I mean no hours of sleep, not a wink. I can stay up for two days and as far as I can tell function normal, then sleep and do it again. Is this going to damage me in any way in the long term? How long can a young, healthy guy keep doing this before he turns old and sick? Did/do you do this often?
I don't want to do it often but if I do it for this next week or two I could really be ahead of everything I'm behind on.
Staying up all night.. how often? healthy?
If i remember right, when i didnt sleep once, my head was all messed up and i got distracted to some hallucion-quality images my mind was making up... Kind of like just after waking up (tho after waking up its just weird thoughts, not random nonsense images... usually)
Though that might have been after sleeping for just a short time after the long staying up, cant really remember.
Though that might have been after sleeping for just a short time after the long staying up, cant really remember.
Tried this recently and started hallucinating/confusing dreams with reality after a few days. It was pretty fun. Had to stop when started falling asleep at work desk. Also began noticing heart palpitations during long sessions. Lack of food may have exacerbated things here (I tend not to eat or get hungry when in 'night mode'). Would not recommend taking it up as a hobby. I am not a doctor.
When I was young, I attended to these LAN parties and played games with friends for 2-3 days without sleep.. That was a mistake and I won't do it again. I got this hallucinations and saw stuff that was scary as hell..haha
we don't fully understand yet why we need to sleep, but we do know it's necessary. That said, sleep doesn't have to be all at once. There are several techniques out there for varying sleep cycles (like 4 hours asleep, 16 awake or something) - I forget the term used to decscribe them though I know Lifehacker had a post on it once a few weeks ago if you want to try searching there.
Here's the only thing that matters to me - you can stay up as long as you're not tired. For me that could be 9 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours or more depending on various things like what I did during my time awake, how much REM sleep I got before I woke up, etc.
It's important to realize you hit a point of diminishing returns when you force yourself to stay awake - you'll reach a point where you start making errors without even realizing it or have trouble solving the simplest of problems. As long as you know your own limits and don't push yourself too far IMO there's no real danger.
Here's the only thing that matters to me - you can stay up as long as you're not tired. For me that could be 9 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours or more depending on various things like what I did during my time awake, how much REM sleep I got before I woke up, etc.
It's important to realize you hit a point of diminishing returns when you force yourself to stay awake - you'll reach a point where you start making errors without even realizing it or have trouble solving the simplest of problems. As long as you know your own limits and don't push yourself too far IMO there's no real danger.
There were two times where I'd be grading papers for my teaching assistantship class and would pull an all nighter without thinking about it and really regret it. Even 1 hour of sleep is better than none it seems. I sleep 4-6 hours every weekday and 12 on the weekends so ymmv, but yeah I can attest to having hallucinations. Then again I have a cat so it could just be trying to kill me in the dark.
Ah, to be 18 again....
How long can a young, healthy guy keep doing this before he turns old and sick?[/quote]
Low- to Mid- twenties.
That said, sleep doesn't have to be all at once. There are several techniques out there for varying sleep cycles (like 4 hours asleep, 16 awake or something) - I forget the term used to decscribe them though I know Lifehacker had a post on it once a few weeks ago if you want to try searching there.
That would be polyphasic sleep -- very popular among supporters of the idea, although many others suggest there are potential dangers or downsides to polyphasic sleeping patterns. I personally haven't found "normal" sleeping patterns to be inefficient enough to bother with a) the effort, and b) any potential risk of investigating for myself.
I try to sleep at least 5 but up to 8 hours per night -- getting between 6 and 7 hours most nights under normal conditions -- and try to at least fit in some short naps if normal sleeping is temporarily impossible for whatever reason.
Not sleeping at all (especially for prolonged periods) is definitely not a good idea and should be avoided if possible, but I don't believe a couple of once-off experiments with it will do you any permanent damage assuming you don't also hurt yourself while in a sleep deprived state.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement