If you have to go without sleep for a week. What happens if you don't sleep for a long time, scientific facts
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Insomnia is a lack of sleep that does not allow the body to fully recover.
Prolonged insomnia (forced or voluntary) can seriously undermine a person’s health. Certainly, irreversible consequences They don’t come soon, but you can “pick up” something almost immediately...
Records and achievements
For more than 40 years, enthusiasts have been trying to find out in practice how long it is possible to stay awake, and what happens to the human body and psyche during prolonged wakefulness. The current official record from the Guinness Book of Records is about 19 days (the American Robert McDonald did not sleep that long). At the same time, people still often remember the record of schoolboy Randy Gardner, who lasted 11 days without sleep.Probably, people are seduced by the fact that after this he slept for only 14 hours, and not 2 days, as one might assume. This time was enough to restore normal cycle changes in sleep and wakefulness.
There is also an unconfirmed record of 28 days, but even this pales in comparison to the ability of some people to stay awake their entire lives. Yes, yes, there are such people, but you won’t find them all over the world “by day.”
It is noteworthy that people who do not need sleep at all are quite healthy and enjoy life. But record holders, students, workaholics, simply sick people and other “vigorous people” experience colossal overloads during their constant vigils. Let's talk about them...
Consequences of long-term insomnia
Despite the fact that the causes of insomnia are different, the body's reaction to lack of sleep is approximately the same for most people. So, what happens if you don’t sleep:- in the first two days chemical processes they begin to take over the psyche, but this is almost imperceptible to those around them and to the “subject” himself (we do not take irritability and fatigue into account);
- then consciousness begins to get confused, as it changes hormonal background, and connections between brain neurons are disrupted;
- on the fifth (and for some, the third) day, hallucinations and paranoia begin to occur to those who do not sleep for a long time, and then the accompanying syndromes of Alzheimer’s disease appear;
- a week or more without sleep turns a person into a sick “old man” with slurred speech, trembling hands and weak intellectual abilities (even forgetting arithmetic);
- Well, then - either a long-awaited dream, or death (it’s difficult to give exact dates, because everyone’s need for sleep is different).
By the way, according to NRMA statistics, every sixth car accident is associated with fatigue of drivers who are asleep in reality.
What are the risks of chronic sleep deprivation?
We have figured out what will happen if you don’t sleep for a long time, but this question is relevant only for a small part of the planet’s population. Much more interesting and important is what problems a daily lack of sleep causes for each of us (and this begins almost in kindergarten).Of course, significant experience in shortening and postponing sleep indefinitely lulls (pardon the pun) your vigilance, but do you understand how seriously this affects your body? Undoubtedly, ordinary lack of sleep cannot be compared with the one we described above, but its consequences are sometimes even worse.
After all, if you don’t sleep for just a day, the ability to learn and process information is reduced by 30%, and two days of being awake takes away about 60% of a person’s mental abilities. It is curious that if you sleep less than 6 hours a day for a week (with an 8-hour requirement), the brain suffers as if it was deprived of sleep for two nights in a row.
Oxidative processes that occur with chronic lack of sleep have a bad effect on learning and memory. The body ages faster, the heart muscle rests less and therefore wears out more quickly. The nervous system is depressed even after 5-10 years chronic lack of sleep It becomes more difficult for a person to fall asleep. In addition, the immune system begins to fail, since due to short sleep duration it activates an insufficient amount T-lymphocytes that resist viruses and bacteria.
In addition to purely medical consequences we can add that people who lack sleep are more irritable and grumpy. Therefore, we recommend that you torment yourself less with insomnia, despite the demands of your superiors, lack of time and other factors.
Probably each of us had the thought of what would happen if we didn’t sleep all night, of course, nothing bad would happen to you. A person may not close his eyes for more than a day. But today or tomorrow, his body will require long-term rest and rest. It is impossible to stay awake for more than ten days. If a person does not sleep for several days, he may die.
What will happen to a student if he did not sleep the whole night?
If a student does not sleep the night before an exam or defense course work, this will have a negative impact on work internal organs and the student will not only be drowsy, but also feel very unwell.
