The London Times reports that Tony Wright of Cornwall recently stayed awake for 266 hours. He was attempting to break the world record of 264 hours awake set by Randy Gardner of San Diego in 1964. Wright was also attempting to demonstrate that, thanks to his "caveman diet" of raw food, he was able to "train his mind in such a way as to stay awake for 11 days and remain coherent and aware of what was going on around him."
The Times then goes on to report the bad news. Gardner didn't actually hold the world record for staying awake. Gardner's record had long since been surpassed by others. So Wright didn't set a new record.
The Times reports that: "The Guinness previous record was for 11½ days, or 276 hours, and was set by Toimi Soini in Hamina, Finland, between February 5 to 15, 1964." However, Soini's record was removed from the Guinness Book of Records in 1989. "It was deleted on the grounds that it could encourage records harmful to health and was unverifiable because of the claims of insomnia sufferers."
Actually, the question of who holds the world record for staying awake is a little more complicated than that, which I know because Gardner's sleep deprivation experiment is one of the experiments I discuss in
Elephants On Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments
. I even interviewed Randy Gardner, who still lives in San Diego.
Gardner set his record on January 8, 1964. Two weeks later newspapers reported that Jim Thomas, a student at Fresno State College, beat Gardner's record by staying awake for 266.5 hours. And a month later Soini set the new record. 1964 was a banner year for sleep-deprivation trials.
However, subsequent issues of the Guinness Book of Records report far longer periods of sleep deprivation. The 1978 edition, for instance, states that:
The longest recorded period for which a person has voluntarily gone without sleep is 449 hr (14 days 13 hours) by Mrs. Maureen Weston of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in a rocking chair marathon on 14 Apr.-2 May 1977. Though she tended to hallucinate toward the end of this surely ill-advised test, she surprisingly suffered no lasting ill effects.
Ironically, I don't believe Randy Gardner's record ever did make it into Guinness. Gardner reports that "I did not get listed in Guiness as I missed the publication date." However, Gardner's record is the most frequently cited because it was (and probably still is) the most scientifically rigorous long-term human sleep-deprivation study, since Gardner was monitored by Dr. William Dement of Stanford University.
The overall problem with determining the record for the longest a person has stayed awake is that people take "microsleeps" without being aware of it. To really determine if a person has been constantly awake you'd need to record their brainwaves throughout the experiment. As far as I know, such a study has never been done.
Comments
I've often been awake for longer than two days. It can work fine for a good long while. But after a point, you start losing your sharpness. Your mind slows down a bit, your movements get less precise, and so on. It can get to the point that yes, you are technically awake, but what's the point since all you can do is sort of fumble around in a daze?
Yay.
The first one is 60 hours in a row
The second one is to sleep 10 hours over a 100 hours period.
I could go for more lol.. but what's the point?
Anyway, for everyone who wants to know im 16 and live in manchester, UK. My friends told me that if i dont sleep then i am going to become unwell, and the most childish of them said that he thought the record was 11 1/2 days.
Anyway as the week went on and i didnt sleep, i became agitated and quick tempered, abit like an addict going cold turkey. Anyway, my personal record was 10 days and 6 hours, of which at that point i was forced into sleep by the paramedic
from what the doctor told me, the state of which my brain got into was extremely close to going at the same speed as someone in a state of coma. The symptoms that i encountered were:
Nausea
High Blood Pressure (constantly nose bleeding)
Shivering constantly (after 5 days)
Stopped eating after 8 days
Depression
Black outs
Feinting
Diluted Pupils
Inability to focus properly
Basically the list goes on, but all i will say is, after that amount of time, i have not encountered any problems of any kind, however, i have lost the respect of my family and currently living with my stepfather as i scared my family too much.
If there is any advice you would like in a case like this, then if you want to do it that is your choice, but i would recommend doing it until 5 days then leaving it unless you are medically incapable, then, i would ask for sedation
this sort of thing is NOT GOOD!
Jeez.
WHY are you going to go "for at least three weeks straight" no matter what? And again, why not spend all that effort on something worthwhile or fun?
