Longest time spent awake

I've had involuntary nights as well, but usually they don't last as long as the times I just stay up.  As you say though, they're no picnic.  

Probably not more than 36, I'd say. And that was back in college. Couldn't do it now.

36 hours

(crap which one do I pick!?)

And I did that, as with all my long stay ups, WITHOUT caffeine or anything.

a long long time ++ 48 hours........messes with your reality, your mind goes all whacky and coffee just make sit worse

Once, I slept over 48 hours. But, nowadays, thanks to coffee, anguish, depression, I can sleep 5 hours per night before going to work (but the next day, I look like I have the worst hangover of my life)

Some where between 24 and 36 hours. New company I was part owner of had our first major order to fill and a tough deadline to meet and every thing that could go wrong did! Along with 5 co-workers we just kept going until we got the last truck loaded. The drive home afterwards was quite an adventure! 

Over 48 hours.  And not by choice.  I suffer from pretty severe obsessive compulsive disorder, and for years now my obsessions have centered around sleep.  About three summers ago I had a series of panic attacks that lasted several days...I think I was ultimately awake for over 52 hours before my doctor prescribed some Ambien to put me down.  It happens periodically, and it always sucks...this summer I was fired from my job following a completely sleepless night, so I ended up having multiple weeks of panic attacks, sleeping about every third night.  It's always much worse than simply being tired - my body starts panicking, I can't think of anything but how long it's been since I last slept, and I essentially become a zombie.  I now have a standing prescription for Ambien, which helps a lot: just knowing that it's there when I need it is a godsend, although I had to work really hard at first not to develop an addiction.

In short, sleep deprivation sucks.

During my spell mentioned above, I did have several cups of coffee, but in the afternoon I was propelled by the thrill of seeing Wales beat Scotland (albeit on TV) in dramatic fashion during the Six Nations rugby tournament.

Slartibartfast wrote: A Person wrote: I can't remember the longest I've been awake, I do know it was more than a day and less than two but I didn't watch a clock or anything. Best when you're not sleeping not to watch a clock.  Watch infomercials, much better. Unless you're intentionally trying to stay awake.

I think I just decided one night to see how long I could stay up, I probably spent most of my time on the computer playing GunZ. I had stayed up almost 24 hours multiple times doing that anyway.

A couple of years ago I pulled an all-nighter on April 14th-April 15th preparing client tax returns.  I was probably at work from 8:00 AM on the 14th until 8:00 PM on the 15th.  I was running on adrenaline.