Sleepless-ness

Source: Flickr- Sleepless _ Self-portait Inspiration can strike you whenever

Learn about insomniacs all over the world and understand their philosophy behind not sleeping for days, months, and even, years.

No one can imagine not going to sleep- it is a fundamental human need. But for many people sleep remains elusive and there can be many reasons behind this phenomenon. Scientists and researchers all over the world have tried their best to understand what causes this problem in so many people. They have sound answers but there is no one concrete reason as to why someone stops falling asleep.

Some of the reasons can be stress or any other mental problem, moral dilemmas, and even philosophical beliefs. Whatever it is, it is still very harmful for someone to go without sleep for more than two to three days. And surprisingly, there are people who have tried to see how long they can go without sleep.

Peter Tripp (1959)

Peter trip was an American radio DJ who had performed a publicity stunt in 1959 which involved him staying awake for 8 days straight. This had severe consequences on Tripp’s mental wellbeing.

He had started experiencing intense hallucinations and paranoia, which involved him mistaking objects as well as people around him. Soon, he started believing that the doctors were trying to kill him and even after the experiment ended, he couldn’t recover from the psychological issues for years to come.

Randy Gardner (1964)

Randy Gardner was a 17-year-old high school student who set the record for going the longest without sleeping way back in 1964. He had been up for 11 days and 25 minutes straight and had done this as part of a science fair project.

It was done under the supervision of a proper team of researchers, one of whom was Dr. William C. Dement. As the days went by during this time period, he experienced significant sensory impairments, as well as other symptoms like memory lapses, hallucinations and mood swings. Fortunately, he was able to recover properly after the experiment ended and there were no reported long-term consequences.

Maureen Weston (1977)

In 1977, a British woman by the name of Maureen Western participated in a rocking chair marathon. While competing, she stayed awake for 18 days, which was more than anyone else had ever achieved!

Sadly, for the scientific community, there is very little to no scientific documentation about the experience she had during and after the marathon, which is why we don’t know what impact this whole ordeal had on her.

Tony Wright (2007)

A young British man, named Tony Wright, tried to understand the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain and mental health. So, in 2007, he stayed awake for 11 days, which is quite more than Randy Gardner’s record. He had done this purely for his own curiosity and had given the whole credit to a raw food diet and meditation.

Unfortunately, his record remains unofficial because Gardener’s experiment was better documented by the scientific community and we know a little bit more about how it happened.

Tyler Shields (2010)

Another instance of someone going without sleep occurred in 2010 when Tylor Shields, an American photographer, documented his experience of staying awake for 5 days. According to him, he had started hallucinating during the last two days of his experiment and proclaimed that he saw things that weren’t actually there.

But he also highlighted a positive experience- he went through an elevated stage of creativity, although the body and his mind were suffering because of the lack of sleep!

But whatever the experiment might have been, all of these examples just highlight the fact that prolonged sleep deprivation isn’t good for anyone. Everyone needs to have a proper amount of sleep, regardless of their situation, to ensure that they are healthy and doing well.

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