Topic: Longest you have stayed up for..?

[shock]

Friend and I are having a competition.  We just started, and so far, we are up to 24 hours (basically pulled an all nighter).

I think we were going to quit after 4 days if both of us are still going.  Apparently you start getting delusional and having hallucinations at about that stage.

I've been reading around and I haven't really come across anything that condemns it too seriously in the short term.  Obviously if you keep this up, it is bad news, but I don't think us doing it once will be fatal.

Was just curious how long you guys have gone and what the effects have been.

Edit: Wow. I messed up that title.  Hahah.

[iPPi]

The longest I've gone is like 20 hours.  I need my sleep otherwise I'm pretty much a zombie the next day.

[Ghandi]

36 hours or so. It's horrible for your body. A buddy of mine stayed up for many days on end and he said that he started to hallucinate, but I've never felt any desire to do that. Most of my all nighters consist of either studying or drinking until early in the morning, both of which end in copious amounts of sleep after the fact.

[ren]

40ish hours for me. It's hard to keep up the motivation to stay awake by the second night.

[HxCeddie]

60 hours once. It sucked so bad afterwards. I had about 40 pages worth of papers due in two days, so I pulled two all nighters in a row, and it was awful. And yes, I started to hallucinate for a little bit. After I was finished, I slept for a good day straight.

[scottws]

Depriving yourself of sleep is one of the worst things you can do to yourself.

[Quemaqua]

I think I went about 40 or so hours once, but that's about it.  I rarely sleep much - I regularly go to bed at 1 AM and get up at 6 AM for work - but I don't have much stamina for long periods of time without sleep.

[ScaryTooth]

I think something like 35 hours. Wasn't too bad. Although I slept like 13 hours afterwards.

[Raisa]

4 days.  That's some of the busiest days of my life.  It was tough because throughout it all, I had to be able to think clearly and function normally especially during crunch time - that was the last of those 4 days.  It was non-stop working and major deadlines, crucial reports, etc.

By the 4th day, there was a little window where I could nap, and I really wasn't functioning anymore, I couldn't even figure out how to open this attachment that was sent to me so I took a nap, and I slept so soundly i didn't wake even if 4 people tried to wake me up because of some very important calls.  I missed the calls and woke up 3 hours later and it was back to work for another 3 days.

[Antares]

Around 40 hours I think.  I was crunching to finish a 60 page term paper, by the end of it I was out of my mind.  I pulled all nighters studying in college a few times, I always noticed when it was all over It was actually hard to get to sleep because your mind is just racing.

I also always found it easy to stay up until around 6 or 7am pulling an all nighter, but found it almost impossible to make it past that point unless I had something important to do.

[nickclone]

The longest I've gone is 36 hours, in that time I worked two shifts, got drunk and went to a show.

I wouldn't go longer than 4 days (not like you could without being on drugs), after a week you go insane, after 10 days you die.

[Xessive]

The longest I've ever gone was 97 hours. 4 days of heck. I don't really know why it happened. I was 15, visiting my cousins in Egypt, and for some reason I just couldn't sleep. Eventually my body gave out and I finally passed out.

[Pugnate]

Oh god I remember your "I don't have to sleep" moments Xessive haha.

[scottws]

I'm not sure the longest I've gone.  I've only ever skipped one night of sleep in a row.

[Xessive]

Oh god I remember your "I don't have to sleep" moments Xessive haha.

Haha remember that weekend we got snowed in at your place, and we just played The Sims for what we thought was hours but turned out to be about two days

[shock]

Well, I quit after about 50 hours.  I was just going crazy.  I felt like total shit, from my stomach to my head.  And my speech was SUPER fucked up.  I couldn't piece together sentences.

Maybe I will do again some other time, but it was much more debilitating than I thought it would be.

[Xessive]

Oh man, once you cross the 36 hr mark you start to really feel it. I have no idea how I pulled off that 97 hr streak..

I have slept for about 48 hrs straight. Then again I was ill, so it could have been the result of a fever.

[WindAndConfusion]

I wouldn't go longer than 4 days (not like you could without being on drugs), after a week you go insane, after 10 days you die.

The "insane" part is due to REM intrusion - basically, you start dreaming while you're still awake. I don't believe the part about dying after 10 days, since fatal familial insomnia (mad human disease) is only fatal after months.

[gpw11]

I couldn't tell you how many hours, but probably pretty close to 40.  I had a final or essay due or something, and always pulled an all nighter for those in that period of time.  After which, my roommate dragged me out for copious amounts of drinking with the Washington Capitals.  I didn't get back to sleep until sometime the next day. 

[poomcgoo]

I actually plan on staying up both tonight and tomorrow night to study and get work done.  I have a test on wednesday at 1:00, so after that I'll get to sleep, but I just really got too much shit to do.  Here goes nothing.

[Antares]

I used to really love pulling all nighters.  I'm a natural night person and used to do it for fun from time to time.  Every now and again I come close do doing it for fun, but the man has me beat down now.  I know I would just be miserable at work the next day. 

[Quemaqua]

I almost did an all-nighter last night with those stupid OWmeet pictures.  I stayed up until 4.  Slept for 2 hours.  Surprisingly, I feel great today.

