Thread: sleep deprivation study

I'm no sleep expert, but I can tell you that up until three years ago I was never able to stay awake more than 15 hours. Then I began gaming. Each night I'd begin gaming at about the 14 hour mark and keep going until I couldn't anymore. Now, three years later I can easily stay up for three days with no adverse effects (and I run 10km a day, do a somewhat physically demanding job for 6 hours a day and do kung fu three days a week).

Originally Posted by Quartz

I'm no sleep expert, but I can tell you that up until three years ago I was never able to stay awake more than 15 hours. Then I began gaming. Each night I'd begin gaming at about the 14 hour mark and keep going until I couldn't anymore. Now, three years later I can easily stay up for three days with no adverse effects (and I run 10km a day, do a somewhat physically demanding job for 6 hours a day and do kung fu three days a week).

That again proves some biological theories (and my dad ) wrong. The human body doesn't work on a routine, it adapts to a routine. Change the routine and your body will simply get used to the new one.

so basically,... i have no clue what that means but if your having trouble staying up to expirement with sleep deprivation, stay active. like just get up and start walking around doing stuff. Thats how i stay up for 30+ hours. but theres a problem with that. when you finally sit down, 5 minutes later you practically pass out. at least for me and others who are inexpirienced at sleep deprivation.

Ha... I just did a post over in the sleep patterns forum about exactly this... Reproduced here

Originally Posted by Bear

I did a sleep deprivation experiment on myself about three years ago back when I was in university. I wound up staying awake for a little under 4 days before I crashed, and kept a log of what was going on up to 90 hours.

This was done in my apartment-style school residence, and because there was always some sort of action going on, I was only alone from about 3-6am, except for the day I eventually crashed. Being alone is what eventually did me in. If anyone is considering doing this, it's a lot easier if you have people around to talk to you or that can do something with you, just so your mind doesn't drift off. Just make sure they know you'll get irritable so they don't get offended. During my alone hours I tried to watch a movies or TV, or play video games, to keep myself from sleeping. Try not to do too much physical activity (although sometimes a bit is useful for waking up), and wear loose comfortable clothing. After 48 hours or so you probably don't want to leave your home.

I've edited this for spelling/grammar, as well as clarity for those who don't know my room setup,etc. Anything in italics was written while I was staying awake.

PROLOGUE: THE FIRST 48 HOURS

Saturday, 6PM -0 HR- After a late Friday night, I wound up in bed in the early morning and then slept till 6PM. I got up, and decided that I would stay up till around 9 or 10 the next night to "reboot" my sleep schedule.

Sunday, 12PM -18 HR- Decided that I would try to stay up as long as I could.

I'd often pulled all-nighters for school, so the first day wasn't remarkable for anything.

Monday, 5AM -37 HR- Was feeling tired, so I took a shower. The shower really woke me up; it wasn't cold or anything, but made me much more alert.

Monday, 2PM - 40-44 HR- In class, periodically I had very heavy eyelids, and had difficulty paying attention. Jumpy legs. At other times, didn't feel tired at all.

THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS: STRANGE THINGS BEGIN TO HAPPEN

Tuesday, 12AM -54 HR- Accidentally put away two of my textbooks with my socks, after doing laundry. I can't remember doing it, and this is the first example of me doing something a little strange.

Tuesday, 6AM -60 HR- (Note: I was sitting in my room watching a movie on my computer, I looked over at my door and the wall. The door and the wall were painted the same solid blue colour, with a dartboard mounted on the back of the door.) First visual anomaly: I looked at the wall, the dartboard appeared normal, but the wall was different, like without distance... it wasn't close to me, or far away, and it didn't line up with where the dartboard was (so the dartboard appeared to be floating), I really couldn't judge how far away it appeared. The dartboard was the proper distance.

Tuesday, 6AM -60 HR- Shortly after the above, a strange smell, like nothing I've ever smelled before, suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappears. Smell was not pleasant, nor offensive - I really can't describe it.

Tuesday, 7AM -61 HR- Feeling very tired, so decided to take another shower to wake me up. Shower woke me up again, my imagination seems to be running wild - a hair on the wall of the shower with a drop of water on top immediately appeared to me to be a nose and moustache. I needed to actually think to figure out what it was. I seemed to read a lot into shapes, seeing especially faces in random folds of the shower curtain, etc.

