{"id":580,"date":"2019-01-04T06:37:57","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T06:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wesleepwell.co.uk\/?p=580"},"modified":"2019-01-03T22:47:31","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T22:47:31","slug":"how-long-can-you-go-without-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wesleepwell.co.uk\/how-long-can-you-go-without-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Can You Go Without Sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Randy Gardner is officially the world record holder for the longest someone has gone without sleep. He managed to stay awake for 11 days and 25 minutes.<\/p>\n

There are a few other incredible unofficial records including one<\/a> that lasted 18 days.<\/p>\n

If you hope to beat any of these records, it\u2019s going to be very difficult. That\u2019s because your body fights harder to get its well-deserved rest time than it does for food.<\/p>\n

You can stay a few days without food but stay up a few hours past your bedtime and your body will begin to complain with fatigue, heavy eyelids and worsening grogginess.<\/p>\n

Pull an all nighter and the symptoms get more acute. Your short-term memory suffers, you get irritated easily, energy levels plummet and it gets harder to concentrate at work or in class.<\/p>\n

For how long can you keep pushing your body? Is there a breaking point?<\/p>\n

The symptoms of sleep deprivation will keep getting worse. Some people have reported hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety and various other effects.<\/p>\n

But death is not one of them.<\/p>\n

In fact, Randy Gardner seemed perfectly fine after a couple of nights. Follow up tests done weeks and months after the record setting event showed no serious long term effects.<\/p>\n

One reason why you can stay for days without sleeping and not die or get seriously ill is that the brain seems to adapt.<\/p>\n

Brain scans done on Randy showed that parts of his brain had been catnapping while other stayed awake, a technique used by animals like whales and dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To be clear, you are probably not going to manage to stay awake long enough for your brain to do this. Keeping Randy awake was a huge effort all on its own.<\/p>\n

The real problem with sleep deprivation<\/h2>\n

To answer the original question, you can only go for as long as you can resist the fatigue and drooping eyelids. For most people, that\u2019s no more than a couple of days max.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll probably not suffer any long-term ill effects.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that sleep deprivation is completely harmless. It just depends on the kind of sleep deprivation.<\/p>\n

If you sleep for less than 7 hours every night or just sleep on a simple clic-clac sofa<\/a>, you are not giving your body adequate rest. Your productivity goes down, you feel less energetic, your moods get erratic and you cannot concentrate on your work.<\/p>\n

This type of deprivation is the worst and it\u2019s the one most of us experience.<\/p>\n

Its effects are even worse in the long term.<\/p>\n

Lack of adequate sleep is associated with an increased risk of dementia, obesity, high blood pressure, cancer and many other health problems.<\/p>\n

How to avoid sleep deprivation<\/h2>\n

You may not break any records for the number of days spent awake, but your 4-hour nights are hurting your body and mind.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to review your sleep habits and make improvements for your health\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Here are a few helpful tips.<\/p>\n