How Long Can a Human Stay Awake?

reply to post by madmartinez



it certainly isnt normal. at the most it should of taken it at most 2-3 days of normal sleep-wake cycles to return to normal...

I know from experience though after 3 days, you start to see strange things....

- I have to say that even though I am 28, I still remember when I was a kid, at the age of 6, I had stayed up all night, & I could see clearly in COLOUR, as if it was a cartoon, I saw a witch stirring a brew, with demons or some kind of entities dancing around the brew... Has anyone else seen this? Because I've been told by a few other people that they have seen the Witch's brew mixing, but sure, you can see any kind of strange thing... Wouldnt it be cool to be able to videotape our dreams? - Now THAT would capture some weird imagry.

i am gunna try to stay awake for 72hrs. i am 21 yrs old. i just don't know when i should ask off of work, or when i can no longer work because of fatigue. any suggestions, also, to keep me awake? thanks

might be a legend but recall hearing that da vinci only slept 15 min every hour
during the later days of his life,

ive known people who ve done with 5days + without continues sleep on same method and not lost their mind


Jay: Zed, don't you guys ever get any sleep around here?
Zed: The twins keep us on Centaurian time, standard thirty-seven hour day. Give it a few months. You'll get used to it... or you'll have a psychotic episode.

im 15 and i stood up for 5 days with a friend, idk why not many people can stay up



we had monster energy drinks to keep us awake bout every 7 hours

its not that hard!!!

I read about a man that hadn't slept in several years because he hurt his head and just doesn't need sleep now. I don't remember where I read it though I'll have to look it up.

2 weeks for me. i got a sleeping disorder

imagine the deep sleep of some one who stayed awake for a week, the dreams the deep thoughts the nightmares.
thatd be awesome!!!

I stayed awake for 90 hours once when my child was sick and the #%*&$@^ HMO wouldn't do a thing about it. She finally got the emergency surgery she needed and I dozed off until she got out of recovery. I was an emotional wreck and starting to say things that didn't make any sense. She was out of surgery/recovery in an hour and a half and I awoke refreshed.

I've slept 4-5 hours a night for the past 30+ years.

I did 5 days without any sleep in my younger days , of partying..

all i can tell you is on the 5th night , i could not think straight , everyones hair seemed bright blue , shmmering and wavering vision with vivid colours.

i walked to the local shop in the village late at night,. their was not a soul on the way yet it was like walking through a busy city center , lights , illusions of people walking about , got home blacked out ... NEVER AGAIN

No this was not drug induced before anyone asks.

On average i sleep 4-6 hours per night and always have

just sharing the feeling and i would not recommend it.

[edit on 8/10/08 by Quantum_Squirrel]

There was an experiment done where someone was kept awake, completely sober by people working in shifts to keep him awake, just to see how long he could stay awake. By 11 days he was experiencing extreme schizophrenic symptoms, as well as full on open eyed visuals and auditory hallucinations. It all came and went. Apparently theere were times he was sharper than normal, heightened senses and his thoughts would flow regularly, then there were times he was just out of it. After 11 days they were unable to keep him awake, he fell asleep, oblivious to their attempts to wake him. After 11 hours of sleep, he awoke completely normal. I can't remember where I read this, and I'm really too lazy to go look for it. You can look it up though on google, there have been experiments done in all different situations. This particular subject had no history of mental conditions, average health, was completely sober. I'm sure different parameters would make different outcomes.

Yeah I stayed awake for over 72 hours (no quick naps or anything, that don't count ) And after 72 hours, you start to feel very strange, you kind of start to dream while awake.



[edit on 12-10-2008 by _Phoenix_]

I think netstorm is about right. In Special Forces and in the Rangers, they subjected us to long periods of sleep deprivation. In Viet Nam, unfortunately, I was on occasion likewise sleep deprived, and not of my own choosing.

Within 72 hours, you start to hallucinate some of the most realistic, unbelievable things you can imagine. The first few times, it scares the living **it out of you! But oddly, after a while when one of these hallucinations begins, you tell yourself, "Oh crap! It's not real! I'm hallucinating again!" You'll blink a few times, slap yourself when circumstances permit, shake your head, and slowly open your eyes to see if "it" is gone!

You also have another mechanism built in. When you have a serious sleep deprivation, and yet you can't stop what it is you're doing, you'll actually "sleep" standing up. Even stranger, you will be in one place one moment, and you'll "awaken" to find yourself 20-30 minutes along the trail or road, steady marching, and not remember how you got there.

You can only go so far, and one way or the other, the mind is going to shut down. Even if it's just for a few minutes. Even if you are steadily walking, patrolling, or performing a task.

I used to have a job that required me to be on-call 24/7.

On average I worked 17+ hours a day.

After 2 and a half years of this I developed Epilepsy as a result.

Get the 8 hours sleep they tell you to.

I stayed awake for 84 hours once, 3 nights and 4 days. I needed money bad and had a chance to cover every nursing shift in a rehab place because too many nurses had come down with a bug and management were desperate. I jumped at it and took 100 mg of l-tryptophan 3 times a day as I'd read you need that and make it while you're asleep. I don't know know how accurate that info was, but that is my only long period of being awake without hallucinating or losing ability to stay rational after 3 days.

Other times when I've stayed awake 72 hours, playing online games, I've ended up hallucinating.

I knew a guy in the early 80's that stayed up for 13 days.
He saw mexicans with rifles on the his neighbors roof and said Heart bugged his wall clock and stole his songs. (he wasn't even a musician or a song writer). He also claimed aliens were in his closet one day I stopped by. He had a revolver and was glaring at the closet. He had to go to the bathroom and had me hold his gun so I could "keep guard".
Before he took 2 steps, a hat fell off the top shelf of his closet. He says "see! I told you, and for the next 30 minutes babbled on and on.
On day 13, he called the police on himself and they took his weapons and put him in jail for 4 days to sober up.

now let me try to work out my own record, 6 days and nights so that's 144 hours yes? after 4 days sleep deprivation really kicks in hard and at day 5 that's when the psycocis really makes you trip, and i mean full on trip out not sane seeing feeling smelling tasting goes out of the picture as by this time none of your senses are reliable,

A short story, on day 5 of my sleep deprivation i looked out of my window to see a large jumbo jet sitting on the road outside my house, of course i went to see why it was there and i came across some Arabic looking people beside the plane, they were offering to sell me a large amount of cheap cigarettes, seeing a bargain i must of tried to do business but things went wrong and a full on shoot out occurred, i made it back to the house and recounted this story to my girlfriend at the time to witch she replied "but i have been sat at your bedside for the last few hour's as you stared at the wall blank"

Then she called the Doctor. a very real experience and the cleanest of "trips" can be had from sleep deprivation, but be warned if you try it you will 100 % believe what you experience to be real when its not.

Oh and a lot more things happened i have only scratched the surface of the trip and far worse horror's were yet to come!

[edit on 19/10/2008 by stealthyaroura]

around 90 hours for me was my most. just for the heck of it. never saw anything out of the ordinary, and by the last few hours i didnt feel tired nor exausted but simply decided to go to sleep. 8 hours after i fell asleep, woke up, was fine and continued on my normal sleeping schedual. however i have a really good ability to change my sleeping schedule drastically and can (so far) litterally fall asleep anywhere whenever i please. Also, I seem to be able to wake up instantly and energetically (more so after a few beers). Good ol' life of a teen!