still dark. What a night, one of the worst in my life  ::D:

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## tiddlywink101

I'd love to have a got at that, I have 6 weeks off school soon

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## Asymptote

A while ago, I was going to try a 5-day sleep-deprivation spree, just to see what it was like, but I got nervous about possible brain damage and chickened out.

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## Oneironaught

> ...and chickened out.



Believe me, it's better that way.

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## asher

I wonder if anyone on the board has tried mondafil (sp?). It's supposed to keep you up as long as you want without the nasty side-effects of caffiene (or harder stuff lol). 

#asher

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## KuRoSaKi

I've been up for 5 days straight so 120 hours give or take a few maybe a little less. Although I had Adderall and ADD medicine also classified as an Amphetamine 40 mg ensures 8 hours of being completely awake. But still I do not think I could for 10 days thats ridiculous.

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## Placebo

Or just be this guy: Ukrainian who never sleeps
As for modafinil (or provigil), I'd love to hear from someone who tried it too





> I had Adderall and ADD medicine also classified as an Amphetamine 40 mg ensures *8 hours* of being completely awake.



Perhaps you mean 8 days? 
Because most people handle a lot more than 8 hours without medication  :wink2: 

BTW, I'm sure you're all aware of how dangerous sleep deprivation can be? Especially if you try eg. driving like that.

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## Sortilegio

> Or just be this guy: Ukrainian who never sleeps



Is this for real?

As for me I find it to stay up for 10-11 days is just absurd, why do that to yourself :/. As for me, I have very irregular sleeping periods, so normally every once a week I have to like stay up for 25 - 30 hours just to get my daily time fixed up, kind of used to it.

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## Placebo

> Is this for real?



I dunno, but I've heard about 3 other cases of people who don't sleep and don't suffer any side effects.
Most of the time, it's because of a bump to the head.

I also won't try the sleep deprivation experiment.
Polyphasic sleep adaptation is bad enough .. but 11 days without ANY sleep. Woah.

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## Oneironaught

The guy does sleep but only for very short periods of time, 1/2 hour or so at a time.

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## Placebo

Not according to him. And what you're describing is polyphasic sleep, which is what I'm doing at the moment.
At the moment I'm averaging about 4 hours in 24.
About to take the plunge to 2 hours in 24.

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## Oneironaught

> Not according to him.



Yes, according to him:





> And no amount of sheep counting or hardcore medication has done the job of knocking him out *for more than half-an-hour.*

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## KuRoSaKi

> Or just be this guy: Ukrainian who never sleeps
> As for modafinil (or provigil), I'd love to hear from someone who tried it too
> 
> 
> Perhaps you mean 8 days? 
> Because most people handle a lot more than 8 hours without medication 
> 
> BTW, I'm sure you're all aware of how dangerous sleep deprivation can be? Especially if you try eg. driving like that.



No No I meant 8 hours. You see say you had been awake for 2 days and you felt like there was no way you could stay awake any longer. If you were to take 40 mg. Then in about 30 minutes you would have enough energy to go on for another 8 hours easily. So if you were to repeat this process you would therefore be able to prolong the amount of time you could stay awake by creating "artificial" energy. Hence being able to stay up for a 5 day period with few problems or feelings of needing to sleep.

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## Placebo

Oneironaut: That's a bit disappointing. He could just be polyphasic without realising what he's doing :/
I wonder if he has to nap in the day though

Brandon Heat: Ah, alright. Misunderstood you there. Sounds pretty unhealthy, but then we're talking about sleep deprivation anyway.

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## asher

Apparently there is a rare disease among some ethnic groups which makes one have a harder and harder time sleeping. The people go out of their minds and describe the pain as absolutely unbearable. Eventuly it's fatal. Tryig to remember the name.... heard about it on the radio.

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## Pyrofan1

^ i remember reading about a similar disease in which your thalamus gets damaged and you can't sleep and you die.

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## asher

> Apparently there is a rare disease among some ethnic groups which makes one have a harder and harder time sleeping. The people go out of their minds and describe the pain as absolutely unbearable. Eventuly it's fatal. Tryig to remember the name.... heard about it on the radio.



OK. Looks like it's called "Fatal Familial Insomnia". Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6822468/

Glad it doesn't run in my family.

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## Barnsey

> Wow. I'd like to try that next time I have 11 free days in a row with nothing better to do... I bet you'd start thinking you were having a lucid dream and then you'd go jump off a building.



After i've done all nighters in the past, I've thought that the world doesn't seem like its real. Now I know about Lucidness, I best be careful after all nighters or you might soon see me on the news! :p

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## Sortilegio

Well now that sounds awfull, can't imagine going thru with that decease, or knowing it could happen to you, it makes aids sound better :p. Nice finding.

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## Placebo

That's different from our dear Ukranian, as he suffers no side effects other than sore eyes. Apparently.

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## Incomplete

> OK. Looks like it's called "Fatal Familial Insomnia". Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6822468/
> 
> Glad it doesn't run in my family.



Man, I can't imagine having a disease like that  :Eek:

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## TravisE

I have stayed up a little past 24 hours on one or two occasions but didn't feel any unusual effects. That said, I definitely don't plan on making a habit of that, and I consider anything more than that totally out of the question for me.  :wink2:  I think I'm really more afraid of harming myself doing that than how I would feel. I guess that's a good thing, since I feel that many people don't put enough importance on sleep. I've heard of jobs where people have to stay awake more than 24 hours in a row, and I don't see how that could be considered acceptable, let alone legal.

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## Placebo

Yup. Sleep deprivation is not something to take lightly.
Both the exxon oil spill and the chernobyl disaster were caused because of sleep deprivation.
And a lot more cases of people killing themselves (And others) on the roads.

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## ccrinbama

Man, that disease is crazy.
The brain filled with tiny holes like a sponge?
Intense.
It's cool how he did back research to find it, though.

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