[poomcgoo]

I'm still awake and kickin' here.  I'm on hour 38 or so.  I have 12 hours left before my test is over and I can sleep, so I'll be at 50 hours -- give or take a few minutes -- when I'm done.  I'm really doing fine so far.  I filled up on some adderall like last time, so most of the sleeplessness is artificial, but damn I feel even better than I would on a full-night's sleep without it.

This will probably be the longest I've stayed up once it's over.  I've come close to 50 hours before, but I never really needed to be up and studying/working for so long so I've never quite hit that mark, I don't think.

[Raisa]

I hardly slept last night too.. tough night... mentally and emotionally.  I stayed up trying to kill time, had great fun reading and looking at the stuff for the OWmeet.

Then I had to go to the bed and i lay there for a long time.. couldn't sleep though I was exhausted. Still am

[K-man]

I stayed up for a number of hours when the Wii was released.  I had the damn thing reserved, but my friend convinced me it was a good idea to drive an hour and wait in line with him in 10 degree weather outside of a Wal-Mart in a podunk town (so podunk in fact that it is not even a super wal mart and closes).  I had worked a ten hour shift that day, and after he got his wii i drove back, got mine, and worked for another 10 hours.  then I stayed up because friends came over wanting to check the Wii out.  They wouldn't leave.  At that point I had been up for 30 something hours. 

A few weeks ago the rough draft of my Masters project was due on Tuesday.  I woke up Monday morning and started working on it.  Pretty much stayed up all night on it.  Turned it in the next day, then had to stay up the next night studying for my comprehensive exam.  Pyro was with me on AIM the entire time.  After my comp I had to stay up and wait for the cable guy to come install some stuff.  By that time I had trouble keeping balance.

Anyhow, the moral of this story is that lack of sleep = bad.

[Pugnate]

I stayed up for a number of hours when the Wii was released.  I had the damn thing reserved, but my friend convinced me it was a good idea to drive an hour and wait in line with him in 10 degree weather outside of a Wal-Mart in a podunk town (so podunk in fact that it is not even a super wal mart and closes).  I had worked a ten hour shift that day, and after he got his wii i drove back, got mine, and worked for another 10 hours.  then I stayed up because friends came over wanting to check the Wii out.  They wouldn't leave.

[poomcgoo]

Two hours 'til my exam.  Staying up was nothing -- I'm having a bigger problem trying to cram all the fucking information I need into my brain.  I'm probably gonna bomb the motherfucker, but at this rate I won't even need to go to bed until tonight.

Edit: Just finished the test... fuck that bullshit.  I wasted all fucking night studying for an impossible exam.  Oh well, at least I didn't fall asleep in the middle of it.

[HxCeddie]

Well I just pulled an all nighter, so at this point I'm at 30 hours and cruising. I've been trying to sleep for the past hour and it just won't work, so this sucks.

[shock]

Ugh.  I'm not competing this time around, just having a really shitty week absolutely FULL of work.

Let's see..

Monday night : Went to bed at 4AM, Got up at 7AM to finish homework.
Tuesday night: Best night of sleep all week.  2AM to 7AM.
Wednesday night: All nighter - Studied for a test and worked on this paper
Thursday Night: Crashed and took a 5 hour nap after classes. Woke up at 11pm. In the process of pulling another all nighter to finish a paper.

So let's see... by tomorrow afternoon, that will be 13 hours of sleep for the 5 day week.  Ugh.  107 aways awake.

So I am discovering if you get SOME sleep, even if it is just 3 hours or so, you can totally stretch it out.

[TheOtherBelmont]

So I am discovering if you get SOME sleep, even if it is just 3 hours or so, you can totally stretch it out.

I used to do that in college.  I think it has to do with getting that all important REM sleep, if you get that, you can last awhile.  I think I went a couple of days without a decent amount of REM sleep, felt like I maybe slept for 10 mins even though I was sleeping 2-3 hours at a time and I got so sleepy I fell asleep during a class and when the teacher called on me to wake up, I couldn't lift my head even though I was conscious enough to know I needed to, it took me a minute or two longer than it normally would have to finally lift my head but it felt like my head weighed several hundred pounds.

[Ghandi]

Yep, it is all about REM sleep. Actually if you deprive yourself, when you DO sleep you will go straight to REM and skip stages 1-4. So the 2-3 hours would be continuous REM sleep as opposed to cycling through the various stages.

[ender]

2 hours.

[Quemaqua]

I only sleep 4 and 1/2 or 5 hours a night now.  I wonder how that works for me.

[Ghandi]

Que, you would probably feel healthier with more sleep. Although generally the work/social situation doesn't make that possible. I haven't got as much sleep the past month or so and I feel myself mentally shutting down near the end of the night.

[Pugnate]

You guys should get more sleep.

[Quemaqua]

I'd probably feel better, but... meh.  I'm used to it.  5 or 6 hours is really all I need to feel good.  Go to bed at 1 or so, get up a little before 6:30, work out for 20 minutes, do morning stuff, go to work all day, take a 20 minute walk from the subway to get home about 5:45 or so, then stay up 'till around 1 again.  It's a routine.

[Ghandi]

It's tough to break certain habits. In all reality, though, you may not need more. Some people need less than the "average recommended", while some need more. I need around 9-10 hours of sleep a night. It's different for everyone.

[Pugnate]

For months I get by on 5-7 hours and am fine when I get used to it, but function far better when I am doing 10 hours hehe. I haven't had 10 hours in years though.