What is the longest length of tiime that you've gone without sleep?

Philippines
February 18, 2010 2:39pm CST
I've been so caught up with a project (and of course, had to meet a deadline) that I ended up not sleeping for 72 hours straight! I feel like a zombie now...body's still clinging to wakefulness but I feel like my head is turning to musssshhh. Anyway, a friend told me that she read somewhere that a person can go so far as 5 days without sleep. Is that really possible? Just 3 days and I feel like wanting to sleep forever.. What's the longest period of time that you've survived without sleep? And what kept you awake (and sane)?
5 people like this
18 responses
• United States
19 Feb 10
you can-i was awake almost 5 days myself. i had a migraine that would not break and ultimetly i had to be put out to finally go to sleep. i was starting to hallucinate at that point though.it wasn't fun.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Sorry, I kind of snickered a little there when I read that you had to be "put out"... I imagined one of your friends had to sock you out or something :p I'm sorry for what you had to go through, though.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Feb 10
that probably would have been much cheaper in retrospect.. yea,it did suck.thankfully my migraines have gone away for the most part now tho.
@summer77 (414)
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Yeah I remember I heard something about someone who didn't sleep for a long time. I think it was in the Guinness Book of World Records. As for me I think it hard for me not to sleep more than a day. The last time I remember was we had a hangout with my friends. The night before I didn't sleep from 5pm to 3pm. Then I slept at 3pm and woke up at 4:30pm to go out with friends. We had night out that ended up 'till morning. I slept at 12 pm. Surely, I can't sleep though I feel like sleeping that time, we just keep on talking and having fun! And talk, talk, and saying some jokes and then drinking coffee at morning. When it comes to works in school or projects, it helps if I listen to music, eat and drink something, and especially staying away from so much tempting bed. lol
@summer77 (414)
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
nyaaa... maybe you eat heavy or drink a milk or something that will make you sleepy. What I mean when I say eat and drink, I eat crunches, it sounds so good everytime I I chew it. lol. And I drink cola or coffee (mostly cola) coz they contain caffeine. :)
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
At least you got to spend your longest sleepless day(s) with friends :) When it comes to work or projects I find myself more sleepy when I eat somethings so I end up sleepless AND hungry at the end of it all :p
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
19 Feb 10
Hi, justdroppingby. The longest that I can go without sleeping is about 8 to 10 hours. That is past my bedtime hours. I can not go as long as 3 days or so. My body will not let me do this.. No matter how bad I would want to stay up, I could not.. I wonder how can someone stay up 5 days straight?? What kind of body do they have???
• Philippines
21 Feb 10
Judging from the earlier comments and from what I've read it has something to do with genetics, and the environmental factors that push you to not sleep (stressful environment, deadlines, etc) You're lucky because you get sufficient, relaxing, energizing sleep and have not been pressured/stressed/pushed to not sleep :)
@hmkoct5 (2065)
• United States
18 Feb 10
The longest I have gone without sleep is about 32 hours. Sometimes we drive all night from San Antonio, TX to Chicago, IL. It takes us about 22 hours of driving time total. I am unable to fall asleep on car rides, so I stay up the whole time. Then, we usually meet with family all day when we get there. So, I am not able to sleep for another 10 hours or so. It is not fun, but it saves us money on hotel rooms.
@hmkoct5 (2065)
• United States
20 Feb 10
My husband usually drives for the first six hours or so. Then, I drive all night long while he sleeps. He usually drives the rest of the way because he has had a good nights sleep and I am feeling tired. I try to rest my eyes, but I don't fall asleep. I usually just listen to the IPod, play on the PSP, or watch movies on my dvd player. I agree, travel time is a great time to sort things out. I really like driving and listening to music. It is really therapeutic!
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Hmm.. I wonder what you're doing to pass the time the whole 22 hours that you're awake while doing a cross-country drive. That would be interesting :) Isn't it dangerous to drive without (or while being lacking in) sleep? Sometimes when I go on long trips I make a point to not sleep much the night before so that I can sleep through the ride, especially when it's routine trips I have to take for the office. When the ride is interesting, though, I can stay awake through the whole trip. I find that travel time is a good time to think about things and sort everything out in my head. You can say it's kind of therapeutic :)
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
18 Feb 10
I think that is 24 hours, my friend. As doing my online jobs I kept on posting on the net to reach payment that is why sometimes I have an overtime doing something on the net...Have a nice day!!!
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
True, true... I've also experienced having to go to the office without sleep because I had to finish some freelance writing the night before. Wasn't productive much that day :/ Thanks :)
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
That's a good thing that you do online earnings, my friend. This is added to your income as an employee, right?
• United States
19 Feb 10
I have been without sleep 3 days, when I was in graduate school, same thing projects that would have me awake for days, then after that I would sleep for a whole day, but that is something that can be dangerous, because you can get used to the pattern and have problems to fall asleep in the future, which was what happened to me, at one point I couldn't fall asleep, and I would spend days with insomnia. But with the time I was able to sleep better.
• Philippines
21 Feb 10
That's exactly what's happening right now. MY body's grown a habit out of weekday sleep-deprivation that even on weekends when I want to relax I still can't make myself sleep! I got myself a soothing candle set and got some relaxing classical music for when I want to just sleep but I'm finding it harder and harder to sleep. I've discovered something that has started to work though... drinking this kind of chamomile tea before sleep time :) Hope this works for the long run..
