Man who stayed awake for 11 days shares the crippling effects it had on his body
A man has opened up about the physical and mental effects of forcing himself to stay awake for 11 days.
In 2007, in a bid to set a new world record, Tony Wright from Cornwall, UK, decided to try and not sleep for as long as possible. I really shouldn't have to say this, but please don't try this at home:
The 42-year-old horticulturist began his period of sleep deprivation and managed to go a staggering 266 hours without catching some z's.
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Alas, it wasn't enough to beat the world record - despite thinking it was given he beat teenager Randy Gardner, who went a whopping 264 hours without sleep in 1964 - it was later discovered others had gone without sleep for even longer periods of time.
In 1964, a man named Toimi Soini from Hamina, Finland, set the Guinness Record for sleep deprivation by forgoing sleep for 11.5 days - 276 hours - and in 1986, Robert McDonald didn't sleep for a record-shattering time of 453 hours.
However, record-holder or not, staying up that long is no mean feat, and Wright later opened up about why he did it and the effects it had.
"Basically, you're starving the rational mind, the egotistical mind of sleep, and it's battery's running down," he said. "And of course, it doesn't feel very good, it feels tired. But if you push beyond that, its ability to stay in charge starts to break down as well. And that's where you can start to get glimpses of access to the other side of the brain, the other self."
He continued: "I've spoken to a lot of people about this. Most people have recollections where they've been partying, or they've been working hard, and sure they get tired, but within within that they get glimpses of something else. That kind of softness, or a more relaxed state - often more emotional, because again, there's more access to that emotional side of the brain.
"Even feeling quite good, quite an altered state for brief windows, or getting a second wind even. You know, be really, really tired, no sleep, and then suddenly feeling fine for half an hour or an hour.
"So all I really did, or what I was interested in, is making sense of that. And is it possible to exploit that and bring in combining techniques to tie the left side of the brain up, which initially doesn't feel great, but the reward on the other side of that makes it worth the effort."
However, while Wright might be an advocate for sleeplessness, the Guinness World Records no longer keeps a record of it due to the health risks associated with sleep deprivation.
In an article, the Guinness World Records explained: "In 1997, we stopped monitoring the record for the longest time to stay awake. The record holder at the time was Robert McDonald, who went 453 hours 40 minutes (18 days 21 hours 40 minutes) without sleeping in 1986.
"Although we no longer monitor the record due to the inherent dangers associated with sleep deprivation, we can say that no one is known to have broken it since McDonald."
After detailing the history of record attempts, the article continued: "Although the effects suffered by these record breakers varied, both in terms of severity and length, their stories paint a clear picture: skipping sleep is harmful to the human body and mind.
"Scientific studies suggest that even small amounts of missed sleep can negatively impact our mental and physical health.
"However, there are also other reasons why we cannot monitor this record.
"Firstly, during the 1960-70s, sleep researchers discovered the existence of 'microsleeps'; momentary lapses into sleep that last for just a few seconds.
These are impossible to accurately monitor without continuous physiological recording equipment. Even Dr Dement later accepted that Randy Gardner - who was under constant medical supervision - probably experienced microsleeps."
"Another reason we no longer monitor this record is due to the existence of people who suffer fatal familial insomnia, an extremely rare genetic disorder," the article explained.
"Victims initially experience trouble sleeping, and over time this evolves into total insomnia (agrypnia excitata), causing speech problems, hallucinations, dementia, and eventually death.
"It's likely that one unfortunate victim of this condition would be the unwitting holder of the record if we still monitored it."
Topics: Health, Weird, Sleep, Science, Psychology, Mental Health, World News, UK News
Jake Massey