- “Scientific studies suggest that even small amounts of missed sleep can negatively impact our mental and physical health.”
Did you read, Man Shares Effects After 11 Days, or 266 Hours, Awake: Part One? Because this is part two.
Wright may be an advocate of sleeplessness but the Guinness Book of World Records no longer keeps a record of the most hours unslept because of the health risks associated with sleep deprivation. In an article published last month they said, “In 1997, we stopped monitoring the record for the longest time to stay awake.” It’s just not good to spend so many hours awake.
“The record holder at the time was Robert McDonald, who went 453 hours 40 minutes (18 days 21 hours 40 minutes) without sleeping in 1986.
“Although we no longer monitor the record due to the inherent dangers associated with sleep deprivation, we can say that no one is known to have broken it since McDonald.”
The article continued, after detailing all of the record attempts, saying, “Although the effects suffered by these record breakers varied, both in terms of severity and length, their stories paint a clear picture: skipping sleep is harmful to the human body and mind.”
“Scientific studies suggest that even small amounts of missed sleep can negatively impact our mental and physical health.” So imagine those impacts increased exponentially with so many hours awake.
“However, there are also other reasons why we cannot monitor this record.”
“Firstly, during the 1960-70s, sleep researchers discovered the existence of ‘microsleeps’; momentary lapses into sleep that last for just a few seconds.”
“These are impossible to accurately monitor without continuous physiological recording equipment. Even Dr Dement later accepted that Randy Gardner – who was under constant medical supervision – probably experienced microsleeps.”
“Another reason we no longer monitor this record is due to the existence of people who suffer fatal familial insomnia, an extremely rare genetic disorder,” the article explained.
“Victims initially experience trouble sleeping, and over time this evolves into total insomnia (agrypnia excitata), causing speech problems, hallucinations, dementia, and eventually death.” (Now that is a bad side effect of no sleeping, yike.)
“It’s likely that one unfortunate victim of this condition would be the unwitting holder of the record if we still monitored it.”
How many hours awake could you take, and would you even want to try? Sleep is vital, so it’s a no from me.
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