On the exam after sleepless night even an excellent student will become:
- Not neat;
- Not attentive;
- Absent-minded;
- He will have a decline intellectual abilities, and this will affect the student’s performance;
- Sleepy;
- Very tired.
Many irresponsible students compensate for the gap in knowledge and complete unpreparedness for a test or exam sleepless night, in one night they want to memorize the entire subject from A to Z. But with their minds it is wonderful that this is almost unrealistic.
Of course, after a sleepless night studying books and notes from classmates, the student will be very sleepy and most likely will not be able to concentrate, and this will have a bad effect on passing the test or exam and getting an excellent grade.
Why do older people sleep poorly?
The older generation often wakes up in the middle of the night, and then long time can't sleep soundly. In older people, around seven o'clock in the evening, the functions of the liver and gastrointestinal tract decrease. Nutrition of many organs occurs due to accumulated useful substances in blood. Grandparents need to eat properly and balancedly, then the body will have enough nutrients in the blood up to four hours.
By this time, the number of breakdown products in the blood will increase significantly, because liver function is reduced as much as possible. The human brain receives alarm signal, which awakens a sleeping person from sleep. For the above reason, it is at night that asthmatic principles and cardiac arrest most often occur.
What retirees need to learn to improve sleep:
- The activity of the liver and gastrointestinal tract increases at seven in the morning. At this time people sleep very soundly;
- With the evening type of nutrition, the sequence of dream phases quickly resumes, and awakening shifts to seven in the morning;
- Doctors strongly recommend that people old age Forty minutes before going to bed, drink one glass of kefir with finely grated black radish. The healing drink strengthens blood vessels in the brain.
Record time without sleep
In a scientific experiment, the longest sleep deprivation lasted eleven days. But, for obvious reasons, they did not continue the experiment on the young man. Much to the surprise of the scientific luminaries, after eleven sleepless nights the young man simply became more hot-tempered and inattentive. And more no catastrophic consequences for the human body, a long-term lack of sleep has no effect.
After the experiment, the person passed the full medical checkup, which showed that all organs function as before the experiment; doctors also did not detect any brain damage and mental disorders. But it is worth considering that the experiment ended after eleven days. There is absolutely no guarantee that if this experiment were extended, irreparable damage to human health would not be caused.
In this video in the “Nauchpok” program, Andrey will tell you what will happen if you don’t sleep at all for a long time at night:
What are the dangers of lack of sleep?
A person needs to sleep a day at least 8-9 hours. If a person does not sleep well at night, this has an extremely negative impact on his health and mood. If a person does not get enough sleep more than twice a week, then during the day he does not feel well and has symptoms.
Constant lack of sleep can lead to terrible illnesses, namely:
- Oncological diseases;
- Impotence;
- Joint destruction;
- Premature appearance of wrinkles;
- Diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- High blood pressure (hypertension);
- Metabolic disease;
- Diabetes.
Do you have trouble sleeping soundly more than three times a week? This means, unfortunately, that you have insomnia . Make an appointment with a therapist or neurologist. The doctor will find out real reasons insomnia and will prescribe you special medications.
Do not take sleeping pills without a doctor's prescription. Sleeping pills are highly addictive. Because of this, you will gradually increase your dose of the drug.
Doctors warn: this is very life-threatening. It is very difficult to sleep fitfully at night. Sleep must be sound. But how can this be achieved?
- Before going to bed, try don't eat much. Most best dinner - vegetable stew and boiled meat. Before going to bed, you can allow yourself to drink one glass warm milk with linden honey or a glass of kefir.
- Ventilate your bedroom just before bed. It's better to sleep with the window open.
- The best, most comfortable temperature for sleep +18 degrees C.
- Before going to bed, stop watching your favorite TV shows or movies once and for all. TV prevents you from completely calming down before going to bed, and the person’s brain will analyze the information received for several hours and prevent you from falling asleep normally.
How much sleep do you need?
As was written earlier, lack of sleep has an extremely negative effect on a person’s mood and the functioning of all internal organs. Young and possessive good health A twenty-year-old person may not sleep a wink all night, and the next day he can easily go to work or college. But after such a serious load, a person must restore his strength and rest properly.
At the age of forty, it will not be very easy for a person to not sleep the whole night, and then go to his favorite job. Any doctor will tell you that It is highly undesirable to not close your eyes even for one night.
