What happens to your body if you don't sleep for a day or more?

Irina Linikova

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How many days/hours can a person stay awake without harm and when death occurs in real examples. What happens to the body without sleep day by day and Guinness World Records.

During sleep, strength and spent energy are restored, the psycho-emotional state is normalized, which is why it is important to rest properly. About a third of the total time is spent restoring the body's strength, which means sleep is the most important part of life.

The condition, which is characterized by a refusal to sleep, has a special term - deprivation.

Sleep deprivation

is a lack or lack of satisfaction of the need for sleep, which arises as a result of disorders or as a result of conscious choice.

Some people want to learn from their own experience how long a person can stay awake, so they voluntarily give up rest.

Now you will find out how long a person can stay awake in principle and whether you can die if you don’t sleep. Over the past 10 years, research has been carried out at different levels. Attempts have been made to determine how long a person can live without sleep without harm to health and what consequences insomnia entails.

How the body reacts to lack of sleep

People experience deprivation (sleep deprivation) differently depending on age, health status, living conditions and nutrition. For example, children and teenagers need more sleep than adults. Lack of sleep in childhood can How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More can cause poor academic performance, problems in communication and socialization, the emergence of bad habits and dangerous relationships, and retardation in physical growth and development.

The effect of prolonged wakefulness is generally similar to what happens with chronic sleep deprivation, the only difference is how quickly it manifests itself.

After one day

Most people begin to feel the effects of lack of sleep within a day. The effects of going more than 24 hours without sleep of continuous wakefulness.

After 24 hours without sleep

• Body temperature drops.
• The level of stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline increases.
• Blood sugar levels increase (insulin levels decrease).
• Tension appears in the muscles.
• The natural cycle of sleep and rest is disrupted, which disrupts the production of hormones that regulate growth, appetite, metabolism and immunity.
• Vision and hearing deteriorate.
• How Long Can You Go Without Sleep Begins to Change? Function, Hallucination, and More perception of the world.

The brain is under stress, so it tries to conserve energy and enters a state of “local sleep” - temporarily turning off some neurons. Because of this, drowsiness, irritability appears, and How Long Can You Go Without Sleep worsens? Function, Hallucination, and More concentration, coordination, ability to reason and make decisions, memory begins to work worse. Appetite and cravings for high-calorie foods increase.

According to Drowsy Driving. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lack of sleep during the day is comparable to drinking 30-60 ml of alcohol in its pure form. This is 0.8 (according to some sources - exactly 1) ppm of alcohol in the blood, which is significantly higher than the permissible standard in Russia under Art. 12.8. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

That is, driving after a day without sleep is just as dangerous as driving drunk.

After two days

After 36 hours without sleep

• The effects mentioned above are preserved and enhanced.
• Fatigue accumulates.
• Speech disturbances appear.
• Motivation decreases.
• The likelihood of making risky decisions increases.
• Thinking becomes How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More are less flexible.

As Sleep Deprivation Impairs the Accurate Recognition of Human Emotions found. Sleep. Californian psychiatrists, after 30 hours of wakefulness, people begin to recognize emotions much worse. Due to brain fatigue, a seemingly simple operation becomes difficult.

After 48 hours without sleep

• The negative effects continue to accumulate.
• Periods of unconsciousness (microsleep) appear.
• The person begins to feel confused and disoriented.
• Immunity decreases and increases How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More the threat of the development of viral and inflammatory diseases: influenza, ARVI and other infections. This was confirmed by a study by Almeida CMO de, Malheiro. A. Sleep, immunity and shift workers: A review of Brazilian immunologists.

The longer a person stays awake, the stronger The effects of going more than 24 hours without sleep become. After two days, severe fatigue sets in. Because of this, the brain begins to involuntarily enter microsleep - short periods of completely unconsciousness that can last a few seconds.

After three days without sleep or more

After 72 hours without sleep

• The negative effects become so strong that the person can no longer stay awake on his own.
• Mental disorders may appear: paranoia, psychosis, depression.
• Mental abilities decline How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More so much so that even simple tasks are difficult to complete.
• A person has memory problems. For example, he may forget what he is doing right in the middle of the action.
• The perception of the world changes: The effects of going more than 24 hours without sleep hallucinations and illusions appear.

