Shreyas Parida's answer to What happens to the brain if you do not sleep at night?
Curated from: quora.com
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What happens when you don‘t sleep for 11 Days
The world record for the longest time gone without sleep is 264 hours - 11 days.
It was set by a 17-year old, Randy Gardner under lab conditions. Prior to this endeavour, Randy was an extremely fit athlete. Yet, the question that remained on everybody’s mind was:
Will Randy survive this experiment and will he be the same afterwards?
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Day 1 without sleep
After 24 hours of no sleep, Randy felt drowsy, irritable and stressed.
At this point, your body also starts “local sleep”.
This means that while you may be awake, certain parts of your brain will be in sleep. This will affect your appetite and hormone levels.
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Day 2 without sleep
48 hours without sleep. Randy would occasionally lose consciousness for a few seconds. This is known as “microsleep” and is a protection mechanism.
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Day 3 without sleep
Honestly, after 72 hours, your brain simply stops working correctly. Randy lost his ability to taste, smell or feel objects properly.
Most people will feel very depressed at this stage.
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Day 3-11 without sleep
You lose the sense of reality.
Most people who have arrived at this stage, including Randy, start hallucinating and becoming paranoid of everything. Your brain has officially given off.
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Recovery
On the 11th day of no sleep, Randy finally collapsed. He slept for 14 hours only to wake up, grab some water and go back to bed.
Randy felt very tired for the next couple of days. Yet, the human body is extremely resilient. Eventually, he started sleeping normally and just 7–8 days after his experiment, he went back to school.
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IDEAS CURATED BY
Chanchal Kumar's ideas are part of this journey:
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