If you work at night, you need to get a good night's sleep during the day. However, scientists do not give a clear answer to the question of how much sleep you need at night. For some people, only four hours of sleep is enough, and they will feel great, while for others, even ten hours is not enough.
The brain simply needs a strong and healthy sleep. During good sleep The brain sorts all the information received during the day. Actually that's why everyone is the most complex tasks It is best to resolve in the early morning. Many people wonder what will happen if they don’t sleep all night - this will have a very negative impact on the ability to reason logically, concentration and memory. Staying up all night - consequences
Video: what happens if you don't sleep for a long time
In this video, Alexander Morozov will tell you what will happen to you and your body if you don’t sleep at night and stay awake all the time:
Weekends for many people are an opportunity to have time to relax for the entire past working week and few manage to get enough sleep. What will happen if you don’t sleep at all and what will come of it - in our material.
First day
The first day without sleep serious consequences for health and in terms of well-being will not cause. However, it is absolutely certain that the circadian cycle, which is responsible for internal The biological clock person.
Circadian rhythms are associated with brain and metabolic activity and are “verified” circadian clock with a 24-hour light cycle of day and night, so one day without sleep will cause minor disruptions in the functioning of the human body. A person who has not slept for one day will, of course, feel tired and have some problems with memory and attention.
Second and third days
In addition to the fact that fatigue will intensify and memory function will deteriorate, there will also be a lack of coordination of movements, noticeable problems with concentrating thoughts and concentrating vision. A slight nervous tic may occur due to exhaustion nervous system.
The degradation of speech will begin - it will become monotonous and replete with cliches. Disruption of the frontal lobe of the brain will lead to deterioration creative thinking and inability to focus on a task.
In addition to the deterioration of the nervous system and brain, it will be unusual to work digestive system- this is a consequence of the “inclusion” of the body’s evolutionary defense during a long period of wakefulness, in the form of a “fight or flight” mechanism.
The production of leptin will increase and appetite will increase, especially for salty and fatty foods - the body in stressful situation triggers the function of storing fats, as well as the production of insomnia hormones, which means it will not be easy for a person to fall asleep.
Fourth-fifth days
During this period, a person may experience hallucinations and severe irritability. On the fifth day without sleep, there will be a pronounced slowdown in the functioning of areas of the brain, and accordingly, neural activity will be very weak.
Solving simple arithmetic problems will be an overwhelming task due to serious violations in the work of the parietal zone, which is responsible for logic.
The temporal lobe, which controls speech abilities, will continue to work worse and worse - speech will become even more incoherent than on the second or third day of wakefulness.
Sixth-seventh day
On the sixth day, a person will be radically different from himself in in good condition. Behavior will change greatly, and auditory hallucinations will be added to visual hallucinations.
Mental abnormalities on the seventh day will acquire a pronounced character - paranoia, hallucinations, signs of Alzheimer's disease, persecution mania, signs of schizophrenia. A person may well communicate on equal terms with road sign, prove something to him and be sure that the radio host is hunting him and wants to kill him. This was the case with the record holder for insomnia, Randy Gardner, who went without sleep for 11 days in total.
Randy had severe tremors of the limbs - this is a consequence of excessive exhaustion of the nervous system. He lost coherent speech, and solving problems was no longer his thing; he simply forgot the question that was asked to him.
On the seventh day, the human body experiences severe stress. Immunity will seriously decline, brain activity will be extremely weak, and the functioning of the liver, kidneys and other systems will deteriorate.
Below, especially for those who do not believe in similar violations the work of the human body, we will give a story from our compatriot who decided to conduct a similar experiment on himself.
The first day
I woke up and decided not to sleep today. I need to do things that I don't have time to do. 2 am - I feel fine. At the same time I correspond with friends on ICQ.
Got things done.Second day
At 6 am I felt nauseous. I ate, watched TV, played a game, the nausea went away. Feeling slightly tired and weak. 13:00 pm - no feeling tired or weak. A feeling of mild anesthesia throughout the entire body.
