Exact Answer- 264 hours
Sleep is required for survival. While you sleep, your body can recover itself and perform important biological functions. Adults need between 7 and 8 hours of rest. Professional and living concerns, on the other hand, may occasionally affect a person’s ability to sleep.
The longest period of time without sleep for a human being is 11 days and 25 minutes. Mood swings, taking longer to make judgments, and cognitive rigidity, in which people can only think about things in one manner, are all indications of sleep deprivation.
Loss of motivation, increased blood pressure, paranoia, memory problems, mood swings, visual problems, hallucinations, and speech difficulties are some of the other negative effects.
How Long Can You Live Without Sleep?
To meet the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) sleep recommendation, adults should be awake for no more than 17 hours. Within 24 hours, people begin to feel the negative impacts of sleep deprivation.
When a person receives less sleep than their body requires, they are said to be sleep-deprived. Sleep deprivation has different effects on different people.
Because their brains and bodies are still learning and expanding, children and teenagers require more sleep than adults. As a result, the consequences of sleep deprivation in youngsters might be more severe and stay longer.
Despite the fact that there is no common timetable for sleep deprivation.
The main stages, on the other hand, are decided by the number of hours of sleep you’ve missed. Sleep deprivation symptoms tend to worsen with each stage.
If you don’t sleep in the following timeline, you’ll encounter various effects. They are:
| Timeline | Effects |
| 24 hours | 1. Tiredness, Anger raises the danger of stress, lowers attention, and impairs concentration. 2. Fatigue, Tremors, and a loss of coordination are all symptoms of brain fog. 3. higher chance of making a mistake or having an accident 4. cravings for food 5. eyes that are puffy 6. dark rings under the eyes |
| 36 hours | 1. Memory problems 2. Changes in behavior 3. Decision-making is hampered, and social cues are harder to absorb. 4. Slow reaction times resulted in more errors. 5. Increased desire to eat 6. Immune function being harmed by increased inflammation. 7. Severe exhaustion |
| 48 hours | 1. Emotional exhaustion 2. Increased irritation 3. Excessive exhaustion as a result of higher stress levels |
| 72 hours | 1. Illusions 2. Delusions 3. Depersonalization due to disordered thinking |
| 96 hours or more | 1. Your sense of reality will be drastically affected after four days. 2. Your desire to sleep will become intolerable. |
It’s not uncommon to go 24 hours without sleeping. You may have to sacrifice a night’s sleep to work, study for a test, or care for a sick child. While staying up all night may be uncomfortable, it will have little effect on your overall health.
Even so, missing a night’s sleep has an impact. 24-hour wakefulness has been likened to a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent in studies. In most states, this is over the legal limit for driving.
The impact of being up for just 36 hours can be profound. The release of certain hormones, such as cortisol, insulin, and human growth hormone, is regulated by your sleep-wake cycle.
Most people find it challenging to stay awake after two nights of sleep deprivation. They may have brief episodes of light slumber, lasting up to 30 seconds. The brain is in a sleep-like condition during these “microsleeps.” Microsleeps occur unintentionally. You may feel bewildered or puzzled after a microsleep.
Most people have an overpowering desire to sleep after 72 hours without sleep. Many people find it difficult to stay awake on their own.
Three days without sleep has a significant impact on one’s ability to think, particularly executive skills like multitasking, recalling information, and paying attention. Even simple chores can become difficult to do with this level of sleep deprivation.
Emotions are influenced as well. People who have been deprived of sleep for thus long may become easily annoyed. They could be unhappy, anxious, or have paranoia. Sleep deprivation also makes it more difficult to interpret the emotions of others, according to research. Participants in one study who had been awake for 30 hours had trouble distinguishing between angry and pleasant facial expressions.
Finally, sleep loss over several days can have a major impact on perception. You could have hallucinations, which are when you see something that isn’t there. Illusions are widespread as well. Illusions are misinterpretations of the real world. A good example is mistaking a sign for a person.
Why Do People Live Without Sleep?
Sleep needs differ from person to person and also depend on a person’s age. Infants, for example, require almost twice the amount of sleep as adults.
The amount of time a person may go without sleeping is, however, unknown. As per a 2010 study, the current world record for going no sleep is 266 hours, or little more than 11 days.
Sleep deprivation can alter your appetite as well as your eating preferences. According to studies, sleep deprivation is linked to an increase in hunger as well as a desire for items that contribute to weight gain. Consuming empty calories, on the other hand, can make you feel even more exhausted.
Conclusion
In short, the body can theoretically live without sleep for a long time—the current world record is 11 days and 25 minutes…maybe (more on that in a minute). However, this does not imply that going without sleep has any advantages.
In reality, impairments to your health and performance begin as soon as you lose an hour of sleep per night, and from there they progress (check out the whole catalog a list of things that occur to your body as you go through the stages of sleep deprivation).
If you need to stay awake, your doctor may be able to advise you on how to do so in the healthiest way possible. Otherwise, your doctor can investigate the cause of your symptoms and assist you in resuming a regular sleep routine.
References
- https://psqtest.typepad.com/blogPostPDFs/200811060_psq_53-52_WhyCantYouJustGoToSleep.pdf
- https://www.biohealthclinic.co.uk/blog/sleep-how-important-is-it
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