So I was having coffee with a friend and we were talking about polyphasic sleep. I’ve decided that if I didn’t want to have a real life I’d give it a try.
So my question: What was your longest day and how long (approximately) were you awake? Tell your war story!
219 responses to “Longest you’ve ever stayed awake?”
I’d routinely pull a 48 hour awake shift in college, and once or twice went close to 72 hours without any sleep…reaesons varied between cramming for tests/work, not wanting to miss social events (a.k.a. parties), needing to finish an entire season of NHL Hockey on my Playstation without saving, etc…
48 hrs for myself.
Combination of all night talk with a friend and then having to do a photo job the next day and not enough time to sleep in between. =P
Once in college I went 6 full days without sleep. I knew it was time to get some rest when I started hallucinating that the chairs in the auditorium of one of my survey classes were moving.
48 hours…
when i realized the deadline for handing in 3 written essays for a scholarship was two weeks before the date i thought it was. had to write, edit, put together all the other stuff i needed, then drive 2hrs to deliver it in person 5 mins before the deadline.
wow. I guess the 30 hours I was up while traveling to europe isn’t all that impressive…
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 1/2 days. I remember I was working on final layouts for my college newspaper and the monitor started waving like a flag in the wind. yikes! time for a nap. I semi-routinely go 48 hours these days (10 years later.) An alternative I have found to be more effective when I need to get a ton done is to sprinkle 1-2 hour naps throughout the day and night every 6 or 7 hours. It gets disorienting quickly, though.
I’ve gone around 48 hours without sleep. It’s not that bad as long as you have interesting stuff happening.
But if you get into a car. Man. It is sooooooooo hard to keep your eyes open.
In college, I did 36 hours straight. Professionally, I’ve done over 40 straight — worked 23 hours, went home and took a shower, came back to work, worked another 12 hours, went home, showered and ate, came back to work for 8 hours.
Chris,
I’ve did a 36hr day when i lived in Ecuador- climbed mt. Cotopaxi starting at midnight and got down by 11am and had to go take a final then stay up studying til the next morning to take another exam. I definitely hallucinated and it didn’t help that i was studying in a coffee shop on the corner and a car crashed through the wall 20ft from where I was sitting. it was one of the trippiest days of my life.
sean
75 hours is my longest.
Cramming/designing for my advertising final senior year of college.
I was so out of it when we had a minor earthquake the day of the presentation I could not tell if it was real or if I was hallucinating.
Actually, it’s funny you should ask this question today. I have been awake for approximately…78 hours. Besides the hillociantions and the constant twitching of my left side I feel pretty darn…………….slump, thud…clunk.
I was up for 3-4 days once, but it became soothing and zombie-like after a while…
Wow these are amazing stories! Everyone has such an interesting life when you break it down to these basics. Seriously folks, you rock! Thanks for answering my question.
48ish hours. Started off with school, cramming all night for a test and working on a project, then a party and a movie marathon with soem friends. No way near any of your stories 😉
When I was 18, I once started work at 9am on a Friday only to find that my boss had accepted a portal website on my behalf that needed done for Tuesday morning. I finished the portal and went home at 10am on Tuesday with no sleep in that time. The portal worked pretty well, but didn’t really look all that hot, that was tough! I quit not long after that 🙂
i was up forlike 48 hours…woth like 2 hours of sleep hahahaha+
I havent personally thought about me and how long ive been kept awake, but my close friend has been up for 48 hours froma friday 8am to the following sunday at 7am, he wants to brake the world record but ive been on the site and i dont think anyone has broken it, he could look for himself but he is either at work or he is sleeping for working so damn hard!!! how can i get through to this guy he is my homie how hard can it get!
In my class we are doing a project on sleep deprivation.My friend Cassandra and I are going to test in a few days. *groans* That will be interesting LOL I will post my results later
(:
I have only gone about 40 to 46 hours with no sleep and it was at a sleepover.(birthday party)
as of right now almost 55 hrs
As of right now I have been up for 62 hours, and I haven’t finished what I need to finish yet. It’s going to be quite a few more hours.
I was up 84 hours once. Had flashbacks to childhood. Thought I was Jesus. Not recommended.
Have been trying to stay up as long as possible with some friends and am currently around 56 hours, with a goal of at least 72 hours. Zombie-like feelings are common and daydreams are becoming more and more frequent.
thanx guys, i feel not so bad about my more than often 36-48 hour gameing sessions.
i just read on a site that you see things after 48 houres, which i know from experince isnt true, but i thought id look it up anyway, seems like maybe 55+ could do it.
Most was 52 hours. When my battalion was crossing into Basra, we had more than three wait orders before a push and we were constantly getting shelled and shot at. I tried to fall asleep but it wasn’t easy feeling safe and comfortable. I was fully conscious but it felt like I was watching my life in a movie and had a short memory span of 40 secs. I couldn’t remember converstaions minutes later, etc, and was very weak and clumsy and always hungry.