Longest time spent awake

What is the longest amount of time you've spent without sleep?

Started by a guy who only got 4 hours sleep last night.

About 41 hours, but I could not stand this now. I was 21 at the time...

Longest I've managed to stay awake has been just over 20 hours, this February. Woke up at 2am (after all of 2 hours of sleep) to watch the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, then various things happened which stopped me from falling asleep (going out etc.), so I managed to stay awake until around 11pm.

Poll specification suggestion: how long you can stay awake without the use of drugs (caffeine included for God Mode).

A thought came to mind: I have a friend who claimed to have stayed awake 4+ days while on I think it was crystal meth. So yeah, that's kind of cheating.

He was also a chronic lier so take that as you will.


Edited by stonebeard - October 14 2010 at 09:52

When I was 19 my body somehow got on this 32-hour clock.  I would be wide awake for 16 hours and would sleep for 16 hours.  During the sleep mode I could not even will myself awake or get out of bed.  It was so bizarre and I hated it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!