Sleep Deprivation Survey (Poll)

[Imperial_Call]

I suffer [if that's the right word] from Seasonal Affective Disorder and at this time of the year can sleep for 14 hours straight, and still fall asleep in front of the TV for an hour or so in the evening! I've no idea the longest I've gone without sleep, probably both times I flew back from the States, which would have been 36 hours or summat. If I have to get up early [and don't get my minimum 8 hours sleep] I'm like a zombie for hours ...

 

[Anonymous]

I need at least 8 hours of unbroken sleep per night to function correctly - unfortunately my wife, kids and the dog ensure that I have around 6 hours of broken sleep most nights, so I'm in a permanent state of WTF all the time.

In my younger days after attending Ye Olde Elephant Fair in St Germans (That's for all you aging hippies out there) I went 3 days without sleep and then slept for 26 hours when I got home and woke up with a splitting headache from dehydration and hunger.
Great.

I haven't experienced sleep paralysis, but I regularly wake myself up by laughing at something really funny that i've dreamt about, but I can never remember what it was - one day I will and make lots of money.

 

[Anonymous]

warning: dont travel national express for 12 hours when youre sleep deprived. i got the 3.45 am coach from manchester to st ives in cornwall. 6 hrs later i was very very ill. national express coach toilets are not pleasant.

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

There is a thankfully very rare disorder called if I remember correctly "fatal familial Insomnia" which is caused by a faulty gene which "switches" itself on. A sufferer will be unable to fall asleep. They may be given large doses of drugs but while they may be tranquilized they are not "asleep" - the brain wave patterns are different. Eventually they deterorate and enter a vegetative state which can be several months before death.

 

[ElishevaBarsabe]

5 days and some hours -- no sleep

Once while attending university, I went for 5 days and some hours without sleep. I have no idea why, except that after the first 3 days, staying awake sort of turned into a challenge.

After the 5th day, however, I thought that something bad was surely going to happen if I didn't get some down time. Weirdly enough, when I finally got to the mattress, I couldn't sleep! I spent an hour or two relaxing, then slept for 8 hours.

I had no hallucinations and felt fine the whole time.

Now, I sleep 6-7 hours a night. My 85-year-old father-in-law sleeps 9 hours a night, which I hear is a sign of good health (which he as got).

 

[filcee]

If I'm lucky I'll get about 5 hours a night, more likely to get a couple of 2 hour stints with full wakefulness in between.
The longest I've gone without sleep is about 78 hours, from 5am on a Friday to 7amish Monday (the pay packet was almost worth it).
During one particularly bad bout of tonsillitis I slept from 3pm Friday to 10am Monday.
Maybe it all balances out in the end.