(Note: I was not been under any impressions that what I saw there actually happened, i.e. i didn't think "there is a face on the wall" i thought "that looks like a face on the wall," but knew that it wasn't. Seeing faces in things was sort of a recurring thing after this point. Anything that was even remotely shaped like a face I would see like a face. At one point I confused a roommate by calling the taps in the kitchen sink "eyes" - the taps were the eyes and the faucet was the nose, you see.)

Tuesday, 10AM -64 HR- Got really tired, fairly quickly. Balance feels a bit off for the first time

Tuesday, 3PM -69 HR- fully awake and alert for some time

Tuesday, 4PM -70 HR- zoned out, balance off again

Tuesday, 7PM -73 HR- still dizzy, very sleepy, eyelids heavy, eyes burning

Tuesday, 10PM -76 HR- easily spaced out by anything, shifting gaze makes me dizzy, peripheral vision appears slightly "wavy."

Wednesday, 2AM -80 HR- Sensations feel different, like they're felt by another person and delivered to me over a large distance and with a short delay. (Note: I don't think that that was a very good description of what I was feeling... it was almost as if I was seeing and feeling through a TV set, kind of removed from myself) Peripheral vision changed from "wavy" to "jumpy"

Wednesday, 6AM -84 HR- Watching a movie is difficult, my mind keeps wanting to wander off, and it's like i'm watching half of the movie, and inventing the other half it doesn't really make sense.

Wednesday, 7AM -85 HR- While watching a movie, the people "stopped speaking english", it sounded like they were speaking gibberish, but I still understood what they were saying.

EPILOGUE: I GO A LITTLE CRAZY

Wednesday, 10AM -88 HR- Pile of clothing on bed seems like it's trying to jump on me... I had to mess it up so it won't.

Wednesday, 2?PM -90? HR- Felt threatened by pile of clothing on bed, it wanted to "grow a new dimension." I tried to reason with myself but it still bothered me. Messed the clothes up.


These last two deserve some explanation: I had put a big pile of clothes on my bed to keep myself from laying on it and falling asleep. From the desk in my room where I was sitting, this pile was just in my peripheral vision, and it seemed like the pile would keep jerking towards me, startling me and making me turn towards the clothes. Eventually I had to mess the pile up so I didn't feel like it was going to jump on me. After a few hours, I felt very threatened by the clothes on my bed, believing them to be plotting against me (I know... crazy)

Unfortunately, all of my roommates were out of the apartment at class (I was in no shape to go to class) so I was alone on Wednesday, and that proved my undoing. When my roommates got home a couple of hours later, they found me passed out on my bed, clothes scattered all over the floor. They let me sleep.

Even though I didn't mention it, I felt very irritable after about 48 hours, and staying awake wasn't a pleasant experience. I'd recommend it if you want to see how far you can push yourself (the record for staying awake is like 11 days) but it's not something to do for fun.

I couldn't imagine pulling 90 hours. damn. I did 47 hours a few years back, and that was enough to get me talking to a trashcan. Peripheral vision was often inaccurate, anything seen outside at night was subject to being interpreted very wrongly, heard music and noises, voices also, that weren't actually there. Have noticed that avoiding caffeine makes it easier to stay awake because there is no caffeine crash. Inability to pay attention. Forgetfulness during sleep-dep period. Oddly enough, difficulty going to sleep when I finally did. Slept for 22 hours after that.

I'll have to try the dep-test again. As much as I hate it, I love the after-effects and the reward of sleeping. The most I've done recently was about 36. Might try to break the 48 hour mark.

When I was doing my thesis project about 2 years ago I don't think I slept for 2 months. I mean, not REALLY slept. I would stay up for 4 days straight working, then I'd pass out for like 4 hours...then I'd stay up for 5 or 6 days...pass out for 2 hours. That kept going for 2 months. Granted, I was taking large amounts of amphetamines (I have a script for adderall) and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. But, hey, I got my thesis project finished heh.