Even healthy people find it difficult to stay awake for three days. Effects of 72 hours total sleep deprivation on male astronauts' executive functions and emotion Chinese psychologists from Peking University came to this conclusion during an experiment. Its participants were socially isolated and did not sleep for 72 hours. As a result, their pulse rate increased, undesirable effects appeared in the amplitude of heart contractions, and their mood worsened.

An ordinary person who has not slept for three days will feel extreme fatigue, problems with concentration and memory, paranoia, and depression. It will become difficult for him How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More do several things at once and communicate with other people.

Most of these effects go away if you get enough sleep. They can be partially smoothed out with proper nutrition and plenty of fluids, but this still will not replace How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More good sleep.

Consequence of three days of insomnia

If you don't sleep all night for 3 days in a row, the consequences will be even more serious than in the previous two cases. The symptoms are the same, but more pronounced. Movements become even more uncoordinated, severe problems with speech are observed, and sometimes a nervous tic appears. You also lose your appetite and experience regular nausea. Patients also note other symptoms - coldness in the hands, chills in general. Often, those who do not get enough sleep focus their gaze on a specific object and cannot take it away from this point.

If you don't sleep for 3 days or more, a person may experience failures. That is, at some time his brain may turn off and fall asleep for a short period. This is due to the shutdown of a number of control areas of the brain, that is, this is not a full-fledged sleep. So, a person can switch off and not notice how he passed 5 stations on the metro. Sometimes the purpose of a trip is forgotten, and you may not notice how a certain section was covered.

How long can a person live without sleep?

No one knows for sure The effects of going more than 24 hours without sleep. The most famous record holder for staying awake is Randy Gardner. In the winter of 1963-1964, as part of a school science project, he lasted 264 hours without sleep - more than 11 days - and broke previous records (Albert Shilbert and George Patrick - 90 hours, Peter Tripp - 201 hours, Tom Rounds - 260 hours). Two classmates helped him stay awake, and they recorded the record Boese A. Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments. Pan Books. 2008. and monitored the student’s health by Stanford University professor William Dement and Colonel John Ross.

Randy did not take any chemical stimulants to remain awake. Although the student was in good physical condition and could beat Dement at pinball in the last days of the experiment, the lack of sleep greatly affected his mental abilities.

On the fourth day, Gardner began to hallucinate: he imagined himself as an American Football League player and mistook a road sign for a person.

On the last day of the experiment, Randy was unable to consistently subtract seven from the previous number, starting from 100. He stopped Boese A. Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments. Pan Books. 2008. at 65 because I forgot what I was doing.

The results of this experiment were studied by psychiatrists from Arizona. They concluded that Randy Gardner's brain adapted to constant wakefulness by alternately turning off and turning on some neurons. After this experiment, the Guinness Book of Records stopped recording such achievements.

Nevertheless, attempts to break Gardner's record continued. So, in 2007, 42-year-old Briton Tony Wright lasted 274 hours without sleep. In order not to pass out, he drank tea, played billiards and kept an online diary, and cameras monitored the cleanliness of the experiment. Wright admitted to Man claims new sleepless record that he was very tired. During the experiment, his speech sometimes became incomprehensible, and the colors were perceived as very bright. There were other daredevils, but none of the subsequent cases were verified by Sleepless in Ukraine.

Animal experiments might help answer the question of how long a person can live without sleep. However, the last such experiment was carried out by a doctor from Russia, Marina Manaseina, at the end of the 19th century. She did not let the puppies sleep, and after five days they died. This allowed Manaseina to assert V.M. Kovalzon, “The Forgotten Founder of Biochemistry and Somnology,” that sleep is more important for the body than food. At the same time, she herself admitted to Keating S. The boy who remained awake for 11 days that the experiment was difficult for her.

