Thread: Sleep Deprivation

Can there be any permanent effects from sleep deprivation? You can return and be completely normal after a few hours of sleep so I read. Everything seems temporary, what if you were to go without any sleep for say, 3 years?

Originally Posted by Cuntinuum

Everything seems temporary, what if you were to go without any sleep for say, 3 years?

You would die. Or at least that's what I've been told, sleep deprivation kills faster than starvation. Another thing I've been told, but I can't verify it here, is that after 4 or 5 days of sleep deprivation (no sleep at all, zero) you get damage to your brain.

But maybe someone knows more details about this, it could be wrong.

sleep deprivation kills rats if it's very long. I haven't found anything yet about a sleep deprivation related death in humans.

There was a guy I know, Randy Gardner, which I studied in psychology at college. He went 18 days and 21 hours without sleep, he slept for about half a day I think after his record.

This explains the health effects better:

Randy's health affects.

There was someone else who deprived of sleep, a radio presenter in the 1950's but I can't remember his name.

EDIT: There is also controversey as to who holds the record here.

there was a study on this once this guy didont sleep for 2 weeks he started seeing things and there were bbig colorfull dots in front of his eyes and he started throwing up he was perficly better after he slept one night :-D

wtf there was 3 replys to this while i was replying! :?

A large percentage of the human life is devoted to sleeping - so it stands to reason that it must be a very important part of human health and well-being. There are many schools of thought regarding the role sleeping plays, however I follow the belief that sleeping is needed to reinforce neuron connections formed during the previous day (i.e. organising information and reinforcing memories).

Therefore, without sleep memories and information stored in the brain become cluttered and unorganised - confusion. Add to this emotional imbalance caused by this confusion, quickly followed by both visual and auditory hallucinations and you've got yourself a natural drug!

I personally do not believe you could die of sleep deprivation - I mean, in theory I think it is possible, but I believe your body would make you sleep when the stress became too much. However, as Pendragon said, a sufficient length of sleep deprivation would undoubtedly result in some form of long-term psychological damage. That said, the confusion and hallucinations after a few days most certainly could cause death by the way of causing you to act in a dangerous manner (i.e. not being able to see the danger in running across a busy motorway).

Not bad for my first real post at TSF.

Generally I begin to experience paranoid delusions when I am awake for more than forty or forty five hours. Since I know this is going to happen I can usually ignore them.

Originally Posted by 425 Chaotic Requisition

There was someone else who deprived of sleep, a radio presenter in the 1950's but I can't remember his name

Is it Peter Tripp?

Anyway i thought i'd tell you that David Blaine is said to be attempting to break [Tony Wright's] sleep deprivation record in May this year.

I don't know of any studies that have had sleep deprived human subjects not return to complete healthiness. However for Peter Tripp's case, his friends and family have said he was never quite the same after his stunt.

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

Generally I begin to experience paranoid delusions when I am awake for more than forty or forty five hours. Since I know this is going to happen I can usually ignore them.

Is that usually when you log on here?

Sleep is not essentual to the body.
but is very important to mental health.
---

I think you could addapt to not having to sleep, depending on how mentally sound you are in the first place.
otherwise you could die from stress...

I've read (somewhere but I can't remember where and when) that sleep deprivation, after a few days, impairs temporal lobe activity along the motor speech area. The person would usually have trouble thinking clearly and speech would become slurish to a certain extent. That somewhat explains why most students who cram from exams have a hard time recalling what they've studied. I've experienced this before when I didn't sleep for 4 days during exam week...

Sleep deprivation also slows down metabolism and stores fat at a higher rate than those who aren't.

Originally Posted by sakudo-no-hane

I've read (somewhere but I can't remember where and when) that sleep deprivation, after a few days, impairs temporal lobe activity along the motor speech area. The person would usually have trouble thinking clearly and speech would become slurish to a certain extent. That somewhat explains why most students who cram from exams have a hard time recalling what they've studied. I've experienced this before when I didn't sleep for 4 days during exam week...

Sleep deprivation also slows down metabolism and stores fat at a higher rate than those who aren't.

The sleep of the person consists of three stages. Within the first 20-30 minutes there is a restoration glycogen in a brain. That is why it is enough to have a sleep half an hour and the head becomes light.
At the second stage there is the restoration of glycogen in cells of a muscular tissue. After 3 hours of the sleep at you force of muscles is restored.
And at last in the third stage there is a restoration of immune system of the person.

Actually, sleep is crucial for your health and for your bodily functions. It provides a time when your body is resting and is able to catch up on biochemical manufacturing of vital products in your body. Furthermore, it provides a way to bring your body back down from higher states of activity which result in decreases of other bodily processes. Excess sleep or too little of sleep will degrade your system as it would for any other type of analogous system that requires maintenance.

Now, let's say you do go about sleeping less than you typically should for an extended period of time. You may possibly deprive your body from the input that is needed to attain a specific output. Hence why sleep deprivation can predispose someone to diabetes or other diseases that involve hormonal reductions.

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

Generally I begin to experience paranoid delusions when I am awake for more than forty or forty five hours. Since I know this is going to happen I can usually ignore them.

I would find those very interesting! The most I get is constantly catching something moving in my peripherals, which is cool. (I know I could get some cool effects with drug abuse, but I want control over it. No drugs . Not even cannabis :wink: )

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

Generally I begin to experience paranoid delusions when I am awake for more than forty or forty five hours. Since I know this is going to happen I can usually ignore them.

I would find those very interesting! The most I get is constantly catching something moving in my peripherals, which is cool. (I know I could get some cool effects with drug abuse, but I want control over it. No drugs . Not even cannabis :wink: )

The sleep is vital need of the organism that in quiet conditions to restore that has been spent during active work of the body.
Therefore without restoration of forces and immune system during the sleep, the person accumulates products of disintegration in more lots and it can even poison with these substances.

Methamphetamine AKA speed AKA crystal meth. Notorious for the premature aging seen in users. These drugs keep people up; thats' a large part of the high, and users typically tweak their sleep deprived euphoria for a few days at least. The bodily harm is permanent and even recognizable in young adult users, just looking at them. I don't believe the drug itself does this damage.

There's a reason we say "beauty sleep".

Originally Posted by Pendragon

Originally Posted by Cuntinuum

Everything seems temporary, what if you were to go without any sleep for say, 3 years?

You would die. Or at least that's what I've been told, sleep deprivation kills faster than starvation. Another thing I've been told, but I can't verify it here, is that after 4 or 5 days of sleep deprivation (no sleep at all, zero) you get damage to your brain.

But maybe someone knows more details about this, it could be wrong.

wrong (I hope!!)

I have been without sleep for 7 days, and that is without so much as a cat nap too.

The mind starts to go, you become irritable, irrational, aggressive, hyper sensitive to noise, may have waking dreams, hear voices - my experience.

Things that normally are important cease to be, including the life and safety of others. Only thing that becomes important is the need to sleep. Anyone standing between you and sleep better watch out.