Sleep takes up a lot of time from people – according to some estimates, by the age of 78, the time spent sleeping is about 25 years. Just imagine – an adult can spend a quarter of a century in this state during his life. But is it possible to give up sleep and spend decades more usefully? Unfortunately, no – we can go without sleep for some time, but eventually sleep will take its toll, that is, sooner or later a person will fall asleep. There are cases when people lose the ability to sleep, but after that they die quite quickly.
Long-term sleep deprivation can lead to death. Photo source: anatomiyasna.ru
Contents
- 1 Why people can't live without sleep
- 2 What happens to a person who does not sleep for a long time
- 3 The maximum time a person can spend without sleep
- 4 After what time without sleep does a person die
Why people cannot live without sleep
Scientists still cannot fully understand the role of sleep and why we need it so much. However, it is known that somehow it “zeroes out” many systems of our body. As a result, the body restores energy, damaged cells and tissues, and also increases immunity. Studies have shown that sleep accelerates wound healing, improves metabolism, etc.
There is an opinion that sleep is necessary for the brain to rest, but in fact this is not true. During sleep, the brain is actively working – it processes the information received during the day and organizes it. For example, it deletes unnecessary information and saves useful information.
By the way, for this reason bad memories are forgotten, and good ones remain in memory. Sometimes the brain works so actively that people talk in their sleep. From this we can conclude that sleep is needed not only for the brain. Proof of this is the fact that even creatures that do not have a brain at all sleep.
Sleep seems to be necessary even for organisms that do not have a brain, such as sea sponges. Photo source: rg.ru
It has also long been known that people who regularly do not get enough sleep have a high risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, etc. In other words, our body is completely unsuited to life without sleep, so even just lack of sleep leads to its rapid failure.
What happens to a person who does not sleep for a long time
Symptoms of acute sleep deprivation appear during the first 24 hours without sleep. These include puffy eyes and dark circles around them, irritability, clouded consciousness, as well as decreased cognitive abilities and increased appetite. On the second day without sleep, all of these symptoms intensify in a person, along with a change in behavior.
Often, people experience microsleep – involuntary periods of drowsiness lasting about 30 seconds. Physiological changes also occur, such as decreased immunity, making the body more susceptible to disease. In addition, systemic inflammation occurs, that is, non-infectious inflammation associated with cellular stress.
After several days without sleep, a person begins to hallucinate. Photo source: medportal.ru
On the third day, a person usually experiences an unbearable desire to sleep, while the likelihood of longer microsleeps increases. A feeling of detachment from reality and even hallucinations appears. On the fourth day, all of the above sharply intensify and turn into psychosis, that is, the mental reaction does not correspond to what is happening. A person cannot interpret what is happening and experiences a painful desire to sleep.
Recovery after a long absence occurs in different ways. Some people need a full night's sleep, while others need several days or even weeks. However, after recovery sleep, as some studies have shown, metabolic changes do not go away. This can lead to the development of diabetes and weight gain.
The maximum time a person can go without sleep
There are several cases of healthy people deliberately refusing to sleep. One of the most famous experiments was conducted in 1964, when 17-year-old Randy Gardner did not sleep for 264 hours (11 days) and thereby set a record. The guy's condition was constantly monitored by doctors, and scientists also observed him.
Randy Gardner didn't sleep for 11 days. Photo source: bigpicture.ru
To stay alert, Randy Gardner drank Coca-Cola, listened to loud music, took cold showers, visited arcades, and played basketball at night. During the experiment, researchers observed a decline in his analytical skills, motivation, memory, and motor control. In addition, by the fourth day, Randy Gardner began to suffer from hallucinations and delusions, and was unable to concentrate.
Subsequently, his record was broken several times. The last record was set in 1986 by Robert McDonald. He stayed without sleep for 453 hours, or almost 19 days, as a result of which he got into the Guinness Book of Records. Since 1997, the Guinness Book of Records has stopped tracking the longest time without sleep due to the health risks of such records.
After what period of time does a person die without sleep
As already mentioned above, there are sleep disorders when a person cannot sleep at all. Usually, 18 months pass from the onset of the disease until death. However, in the early stages, people periodically fall asleep. From the moment of complete or almost complete lack of sleep until death, about 9 months pass. That is, we can say that a person is able to not sleep for nine months, after which death occurs.
It is believed that a person can live without sleep for 9 months. Photo source: tinkoffjournal.ru
However, during this period, people cannot function normally. After just a few weeks, patients fall into a permanent drowsy state. This is followed by weight loss and dementia. However, scientists are not entirely sure what causes death – lack of sleep or the disease itself, which causes complete insomnia.
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However, it can be assumed that a person completely deprived of sleep will die sooner or later anyway. For example, an experiment on rats showed that without sleep, the rodents die after 32 days. In human terms, this period is more than two years.