What is the longest you have gone without sleep?

cahullian · #1 17-05-2008, 01:27 AM

When I was a kid I used to read under the blankets at night with a torch as I didn't ever feel sleepy. As a teenager I used to go out clubbing on a Thursday night and not get to bed (sleep) until Sunday night. Now that I'm in my fourties I hung a Sunday morning through to Thursday night without getting any ZZZ's has anyone gone longer?

Gazz

cahullian · #2 17-05-2008, 01:34 AM

On a different tangent I used to jog at 3 am in the morning until the local police used to harrass me whenever they could. I was always asked" why are you running away from us?" I would say "because I like to run." Then I would be asked for some ID and seeing I was running I didn't have any and more than once was escorted back home to prove who I was. Now I jog during the day and play backgammon at night. : )

Gazz

GrahamL · #3 17-05-2008, 01:58 AM

Sheet gaz .. theres a Phd in you

..shiftwork and 48hours of no sleep used to wreck me .

Ian Robinson · #4 17-05-2008, 01:58 AM

I worked from 7:30am until 3pm the following day once to manage a process trial , I was home by 4pm and was too tied to get to sleep so hung out intil about 10pm before hitting the pillows.

I wouldn't recommend it.

I don't know my longest period with no sleep , gotta be 2 or 3 days .

Robert_T · #5 17-05-2008, 07:23 AM

Just goes to show what a variety of capability there is out there... hell I have trouble these days staying awake for 12hours at a stretch

the sleep deprivation torture of three kids cured me of any capacity (or desire) for long periods of sleeplessness

Phil · #6 17-05-2008, 07:45 AM

I was at work once for 36hours with no sleep not much got done after 25hours of working.

DJDD · #7 17-05-2008, 08:05 AM

about 64 hours.

but that was when i was finishing a thesis.

i remember almost throwing up at about 58 hours when the "fireworks" screensaver on the Windows 3.1 PC started- watching those colours arc across the screen...

Lee · #8 17-05-2008, 08:30 AM

Geez - I've done a fair few 24hr stints with night shifts, can hardly keep my eyes open after that.

wavelandscott (Scott) · #9 17-05-2008, 09:00 AM

A smidge over 48 hours is about all this old man can take anymore...after that I am wrecked for the week...

DJDD · #10 17-05-2008, 09:04 AM

sorry, maths wrong- it was 60 hours (2.5 days- obviously not a maths thesis...).

sure, but i was 22 at the time, had a deadline to meet, experiments to finish, too many illustrations/diagrams, etc. to caption, and chapter/section headings to compile into Contents and index. plus get all of the references in order.

now I have a 19 year old bloke in my team who can go 48 hours no problem when he is out clubbing. i am pretty sure that's drug free

and he does not drink, so...

h0ughy (David) · #11 17-05-2008, 09:12 AM

about 3 days when i was working dogwatch over the weekends when i was slighly younger, now proabably a tad over 24 hours. At astrofest i have to have a kip from 5am until 11 - then i am up the rest of the day

Starkler (Geoff) · #12 17-05-2008, 12:42 PM

Longest I have gone is about 48hrs and it was fairly recent too. Wrecked me for a good few days. I find if I don't get a solid 7hrs every night I suffer for it.

Ian Robinson · #13 17-05-2008, 12:57 PM

Coke Cola and No Doze are wonderful things , I don't know how many graduates owe their degrees to these.

I still have a serious Coke Cola addiction ....

Ric · #14 17-05-2008, 03:02 PM

If I'm on a STARG team with the RFS we will be on the go for around 72 hours, you do get a couple of 4 hour breaks but there is usually too much noise and you are too hyped up to really have a good kip.

Cheers

gman (Grant) · #15 17-05-2008, 03:20 PM

Longest I can remember without sleep is about 63 hrs
7am Friday to Sunday 10pm
Used to be a wall & floor tiler in my younger days
Worked half a day on the friday
Went and got materials on the Friday afternoon then starting tiling 3 shoe shops in the city from 5pm onwards
Slept all day on the Monday

MrB (Simon) · #16 17-05-2008, 04:03 PM

A few days was the norm when I was younger, now I can only go 48hours max, knocks me around too much.

Note that sleep deprivation has apparently been confirmed to have similar effects as being mildly drunk, I know I feel kinda tipsy after a long stretch, even micro-sleep where I just kinda stare at nothing for a few mins, so... no driving if you haven't slept for 24 hours or more.

AlexN · #17 17-05-2008, 05:45 PM

21 and a half days....

Recovered ice addict....

DARKMATTER · #18 17-05-2008, 06:50 PM

Once on the fairstar funship i did 9 days without sleep, well 2x 4hr naps but the second one I was so wired i couldn't sleep at all. I was 17 at the time and very very drunk the whole time.

these days I'm out by 9 unless i'm on the sauce.

FarmerBen · #19 17-05-2008, 07:27 PM

When I was a student and programming for PC I pulled a couple of 60+ hours straight.

I think it would kill me to try that now. Unless the skies are particularly clear, I'm in bed by 9:30pm.

mrsnipey · #20 17-05-2008, 11:09 PM

48 hours is the longest I've been - flying to London screwed up my sleep pattern for ages. I usually only sleep between 3 and 4.5 hours a night anyway. I can go for weeks before I crash for a night and then I'm ready to go again. I don't think I could last 60 hours though DJDD. That's pretty impressive.

My wife has commented quite a number of times that the amount of sleep I get (or don't get) is directly proportionate to how grumpy I am.