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How long can a human stay awake? (safely)

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Yellowmc

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From what I gather, a person can go without sleep for quite long, in some cases 5+ days. Obviously, the mind and body become weak and apparently after 72 hours, you experience dreams while you are awake, so you are in 2 worlds at once. (Cheaper than drugs, eh?)

I ask because I have a lot of work to do over the next 2 weeks, with the parties I have to attend during the holiday period and all the work I need to get done I find very little time for sleep. I can do 36 hours easily with the help of some caffeine but 48 hours is a struggle?

I am sure some people on here must have cracked 48 hours!

PS. Kids, don't try sleeping longer than 72 hours just for the hallucinations!
 
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I don't think it's really safe to force yourself to stay awake.. and I also think that you'll probably get more work done if you sleep more.
 
Yeah I realise that which is why I try to get a good 8 hours sleep whenever I can, just interested in what other people have experienced.
 
The most I've ever done was around 39 hours, even though I felt tired its harder to sleep as you feel so....emmm I would say ''ill''. I wouldn't recommend it, your health is more important than work.
 
Hi, well to tell you the truth, it is hard for the human mind to stay awake for more the 174 hours, supposeively. i have stayed up for 4 days once, but that's besides the point...
 
Longest I've stayed up is probably 30 hours, and I felt I had to go to sleep because I had a concert to do the tech for, so I didn't want to fall asleep. I think it's probably not good for you, but there's probably not much harm if you don't do it too often.
 
I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're just veging at home; you could probably do 3 days, but when your doing work; 30 hrs would be my limit. (Try doing two 20 hour shows; back to back.)
 
Call me a wuss, but 27 hours was my longest stretch without sleep. It was not by choice, and I will not be doing it again!

(For the interested, I left the U.S. in the morning, arrived in London in the morning, and stayed up until 1:00 AM local time.)
 
I think it depends on what you're doing. If you're just veging at home; you could probably do 3 days, but when your doing work; 30 hrs would be my limit. (Try doing two 20 hour shows; back to back.)
If I was vegging there is no way I could stay awake for 3 days. I did stay awake 37 hours once, but I never plan to do that again. I figured out the hard way you are better off pulling 18 hours then sleeping for five twice than pulling 36 and sleeping for 10. You actually will get alot more done as well.
 
I'd prefer not to work if I think I am not that fit enough to do it because of lack of sleep. That's why my longest sleepless experience is only around 48 hours of continuous work. After that, I take a nap for even 2-3 hours.
 
Mike Jagger stayed up for 9 days (on coke)

PS. Kids, don't try sleeping longer than 72 hours just for the hallucinations!
Hehe, we kids must be predictable, after reading that I really wanted to try :D
 
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Well I have background training with the local militia, here in Canada, I have made it to day 5 without sleep. However slept for basically a full day lol after that. I believe the total I was awake for was 110-111hrs lol I know I made the 100 mark for sure :).

This was a drill to show how much sleep we need in order to fight effectively, yes after day 3/4 I was so slow I was almost dead, lol.

Wouldn't recommend more then 3 days without sleep!
 
My guess is the majority of you really have not tried this or you could be experiencing something WAY differently that I did.

I actually watched a tv special many years ago on the lack of sleep and the people who went about 70 hours without sleep were basically dreaming while they were awake and in a state of high paranoia and freak outs.

It sounded like a load of crap because I have stayed awake for 20-30hrs before no problem. So I got very curious and gave it a shot, after about the 55 hour mark I started dreaming while being technically awake, it was basically like a personal hell. I saw fire, chaos and it was basically a horror movie. I actually got super nervous and probably the only time in my life that I actually felt like I was going to die. I had people around me and they said it looked like I basically went crazy. After that little episode calmed down, I said to hell with it and went to sleep

dumb idea, bad results. Get your sleep, don't be a tool
 
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