A Cornish man says he has broken the world record for sleep deprivation by staying awake for 11 days and nights. Tony Wright, 42, from Penzance, was trying to beat the Guinness world record of 264 sleepless hours set by Randy Gardner in the US in 1964. He fought off tiredness by drinking tea, playing pool and keeping a diary. The Guinness Book of Records has since withdrawn its backing of a sleep deprivation class because of the associated health risks. Weary Mr Wright told BBC News: "I feel pretty good, It's been a bit of a slog, but I got there." He said that his 'Stone Age' diet of raw food helped parts of his brain to stay awake and remain functional for long periods. He said: "It makes it much easier to switch from one side of the brain which is really tired, to the other. "But both are pretty tired at the moment."

During the record attempt, Mr Wright noticed his speech becoming incomprehensible at times and colours appearing very bright. A webcam and CCTV cameras monitored him 24-hours a day. The attempt was part of Mr Wright's research into the body's relationship to sleep. He argues that parts of the human brain require a different amount of sleep and it is possible to stay awake and remain functional for long periods.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

Not to be showing off but i've done more than a month without sleep and food.
During my encounter with a 5 devils that lasted 2 years. I'm still alive.
If i'm gonna do it for the world record, i need a million dollar.

That guy looks really familiar...

i would collapse after 2 days lol

Who do people do things like that??? What about the associated health risks mentioned?

Wow, I can't think of any better way to screw with your brain chemistry than to deprive it of sleep for two weeks.

I hope that once it finished, he had a warm glass of milk and went straight to bed!

I stayed awake for nine days when in college. The result was complete and total disaster.

Longest I lasted (due to insomnia) was 6 days. I passed out and slammed by head against a stove at the end.

Wow, 9 days is a very very long time.

The most I have gone without sleep is only 4, and it went by in an alcohol fuelled haze.
I can't actually remember much of it.

It was a BAD idea.

I went about a week with no sleep. That was a trip, you go into a kind of schizophrenia and hallucinate. I saw a horse run across the freeway, glad I wasn't driving at the time, because there was no horse. People into shamanism do it to go into the spirit world. The story of Jesus going into the desert for 40 days and nights is a shaman's journey of food and sleep deprivation, but it isn't good for the old body you can die. I am to old for that kind of stuff. If I don't get my nap I become a cranky old b****** and get double vision.

He is going to be paying for that for quite some time. A few days here and there is possible without any long term problems but studies have shown that after about 36 hours the human body starts sliding downhill quick and although a persons eyes may be open and they may be in a semi-functional state they are basically running on the equivelant of emergency power and not safe to drive or do anything that takes fine motor skills. We get all of these folks that get hopped up on meth and they stay up for 4 or 5 days at a time. By the 4th day they are usually hallucinating and paranoid because the mind has had no recovery time and reality went out the window.

I work 24 hour shifts for the fire department and if I work through the night once it isn't a problem, but if I do that every other day for a week my mind starts going to mush and I am no where as effective as I should be. The last thing you want is someone trying to run a code or any serious medical procedure with little to no sleep. I have stayed up for 4 days, but I wasn't worth a poo and I couldn't get my sleep rythm back for several days where I felt caught up.

As for the month without sleep or food claim I do not believe it. I could buy that for a month that you slept very poorly/rarely and ate very little but as for going for a month straight with no sleep it is not possible regardless of how many demons your mind may have conjured up for you.

Longest I've ever stayed awake is 23 hours

Ask any first time mum with a colicky baby or an unsettled newborn and she'll tell you she hasn't slept for a month also......But as you say, she sleeps poorly, a few hours here or there.......My eldest is 10 and my youngest is 21 months with a couple in between and I haven't had a good night's sleep for 10 years.....

But I'm okay......

no big deal, i could do it too x=

You need some help.

A VERY bad idea. I didn't do it on purpose...but as time went on and I lost the natural yearning for sleep a different 'me' surfaced...a me that didn't want to sleep...a me that thought sleep was a totally useless exercise...if it hadn't been for my friends who knew I was completely irrational and sought help for me I am sure I would have died. I spent one week in the hospital and many months thereafter in a deep depression. It took me years really to completely overcome the ordeal.

I stayed awake for 7 days once. Horrid experience.

No...I think that he just needs some attention.

O-

Just reading this thread makes me tired.