Research

Scientists, in order to avoid death, did not complete the experiment, so they did not give a clear answer to how long a person can go without sleep, if only because they could not exclude such breaks for the brain during the experiment as superficial short-term sleep.

On the first day, the subjects felt lethargic; on the second, they became distracted and aggressive. On the third day, hallucinations began to appear, and on the fourth, they looked incredibly exhausted and exhausted.

The maximum period without proper rest was 5 days, then the experiments were stopped due to the threat of death, since brain cells begin to die on the third day.

Why not getting enough sleep regularly is also harmful

Not only a long lack of sleep, but also a constant lack of sleep leads to negative consequences for the body. For example, when every day you rest for 5-6 instead of the prescribed 7–8 hours. The effect can accumulate and manifest itself in symptoms similar to those experienced during extreme wakefulness:

• Fatigue and drowsiness.
• Poor concentration, problems with alertness, memory and coordination.
• Irritability, sudden mood swings.
• Increased appetite The effects of going more than 24 hours without sleep.
• Development of anxiety.
• Deterioration of immunity.
• Raising How Long Can You Go Without Sleep? Function, Hallucination, and More accident risks.
• Increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, stroke).
• Increased likelihood of sleep apnea.
• Reduced What to know about sleep deprivation of fertility (the likelihood of conceiving a child).

Experiments on rats have proven that lack of sleep negatively affects the body's ability to heal. Effects of sleep deprivation on wound healing and the formation of No sleep means no new brain cells.

Effect of melatonin

I have already told you about human biorhythms, and that if he is still awake at 2 am, this can eventually lead to depression and loss of the “taste of life.” This is due to the fact that it is at this time that our body produces melatonin, a hormone that regulates our sleep. That is, if there is a deficiency of it, and people who lead a nocturnal lifestyle have a significant deficiency, it is likely that insomnia, nightmares will occur, and the sleep itself will be superficial, during which the body’s resources will not be replenished.

Have you noticed that after a sleepless night it takes several days to recover? Go ahead. During deep, full sleep, our nervous system finally rests, the brain processes the information received during the day, and the functioning of all organs and systems of our body also normalizes. What happens if you disrupt your natural biorhythm? You will simply deprive yourself of the opportunity to lead a healthy, active life and feel young and vigorous. Melatonin generally plays almost the main role in our body, since:

• Regulates the activity of the thyroid gland;
• Has a stimulating effect in the sexual sphere;
• Suspends the aging process;
• Regulates blood pressure, brain cell function, and digestion;
• Helps to adapt when changing time zones;
• Has antioxidant properties.

When sleep deprivation is used therapeutically

Deprivation is usually perceived as torture, but in some cases it can be useful. For example, Swiss psychiatrists studied Wirz-Justice A., Van den Hoofdakker RH Sleep deprivation in depression: what do we know, where do we go? the effect of complete and partial sleep deprivation on the depressive state of patients. Using this measure in combination with others, in particular taking antidepressants, doctors achieved a quick cure in 60% of cases.

Also, oddly enough, sleep deprivation can treat insomnia. Controlled sleep restriction helps Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med helps the body return to its normal cycle of activity and rest. When combined with cognitive behavioral therapy, this treatment has proven effective.

We all sometimes sacrifice relaxation for the sake of work, an exam or an interesting TV series. But it is important to remember that adequate sleep is one of the conditions for our health. You shouldn't experiment on yourself.

If you don't sleep for 4 days

Not everyone knows what will happen to the brain if you don’t sleep for 4 days. And this is understandable, because such a test is very difficult for the body and not everyone has passed it. It is enough not to sleep for a day for cognitive abilities to temporarily decrease by 30%; after two days the decrease will be 60%. Considering such dynamics, it becomes clear that after 4 days of wakefulness, the consciousness will be quite confused, and the body will be exhausted. The person will be very irritable, his appearance will deteriorate significantly, and tremors of the limbs will appear . Outwardly, such a patient will look much older than his age.

Causes and consequences of sleepless nights

If you stay awake all night before any important event (exams at a higher educational institution, defense of a PhD thesis, wedding), this will negatively affect the functioning of the body as a whole.

