How Long Can You Survive Without Sleep?

brainiacs what if we told you that a 17 year old went for 11 days without sleep not impressed well this took place in 1964 a time way before that dreaded five seconds until the next episode Netflix timer you've all heard that sleep is good for you but what really happens when you get none of those recommended seven to nine hours of beauty rest well the results aren't pretty it's a combination of tremors hallucinations and in some extreme cases death today brainiacs we look at the science of sleep and how our bodies react to sleep deprivation turns out there's more on the line than just a few dark circles under those eyes the Guinness Book of World Records has set 264 hours for 11 consecutive days as the longest amount of time a human has spent without sleep Randy Gardner who is 17 years old at the time stayed awake without any stimulants we hope he didn't have much to do shortly thereafter because the research demonstrates that after that much time with no sleep Gardner would barely be able to function after Gardner there was only one other attempt to break the world record but if you're thinking of giving Gardner a run for his money no organisation will longer recognize this record because of its negative health risks we tend to think of sleep as a time when the mind and the body shuts down but in reality sleep is an active period in which our body restores and repairs itself while processing the immense amount of information we absorb in the day not to mention sleep plays an integral role in how we solidify and consolidate our memories so all those times you convinced yourself that it would be a good idea to pull an all-nighter to study last minute for a big test turns out a few hours of sleep would have been a better alternative but let's say for whatever reason that within 24 hours you find yourself unable to find the time to sleep maybe you regrettably partied all night long and find yourself having it going to work early the next day or maybe your line of work calls for long periods of time without sleeping and before you ask no playing video games in your gray sweatpants for days on end does not make you a professional console player whatever reason it may be missing just 24 hours of sleep can affect your ability to operate symptoms include impaired in making altered perception tremors and vision impairments unsurprisingly the longer you stay awake past the 24-hour mark the more your mental physical and emotional processes deteriorate but what's the absolute longest period of sleeplessness that a human can endure and what are the consequences well to put it shortly you died in fact sleeplessness or sleep deprivation is a common torture technique meant to wear down individuals who are just not willing to fess up information yikes in an experiment on sleep deprivation done on a single rat the poor specimen passed after two weeks of no sleep I know what you're thinking that's a rat what about us non rats well if you aren't convinced yet supposedly a lack of sleep cost an elderly Chinese man his life after staying awake for 11 days to watch football mind you he was also drinking and smoking during this time so sleep deprivation is most likely not the sole culprit responsible for stealing this man's life but even if you don't stay up for 11 days straight to prove that you're a dedicated football fan there's some pretty trippy effects of sleep deprivation there are many snooze sessions that can last up to 30 seconds when you don't sleep for days on end microsleeps are the way your body insists on getting some shut-eye the trippy part about this symptom of sleeplessness is that within those 30 seconds people report going blind despite their eyes being wide open by now you should have enough information in front of you on why you shouldn't strive to be sleep deprived if we had to sum it up sleep is pretty quintessential to our survival as cognitive and functioning human beings and while seven and nine hours of sleep helps our bodies with our minds to process that the passwords to your YouTube Facebook Instagram Twitter and tik-tok accounts these other brainiacs survival videos may also help but tick-tock aside research suggests that limiting daytime naps caffeine intake past noon exercising regularly and refraining from using electronic devices right before bed can help immensely with your ability to sleep safely and soundly at the end of the day and avoid the effects of sleep deprivation unless you want to be found by your date asleep while standing up in the shower or better yet show up for a presentation at work only to realize that you open your briefcase and it's a board game of guess who you laugh but these are real stories we suggest that while there may be so much of the world to see sleeping at the end of the day will be a great benefit to you if you enjoyed what we had to say about sleep don't forget to like our video and subscribe to Brainiac for more ways to win at life I mean you know that saying you snooze you until next time for NEX [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 275,407

Rating: 4.8727121 out of 5

Keywords: sleeplessness, sleep deprivation, microsleep, obesity, all-nighter, brainiac, how many hours without sleep, body burns out, How long can you go, exhaustion, lack of sleep, impaired decision making, altered perception, tremors, mental health, tiktok, survival, guinness world records

Id: mUKcsQSKmL4

Length: 5min 13sec (313 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 19 2019