Longest I've EVER gone without any sleep at all was roughly 48 hours, and that was with the help of caffeine.
I read that the hallucinations normally don't start 'til 50+ hours in.

One day you gonna be asking for it too.

You are right. Every time I read whacky posts, I ask for help.

If there is a radio thing in your brain for 24/7 how can you sleep?
You wanted to die isn't it? Ye, i wanted to die but it didn't happen.
Breaking a world record was different from Divine Intervention.

I am saying that you are lying or delusional. You are making no sense.

Ok i am "LIENG" , forgot to say, i can only swallow water but not foods.

And one more thing, i worked 13 hours Mon-Fri and sleep 3 hours a day for a year.
Is that also impossible?

LOL.. this is what makes U.M so enduring and entertaining for me and ppl like Eric-, there are sum ppl on here that just push their boundaries too far! Do U even realise how ridiculous Ur coming across to other ppl? I hope Ur not like this off the computer.. do U have any freinds? Are they normal?

Exactly. Does he think people are stupid and believe anything. People like this make me more skeptical day by day.

What exactly is a "radio thing"?

To study the effects of sleep deprivation, researchers take animals and place them on an isolated platform surrounded by water, forcing them to stand and try to keep their balance. If they enter the REM phase of the sleeping process they lose control of their muscles and fall in to the water. Despite that, guess what? They still achieve several stages of sleep.

It's extremely difficult to stay fully awake for such a long period, there comes a point when your brain forces your body to shut down regardless of any stimuli.



I think that speaks for itself.



No, but it might explain a thing or two.

There are many smart people in here but don't know how human body works.

Voices that never stop talking.

Voices in your head which don't stop talking? Those aren't demons, mate. Voices would also be unable to deprive you of sleep.



You're right, I'm sure my education means nothing. Can you teach me how the body operates with no food or sleep?

Sorry but this is not pushing bounderies, it's about experiences that happened.
If i'm gonna do it for a record, i don't think i will survive.
About friends? thousands man ! and they all say i'm a good person.

Better take a look at it again.

Thats called shcizophrenia. They have medicine for that. Hint. I used to be nurse. I understand the body. I think you are dealing with more serious things then lack of sleep.

Oh i didn't knew that ! though my wife works in the hospital.
What is your qualification Mr Skeptic? Building a house?

I guess it's time to exit.
The mods might not like what i'm saying.

You are not saying anything.

I have a nursing degree and logic. Actually I sell new homes now so I do know the ins and outs of building a house.

How about that vietnam guy who stayed awake for 30 years? Or was it 10? Anyways, this guy isnt the record holder. Heres a link I found

http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?cat...mp;newsid=12673

Oh great ! thanks for that Kinglizard.
They think 11 days is a big deal.

Wow, I can't imagine staying awake for that long!
The longest I have went without sleep was 3 days and 2 nights. It was not deliberately. It was when I was a teenager and I missed 1 night of sleep and decided that I would just lug myself through the day and go to sleep that night. When the night came, I got my 2nd wind and I couldn't fall asleep no matter what I did!
By the next night, I was in horrible shape. I was shaking, nervous, feeling sick to my stomach, starting to hallucinate, etc. I layed down and I almost couldn't go to sleep again. My body was fighting it. Lucky for me, I did drift off to sleep and managed to sleep a good 15 hours to make up for lost time.
I can't even begin to think of the damage your body must suffer after 11 days and nights of no sleep!

Have a nice day!
Lorelei

^Hai Ngoc is the man when it comes to staying awake !

That sounds fun. What do you get if you are the record holder?

That bloke reminds me of the guy from the TV show 'The Young Ones'.
Lookwise.

I seriously doubt this story. Since it is a must for the brain to be able to dream and sleep, without dream and sleep the brain doesn't function properly.

I heard that he came 12 hours short. I will find a link.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

I stayed awake once for three days with some pharmacological intervention. I was hallucinating and incoherent for much of that time past the 2nd day. I slept for some 22 hours afterwards.

normally i only sleep up to 1hour a night, i have been to sleep specialists and other doctors, i just don't get tired. Some time it gets bad like cant sleep for a week and i almost go insane, it really suck i wish i had a normal sleep pattern

I didn't sleep for about two days, due to a Counter Strike lan party. I know, I'm a nerd.