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
18 Feb 10
A week o_o It's REALLY bad for you to stay up that long, by the way. REALLY BAD. I was hallucinating by the end of that week..and I slept for a day and a half afterward...and went right back to my insomniac habits. I have REALLY good willpower. And I'm stubborn as heck. Plus, I was under alot of stress and was going through a bad depression at the time. So it was easier then than it would be for me now.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Woooow. I feel bad for you. I can just imagine what kind of sensations you were feeling by the end of that sleepless week... and i thought my 72 hours was already torture. I sure hope you won't go through that again..
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
19 Feb 10
I think I've stayed up for about 48 hrs before. I don't rememeber why. A while ago I stayed up for nearly 2 days to do a uni assignment. I drank heaps and heaps of coffee. I was like a zombie at the end of it. Then the bad thing was that I couldn't get to sleep afterwards because of all the caffeine I'd had! It's not good for you but sometimes it happens.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
I think I've had the same experience in my college days. I was cramming for a big test and I had to study an entire textbook for the test so I had no choice but to not sleep. I ended up drinking coffee AND energy drink together and I tell you I was like an Energizer bunny with a bad case of the hangover afterwards. Not very nice at all :/
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
18 Feb 10
In graduate school I went five days and four nights, in other words I finally went to bed at the end of the fifth day. I was doing an experiment that had to have adjustments made and a data point taken every four hours so there was just not enough time to try to get some sleep. I did manage to eat and to shower each day. The experiment was over on the fifth day and I had a date with a new girl and we went to a movie that she had picked out. It was a very long and boring movie. She fell asleep during the movie while I did not even though I had been without sleep heading into a fifth night.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Wow, that must have been a really hot/interesting/great date that you didn't dare sleep through the movie she picked :)
@sirnose (2436)
• United States
18 Feb 10
The most I ever went without sleep is about 4 days I suffer from insomnia all I really need is 2-4 hours of sleep a day once I wake up I'm up for the day.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Wow! I think I read somewhere that there's a gene they've discovered that can be found in a very small segment of the population that's responsible for that kind of thing. Actually it's kind of enviable, living on just 2-4 hours of sleep a day and being lively and productive despite of it, cause that way you can do so much more. Especially nowadays when everybody feels like they're short on time and full off things to tick off their to-do lists. I wonder if it's something that runs in your family (just to prove the genetics behind it)?
19 Feb 10
I think it's about 24-26 hours. I don't feel comfortable after that (dizzy, a bit like hangover)and almost fainted (no joke). After I finished my work, i went to bed for 18 hours straight... Cheers.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
True, after my sleepless foray I ended up sleeping for a whole 16 hours! I've made a resolution to stop procrastinating and prioritize work, but just 2 months into the year I'm afraid I'm sliding back to my old ways :/ Oh well.
@kaylachan (57914)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
19 Feb 10
I've gone two days. I had to undergo some tests and they required I stress my brain so I had to stay up for two days streight. I'm a night owl by nature so staying awake wasn't that difficult. A couple of snacks helped. I don't know how I stayed sane. I guess being able to stay up late and watch t.v. knowing I couldn't get grounded for it. Going to talk to my mom... Just little things that helped. What sucked, I had to go to school the day before to really stress me out. I was not happy.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Wow, what kind of test exactly requires you to stress your brain and be deprived of sleep? That sure sounds intriguing :) I'm also a night owl by nature but something about being forced to not sleep (as opposed to not sleeping out of choice or because you enjoyed what you were doing) just makes sleepless forays more sucky :p
• India
19 Feb 10
I had been without sleep for more than two days.....................
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Awww. I feel bad for you. I sure do hope that by this time you've caught some zzzzs already :)
@cloud31 (5809)
19 Feb 10
The longest for me is about 48 hours... Or may be fainted Lol...I can stand without any food intake just plain water in 48 hours but i cannot stay 48 hours awake or else my migraine will attack me that horribly. Happy Lotting..God bless!
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
Thanks! Actually this is my first post to My Lot, so I really appreciate your encouragement. The people here turns out to be really friendly and helpful so I might just stick around longer (and not just *drop by*) :)
• United States
24 Mar 10
The longest I have gone without sleep is 28 hours? I stayed up to see Sarah Marry Prince Andrew in 1986. Then after the wedding I went sight seeing. When I added it up I had been up 28 hours.I also stayed up to say goodbye to Diana. But I think that time it was only 24.
@docipain (135)
• Germany
18 Feb 10
I think it's 38hours or something. I can't really remember how much it was in detail but I think it was last year and I can remember I got very tired after 30hours but then again I was quite awake for another hmm 7hours..but then I was drunk so I don't really remember anymore when we went to bed because I didn't look at the clock anymore. What kept me awake was probably fun. If you are bored you won't make it at all to stay awake so I think the key to stay awake ist just being busy with something funny or you need just friends around you which keep you awake.
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
You're lucky, at least you enjoyed being sleep-deprived :) In my case I had to finish work, which was more like a laborious duty, so no, not much enjoyment (well, except for the satisfaction of a job well done). Maybe the next time I stay up for work I should at least have my favorite songs playing in the background to make it more enjoyable... Thanks for giving me that idea :)
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
19 Feb 10
The longest I think would be 36 hours. We were preparing for an art exhibit. There were really a lot of things that got delayed so we had to rush everything. We still have to fix the platform, the lights, the murals, the paintings and to top it off the performers were considering on backing out. We had to find replacements in case they really decided not to perform. The funny thing was, on the day of the opening of the exhibit itself, a lot of us were not able to go to the exhibit because we really had to sleep.
• Romania
19 Feb 10
I was on a Costa Cruise ship with my father (he worked there) and i was very bored since im not social at all and i do not like going out.. so i slept in the cabin for 4 days... he was bringin me food and stuff because i wasnt likely to go out.