OT Poll: Amount of Sleep...

David E. Gervais · #1 October 30th, 2004, 07:38 AM

I sleep an average of 8-10 hours a night, but that number really changes with the seasons. I'm the kind of guy that likes to wake up at first light, so in the summer the amount of sleep I get is closer to 6-8 hours on average. In the winter I lean closer to 9-10 hours, but I still get up in the dark and it really feels strange to me.

Longest sleepless run? I have done more 'All-nighters' than I care to remember. I think 33 hours is about the longest without sleep, but on several occasions I've gone 72-80 hours with a short 4 hour nap to split the run. You'd be amazed at how 4 hours of sleep and a shower can boost your energy.

As for marathons, how about a 70 hour work week with another 28 hours of commuting added on to that sustained for 6 and a half months. (A little detail, I am not able to sleep on buses so I was not able to sneak in and extra sleep in transit.) You do the math.

Nuf said, Cheers!

AgentZero · #2 October 30th, 2004, 09:18 AM

Current record, 153 hours, or 6 days and 9 hours. I did it in university to win a bet that it wasn't humanly possible to not sleep for five days. Course, our Psychology department found out about it and asked if they could use me for a sleep-deprivation study. So, not only did I win the bet but the Psych department paid me as well.
BTW, this is NOT a feat I recomend trying to duplicate. Not sleeping for that long screws you up big time, and not just in the head. I was constantly getting bloody noses, bruised fingers just from typing and doing pretty much anything was very painful. Though the stuff that goes on in your head is pretty weird too. I remember the experiment/bet started at noon on Sunday and finished at 9pm the following Saturday. I'd won the bet by noon Friday, by noon Saturday I'd proved how bloody stubborn I could be, but then my mind was so addled I didn't go to bed until 9 because I didn't want to disrupt my sleeping patterns for the following week. Ended up waking up early Tuesday morning.

dogscoff · #3 October 30th, 2004, 09:30 AM

Not sure what my longest stretch is - probably around 48 hours- but when I was at uni I used to stay up all night playing games/ on IRC on a regular basis. I've often wanted to try 70 or more hours just to see what the hell happens to your mind - gotta be the cheapest hallucinagen available=-)

Raging Deadstar · #4 October 30th, 2004, 09:40 AM

Ouch...

It depends with me, I can from anywhere between 8 hours of sleep a night to 4, It usually balances at 6 hours or under, But I do have trouble sleeping.

Longest I Stayed awake? 2 days and a bit playing SEIV, non SEIV? At least 4 days in the school holidays, It might have been 5 but when you're awake that long you do tend to lose track. I slept for at least 2 days straight after that

Slynky · #5 October 30th, 2004, 12:34 PM

On average, I sleep less about 6 hours (or a bit less). Partly due to being unable to sleep much longer and sometimes due to having too much fun to go to sleep. However, having said that, I DO take naps when I feel tired, so I really average around 7 hours of sleep per day (it's just not all at the same time).

Seems like I heard recently that Americans sleep less now than they did 25 years ago.

Colonel · #6 October 30th, 2004, 12:36 PM

I usaully get around 11 or 12 hours of sleep. Not counting school when I am obligated to get up. As for the longest amount of time I have stayed up. I was awake the longest for 120 hours when I was out camping for a week( I couldnt sleep, I had this fear a bug coming in and like biteing me or a bear or something) that weekend I slept like eight hours.

Instar · #7 October 30th, 2004, 08:50 PM

Quote:

AgentZero said:
Current record, 153 hours, or 6 days and 9 hours. I did it in university to win a bet that it wasn't humanly possible to not sleep for five days. Course, our Psychology department found out about it and asked if they could use me for a sleep-deprivation study. So, not only did I win the bet but the Psych department paid me as well.
BTW, this is NOT a feat I recomend trying to duplicate. Not sleeping for that long screws you up big time, and not just in the head. I was constantly getting bloody noses, bruised fingers just from typing and doing pretty much anything was very painful. Though the stuff that goes on in your head is pretty weird too. I remember the experiment/bet started at noon on Sunday and finished at 9pm the following Saturday. I'd won the bet by noon Friday, by noon Saturday I'd proved how bloody stubborn I could be, but then my mind was so addled I didn't go to bed until 9 because I didn't want to disrupt my sleeping patterns for the following week. Ended up waking up early Tuesday morning.

Hallucinations begin around the third day of no sleep. People usually die at about the 4th day. You're lucky.

AgentZero · #8 October 30th, 2004, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Hallucinations begin around the third day of no sleep. People usually die at about the 4th day. You're lucky.

So the doctors tell me. Can't really see how one would die from lack of sleep. Wouldn't you just pass out? Maybe not, coz one of the doctors from the Psych department tried to sedate me on day 4. Unfortunately for him, I was convinced the needle was full of cyanide so I threw a chair at him and ran a way. Fortunately, as Gandalf Parker pointed out, after four days without sleep they didn't hold me responsible for my actions.
I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging about it... I'm not. It was not a pleasent experience and it took me the better part of two months to fully recover from it. But wanna know something really weird? One of the main side-effects of sleep deprivation, after you've had the 'big sleep' at the end? Insomnia. Go figure.

Starhawk · #9 October 30th, 2004, 09:49 PM

Longest I've ever gone without sleep was three days when when I was 13, here's irony for you, I wasn't TRYING to stay awake for three days but everytime I even tried to sleep my body just kept kicking in the adreniline or something because it just wouldn't relax at all.

I of course Lied to my folks and told them I was sleeping so they wouldn't take me to the doctor but by the end of day three I was so tired I actually just sort of laid down in the middle of my living room and didn't wake up until my parents woke me the next afternoon and I was still exausted and when I went to bed again that night I slept til around noon the next day too.

The reason lack of sleep can kill you is because REM sleep is far more necessary then people seem to think (that's why people who were anestatized(SP?) are still so tired when they come too) because it is a time where your mind sort of dumps all the excess baggage of the day and "reboots" I guess you could say.
Because the lack of sleep starts to effect your brain it also starts to effect your body of course (as the two are intertwined) so when your brain starts going gahgah your body starts losing it's "direction" and eventually it just says enough and stops altogether resulting in death.

Or so I've heard I don't actually know if any of that is medically accurate or not but I'm sure one of the smart folks here has the info

AMF · #10 November 1st, 2004, 04:31 PM

Quote:

AgentZero said:
Current record, 153 hours, or 6 days and 9 hours. I did it
in university to win a bet

Wow. Burly. I stayed up four days once, and you're right, it totally messes you up. I often find, even today, that I stay awake a couple days at a time to get things done sometimes.

I once went 9 days without eating, and only drinking water with a bit of salt...does that count?