And again, jeez.
Not the greatest time of my life, that's for sure.
And this is the best "personal goal" you can think of to pass the time? You couldn't, I don't know, read the entire works of Shakespeare (or anybody else, for that matter) or watch every episode of The Simpsons? Or find a nice hobby or support a charity or take up watercolor painting or bonsai gardening? This is the best way you can think of to spend more than 14 days of your life?
Every now and then, I remember why I am so glad I'm a grownup.
personally i like to stay up until the sun rises and sometimes go for 24 hours which isn't much. S.D. causes a spark in my imagination and creativity. I ama musician and i have written many songs as well as stories after not sleeping. Personally, whenever i stay up for a long time, i feel like i am numb and i feel little to no pain. I find it hard to concentrate.
The last thing is i don't feel hungry. I stayed up until 4:30 this morning (3-23-08) after waking up at 6 a.m. the previous day(3-22-08). I went to sleep and woke up about an hour ago (11 a.m. 3-23-08). I ate Jack in tha Box at 3 p.m. on 3-22-08 and i haven'y eaten anything since. Basically, i haven't eaten in 21 hours. I just don't feel hungry. I think it's from not sleeping. Others feel more hungry and start gaining weight. But i feel less hungry and i think i am losing weight.
I usually do it a lot on vacations (im on spring break right now) and weekends but not during the week cause i have school. I haven't seen very severe effects when im normal and not sleep deprived except i have dark circles under my eyes and i fall asleep in one ore two classes (my boring teachers). Other than that i feel fine.
Staying for 11 days is just insane. If you like to get high from sleep deprivation, 18-24 hours is pretty healthy. but more than 2 days could probably cause brain damage and heart disease. remember, moderation. I usually play xbox live when i'm staying up. If i watch tv or read a book i will for sure fall asleep. Well bye for now.
BTW
I HIGHLY ADVISE AGAINST ATTEMPTING TO STAY UP FOR MORE THAN 2 DAYS. For one, it is not necessary. For two, it is not healthy. For three, sleep is good.
NEVER USE ENERGY DRINKS TO STAY UP.
don't even start using them. I have never drank an energy drink and never will. Fight it man
hope i see some pretty crazy shit!!
wish me luck
It helps if you stimulate your mind. The best way to do that is video games. Avoid reading, watching TV, or doing something where you are just sitting there. Also try notto exercise as well because then you will be tired. Just do something like video games or playing music or very mild exercise. Try writing a story, or a poem or a song.
p.s. i am only a kid
day or 2. Im not really tired so i might be able to do it.
-Addy Parker
P.S. I am only a kid!
i just wanna see how long i'll last and not set any records =]
but yea it kinda feels like i've been drinking =]
its really trippy =]
wish me look =]
im only 16
hope i dont go crazy =/
Didn't anyone else notice that 449 hrs is not 14 days 13 hours? I wonder how this type of a mistake could've gone through to the book. By the way, the same record (449 hrs = 18 days 17 hours) can be found with the days and hours corrected from the Finnish version of Guinness Book of World Records 1988 edition. It also has a mentioning of a Finn who even broke this by a mile, but it is said that the record can't be verified.
It also mentions people suffering from a very rare type of insomnia, in which the subject never falls asleep. Making the record years and years. I wonder what life would be like without sleep. Scary.
then i was reading a book and i fell a sleep
it's quite empowering to know that you can stop your body functioning on "default" and have the will power to drastically control one of it's vital functioning mechanisms; sleep. that said... actually sleeping is way more fun! 😊
30 year old Allister is aiming to drum for 100 hours non-stop between the 22 and 26 July. Allister previously held the record in 2003 when he drummed for 58 hours and 17 minutes, and in 2004 when he drummed for 78 hours. The current world record is 85 hours and 30 minutes and was achieved by Belgian Gery Jallo in 2007. To break the record Allister must play recognisable tunes and not repeat any song within 4 hours. For each hour he plays he is allowed a 5 minute break.
http://www.allisterbrown.com