It's hard to say how much of my hallucinations were solely a result of sleep deprivation, because amphetamines definitely make the hallucinations alot worse. But at one point I was crawling around on the carpet killing bugs that weren't there, and swatting at bats that kept randomly flying at me. And that's just the beginning. But guys know this...I've done plenty of hallucinogens...and sleep deprivation hallucinations are NOT fun. So, I hope no one think that they are going to try to deprive themselves of sleep just to hallucinate, cause it isn't fun. You're basically just inducing a state of psychosis. Not to mention that mine was extreme amphetamine psychosis.

edit: oh, and I forgot to mention...that I currently get about 4 hours of sleep a week...but I think I've just gotten used to it...now I love the extra time I have to get work done, to me it seems like sleep is a waste of life

I just deprived myself of 10 hours of sleep. I'm going to see what happens after 2 days of staying up. It won't take long for me to have vivid dreams on the third night. And I bet they'll consist of Harry Potter stuff, seeing as I'm re-reading the 6th book.

Originally Posted by Kromoh

That again proves some biological theories (and my dad ) wrong. The human body doesn't work on a routine, it adapts to a routine. Change the routine and your body will simply get used to the new one.

Got as far down reading as this post and had to reply. I sued to always go to bed at like 10:30pm to get up for work about 7am so would normally get about 8 hours sleep a night. Over the last month I have limited my sleeping to about 6 hours in the week but going to bed about 12:30-1am and getting up at 7am. First it was hard, now I feel used to it, except when it comes to the weekend I find I sleep in way too much lol.

Oh and yy longest time awake would be about about 60 hours I think. Was when I was in school - stayed up for the entire weekend, was not nice when I got home on the sunday to explain to Dad

Sounds fun, I wanna try it Drink some surge, it helps

I've been deprivating sleep and am now facing strange hallucinations. It's like whe nyou wake up really early and have to stay awake:

I can hear voices (no not a speech, just a massive crowd speaking/yelling at me) which are really fuzzy.

Short-term memory is also strange. Suddenly I don't remember what I was doing, and then I do again.



My vision is narrowed and things I see seem far away.
I believe hypnic jerks could happen if I doze off.

Short periods of shutting down: i stop everythign I'm doing and go stationary.

It's hard to think of words to write. I try to find words that suit what I wanna say, but nothing comes to mind.


Also a strange feeling of mental tiredness, like I am really dizzy.

I cannot understand long sentences without reading them twice or more.


Finally it's way harder to locate typos in my text.

I'll post again if I find anything interesting to add.
Sorry if my english is bad and I'm talking nonsense, I'm really snoozy

I kind of feel like my vision perception is twisted. I know all I see is still, yet it's as if they were moving, getting bigger or smaller. I suppose the part of the brain responsible for vision has trouble t owork out a correct image, making your sight seem dizzy.

Well, I haven't slept last night. Does anyone notice funny lights? Well, I normally see funny lights when sleep deprived. Reminds me of looking at potassium burn. I just feel really dizzy and sick. Can I last another day?

I once didn't sleep for 4 days. I was so f*cked up by the end of it I was trying to feed a dollar bill to a tree.

Hahaha believe it or not I've gone 7 days (168 hours) without sleep before (Due to insomnia bipolar and amphetamines), and experienced no hallucinations, but a fair bit of disassociation from reality eg: not feeling as if im there, feeling like I'm dreaming, feeling out of the loop as if everything is just happening around me.

But another time I went 4 days without sleep and on the last day took 300mg of DXM (a cough suppressant and dissociative) and as I was coming out of it, I had typical sleep deprivation hallucinations. My friends face who was sitting next to me didnt look the same as usual, but I couldnt remember what she usually looks like which threw me. And I thought my mum was going to stab me because she walked into my room idly fiddling with a knife as she was talking. I didn't get paranoid, I actually kind of enjoyed it haha. Sorry about the long post and I stress that I dont condone drug use, do not use drugs (anymore), and that DXM is just a legal antitussive (cough suppressant).

The longest I've stayed up was just a little over 3 days, so 72+ hours.

I didn't have any hallucinations or delusions or anything, but toward the end I found that I had difficulty determining how much time was passing. That is, if I was doing something, I couldn't say how long I'd been doing it for (normally I'd be able to come up with a good estimate of how much time had passed).

I dream better after sleep deprivation. I'm much more likely to WILD naturally and have better dream recall and more vivid dreams. I also get SP.