The next day the person will suffer from drowsiness and generally feel unwell

Lack of night rest is fraught with the following consequences:

• sloppiness;
• inattention;
• absent-mindedness;
• decreased intellectual abilities;
• severe fatigue.

Some schoolchildren and students, who were too lazy to study diligently all year, rush to gnaw on the granite of science on the last night before a test or exam. Working people are more familiar with the concept of a deadline (the deadline by which a task must be completed). A person who is accustomed to postponing all important matters for later, sooner or later (in this case it’s late) realizes that the finished project or task will still have to be handed over to management. And then the labor night vigils begin. It’s also good when you can sleep well the next day. But on weekdays, a working person does not have such luxury.

Without sleeping a wink at night, a schoolchild, student or office worker will literally fall asleep on the go all day. Of course, in such a state there can be no talk of any concentration. And this is fraught with problems in school and at work, conflicts with teachers and superiors.

When preparing for exams or a busy work day, in principle, you can devote the entire dark time of the day to this activity. The main thing is that this is an isolated case and does not develop into a vicious pattern. You will be able to keep a more or less fresh mind if you do not neglect one valuable piece of advice. It consists of taking a little nap.

Even a 15-minute half-nap helps improve your well-being and slightly clear your brain. But drinking large amounts of coffee or, even worse, energy drinks will do nothing but harm.

Folk remedies for vigor

When internal resources are running out, nature will help. Natural energy drinks give you vigor, relieve mental and physical stress, and a feeling of fatigue.

Dog-rose fruit

Dry berries are a natural energy tonic. They eliminate loss of strength, drowsiness, lethargy, and apathy. They are crushed and poured into enamel dishes. The fruits are poured with warm water and placed in a water bath.

Cooking rules:

• For 1 liter of water take 1 tbsp. l. rosehip;
• The decoction is prepared for half an hour, the infusion for 15 minutes.

The finished product is filtered and drunk 1 glass twice a day after meals.

Invigorating baths

Warm baths with decoctions of medicinal plants are taken for 15-20 minutes. Water temperature is about 38 degrees.

Add to water:

• sea ​​salt (2 tbsp.);
• decoctions of viburnum, chamomile, lemon balm (1 l);
• essential oils of lavender, juniper, rosemary (3-5 drops each).

The procedure will improve your general condition, put you in a calm emotional mood, and give you strength.

Ginger tonic

Ginger root activates cerebral circulation, tones, and improves immunity. It is recommended to take the energy drink 30 ml in the morning.

Preparation:

1. The peeled root (100 g) is scrolled through a meat grinder.
2. The juice of 1 lemon is mixed with honey (2 tbsp.).
3. Add cinnamon and 250 ml warm water.

Shake the drink before drinking.

Eleutherococcus

Pharmacy tincture improves motor skills, brain activity, tones the nervous system, reduces sleep cravings and fights chronic fatigue syndrome. Eleutherococcus is added to tea or other drink, 7-10 drops.

Chinese lemongrass

A lemongrass-based drink acts gradually. The first effect occurs no earlier than half an hour, but lasts up to 5 hours. The plant increases performance and improves the emotional background. To prepare, lemongrass leaves are brewed with hot water like a traditional tea. They drink it every day when they feel weak.

The importance of hormones

Serotonin and melatonin are vital to us. If the concentration of melatonin is insufficient, the process of falling asleep, which usually takes up to half an hour, can last for 2-3 hours. But even if you manage to fall asleep faster, the sleep will not be deep enough, and the body will not be properly rested. This means chronic fatigue will accumulate.

But melatonin affects not only direct sleep, but also:

That is why you need to sleep at night, and even in complete darkness, in order to remain young and healthy for a long time.

Sleep as a panacea for all diseases

With the modern rhythm of life, many of us have had moments when the day flew by without a pit stop. Exams, backlogs at work, urgently finishing projects and coursework force us to take desperate measures - to forget about nightly “halts”. How long can this last? Day? Two? Three? Fortunately, a cup of strong coffee can help you stay awake for a long time. Few people think about the dangers of such a “diet” if a new position, scholarship or receiving a lucrative contract is at stake. But the body needs sleep. It gives rest to every organ, every cell. Even a robot needs to be disconnected from the network for a while, allowing its mechanism to cool down.

Reading Russian fairy tales as children, we often heard the phrase “the morning is wiser than the evening.” Perhaps it was not clear to everyone then. For adults, its meaning is clear - with a fresh mind, all problems are seen from a different perspective, and more reasonable solutions come to mind.

But the benefits of sleep are not just that it helps improve brain function. Every doctor can say that sound, restful sleep helps cope with illness in its own way. While awake, the body has to expend more effort, since a person cannot separate himself from the life around him. During sleep, many systems are turned off, which makes it possible to direct your energies to restoring diseased organs.

Folk remedies for vigor

Folk remedies will help give your body energy for the whole day and improve your overall condition. Their effect on the body is more harmless than that of caffeine, theine and other nervous system stimulants.

Traditional medicine recommends resorting to herbal preparations in such situations, which are sold in any pharmacy.

Among them:

• ginseng;
• Eleutherococcus;
• Rhodiola rosea;
• berries or seeds of Chinese lemongrass.

They are sold in different forms - tablets, drops, tinctures. Before using medications, read the contraindications.

Is it possible to sleep while sitting in a chair, in a subway or train car?

Irina Zavalko (neurologist-somnologist):

It is impossible to sleep in the subway. The issue here is not only the position, but also the uneven acceleration of the train. In the deepest stages of sleep, the muscles relax, and the person simply will not be able to sit, but will collapse or fall. The brain begins to control the posture, not allowing you to go into these deep stages of sleep. Although the rocking itself, similar to rocking a stroller, even deepens the sleep of an adult, it is impossible to get enough sleep with uneven rocking while sitting.

Vladimir Dorokhov:

Yes, you can if you have the habit and ability to sleep while sitting. But only if you can quickly move to the second phase of sleep.

Roman Buzunov (President of the Russian Society of Somnologists):

In an uncomfortable position, sleep may become more shallow and interrupted. On the other hand, different people have different “sensitivities” to inconvenience. And sometimes you want to sleep so much that you fall asleep not only while sitting, but even while standing - and you will benefit from this if you are sorely lacking sleep.

Measures to combat drowsiness

There are many recommendations that you can follow to overcome sleep. If you need to stay awake for more than 30 hours, it is better to get enough sleep the night before. But this will not replace a sleepless night, so we bring to your attention ways in which you can stay awake even for two days:

1. Breathing exercises. It is recommended to carry out breathing exercises; you need to inhale as usual and exhale sharply. This activity will help you warm up and invigorate.
2. Chewing mint gum. It will provide a refreshing effect and invigorate.
3. Ventilation. To get rid of drowsiness, you need coolness, because cold air leads to the activation of the body's defenses.
4. Charger. It is recommended to perform the exercises for at least 15 minutes.
5. Rinse face and wrists with cool water.
6. Hunger. Even if you want to eat something, it is not recommended to do this, because the feeling of fullness leads to lethargy and drowsiness.
7. Funny music. At the same time, you can sing along and dance.
8. Bright light.
9. Carrying out a massage of the cervical spine, earlobes, and popliteal areas. This will relieve the feeling of fatigue and speed up blood circulation.
10. Creating uncomfortable conditions; it is better to use a hard chair for sitting.
11. The use of rich, pungent and astringent aromas will help drive away drowsiness and fatigue even at night.
12. Watching funny videos and participating in discussions of issues of interest in forums.

This will help you cheer up, even if you haven’t slept for two days.

Drink as much fluid as possible, but the amount of coffee you drink should not exceed two cups in one night.

This is explained by the fact that, otherwise, the effect will be the opposite, it will act as a tranquilizer. The feeling of vigor after coffee will only be present for twenty minutes, so if necessary, if you need to stay awake at night, it is better to use the methods listed above and under no circumstances get carried away with caffeine.