If any of you are truely interested in the affects of advanced sleep depravation (ie. over 4 days) PM me. I've had sever insomnia all my life I've been hospitalized 2 times because of sleep deprevation, both times were at just ofer 9 days. I don't do this on purpos it's a chemical condition in my brain, and adrenal glands.

I've decided that I will try to stay awake for 5 days(maybe less if I don't crack). I start at midnight and luckily I got my PS2 to work. I guess I'll be playing Soul Caliber 3 all night and day.

Alright guys, over here it's 8 in the morning on a Saturday, and I've been awake since thursday afternoon. No idea how long/short that is, and I don't have the energy to count up the figures.

It's been quite a long time since I've stayed up for this long on purpose. Last time was when I had to fix my sleeping patterns in a rush, using red bulls to get me through the day. Since the thursday, I think I've had 3 red bulls, and have been eating quite healthy. Salads, quality meat, etc. I eat healthier now than I used too, and I never, ever noticed before, while in my "No time to sleep until I get to school" persona, did I ever see that my skin had actually changed colour during sleep deprivation. I'm not talking getting darkened eyebags. You know when Jean Grey turned into Pheonix in X-men 3, and her skin turned a sickly brownish-green? Well that's what I've got now, and I've never noticed it before in times like this.

The feeling of the weight UNDER your eyes rings a bell as well. When I get sleep deprived, I don't get pissed off because I'm tired, my eyes are literally stinging like shit the entire day if I don't get enough sleep, and I tend to get pretty irritating heart burn. To those looking to stay up for ages, I reccomend finding something on the COMPUTER that'll keep you entertained. I was playing Spyro on the old PS1 20 minutes ago, and started to click in and out with my eyes still open. It's even worse when you try to fap <.< and fapping helps me stay away, provided I do it more than ten times a day.

Christ, I'm rambling now. Alright, with nothing left to do (actually, i've got a shit ton of stuff to amuse myself with) I'm going to try and have a WILD. If I wake up afterwards, I'll let you guys know

65-70 hours is the most I've done. I didn't really experience anything intense during those hours. I did after a while feel spaced, and just not really "there". The headaches, and overall feeling like crap made the experience completely not worth it.

By the way, when I went to sleep, something woke me up a few hours later... the room was pitch black, and I had a full blown hallucination, and was on the verge of freaking out (it was not a pleasant one).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_G...record_holder)

I've been thinking about giving this a try. I gotta go back to school in 2 weeks, so sometime before then I'm gonna stay up for at least 3 days. Longest I've gone is about 48 hours, but that was when I was real young. Stayed up 2 days staight playing Ocarina of time. Never got past the water temple.

Anybody know if this affects your recall?

336 hours (2 weeks) without substance aid.
Mass hallucination occurred at around 249 hrs and continued to increase in intensity.

_------------------------
Hallucinations included:
Manifest ions of individual trains of thought as characters locked in different styles of dialog.
Electricity arching between objects.
Shadows in the shapes of people walking everywhere.
The sound of ten thousand people talking very loudly (like standing in a crowd)
making it very difficult to make out anything being said by actual people over the noise.
Images when blinking, became super vivid.
-----------------------------------

Most of these went away after rest which took 3 days at over 10 hours of sleep a day to recover, however images when blinking remained.


~Ex

Wait a second. Who did this? This cat was hallucinating for like 3 days? Do you have any scientific evidence on this?. I've heard of hallucinations but nothing like this. were the blinking hallucinations permanent?

Im a major insomniac ( for those who havent read my dream journal) and am pretty much always sleep deprived, i dont sleep so much as cat nap. I live on 3 or 4 short naps a day and have never been any different, have been the same since i can remember, only sleeping through the night when sedated with prescribed drugs or when ive passed out drunk. Had countless sleep studies and they are yet to find a reason for it. I gave up a bit trying to find out why, and just deal with it now. Im never really asleep and never really awake. When my naps fail me sleep deprivation takes me over, I feel nauseous, and cant concentrate, i become agitated and hot like i want to do something but i dont want to move.I feel like im at war with myself. The only way i can describe the feelings i get when im really deprived is like a really really bad hangover. It has affected a lot of aspects of my life, causes complications in relationships ( including the one im in now) and makes working difficult because by midday im ready to nap and obv cant. so overall.. in conclusion.. it fkin sucks!