Day three
I'm afraid not to sleep yet. Why? I want to sleep. Stay calm and carry on. OK. He began to speak more slowly. The anesthesia is felt more on the tongue. Sometimes freezes in body movement occur. The easiest part of the body to control is the eyes. I am playing a game. Irritable. Delusional ideas are weakly expressed.
Day four
I have a feeling that the day is unusual, very long. I began to forget what happened on days 1 and 2. It's good to have a notepad. Where's the pen?
I searched for 30 minutes. It turned out it was in my left hand. I began to see myself from the outside. The body is weakly felt. Sometimes a “blackout” effect occurs (the processor lags) for 1-10 minutes, although with with open eyes. Delusional ideas are strongly expressed.Day five
I read what happened to me on the first and second days. I don't think this happened to me. It seems that the day and life in general are endless. Specifically, hallucinations that at times turn into euphoria. Loss of memory and body awareness. I can independently, and sometimes without control, leave my body and fly up to 10 meters near me. And what’s most interesting is that I can walk while controlling myself like in a 3rd person game. Delusional ideas are very pronounced. I do not want to sleep.
Day six
I sat on a chair and looked at one point on the monitor for about two hours. He jumped up sharply and ran to the turned off TV. Started to convince top part TV that I have to pick up my brushes from my place of study. They are in danger. Slow speech. As I pass by, I hit the corners and stop to take in this impact for 2 minutes. Then I turn on. There is an opportunity, the ability to predict what will happen next in an event. It often becomes scary. I see different people. Imagination is highly developed - objects can walk, and I can control them. I understood the fullness of the word Insanity.
Day seven
I am in heaven? The notebook cannot be written on. Limbs twitch and tremble. Oddities in behavior. Vegetable. If a person touches me, then he will be lucky if I answer in a minute or a minute and a half. Due to lack of sleep, severe memory loss continues.
Next, I know almost only what people told me. I don't smile. Facial expressions in sleep mode. Eyes move wildly in different directions.
I decide to end the experiment. I'm not very happy that I can sleep. I don't believe.
Lay down. I leave my body and circle over my corpse for about ten minutes, seeing myself from the outside. The chandelier begins to descend and the ceiling begins to press down on me. I don't remember how I fell asleep.
Slept for 10 hours.Day eight
I'm alive. I understand who I am. No headache. I want to eat. I want to drink. Feeling of reality. Inadequate understanding of the time of day. I don't remember what happened. I took a notepad and began to remember. I entered all the notes into the computer. I'm glad.
Such experiments with your health are extremely undesirable and can be dangerous. Sleep is a necessity developed over millions of years of evolution that cannot be overpowered, so do not test yourself, but trust your body and go to bed on time.
Sleep is the most important physiological need human body. Lack of sleep or insufficient sleep affects your health in the same way as a serious illness. But in life, few people managed to avoid a situation where they had to stay awake for more than 18 hours, and for some, the period of insomnia may, for some reason, last longer. If you don’t sleep for 3 days, changes begin in your body.
What is sleep and why is it needed?
To understand what it means for the body not to sleep for 3 days in a row, let’s take a brief look at why a person needs sleep and what it should be like.
During sleep, all processes occurring in the body slow down: we breathe less often, it slows down heartbeat, decreases muscle tone. The brain also changes its functioning during sleep: it switches to night mode and sends commands to all organs and systems of the body to adjust to the night mode. At the cellular level, regeneration occurs during sleep. The psycho-emotional sphere also rests: it is not without reason that they say that with sleep, anxieties and worries go away.
In order for the body to truly rest and sleep to be physiological, it is necessary that the quality of this rest meet certain criteria:
- sufficient duration;
- comfortable bed;
- comfortable environment.
The physiological norm of sleep depends on age and individual characteristics, but for normal functioning of the body you need to sleep at least 7 hours a day.
Quality sleep involves horizontal position body to unload the spine and relax skeletal muscles. The bed should not be too soft or too hard. The comfort of the environment is determined by:
- air humidity;
- temperature;
- room ventilation;
- lack of external stimuli(light, noise, smells).
Missing one or more conditions normal sleep may cause insomnia.
Causes of insomnia
Insomnia can be caused by:
- negative emotions accumulated during the day;
- depression;
- fear;
- psychological stress;
- overexcitement;
- information overload;
- external stimuli;
- physiological problems ( strong pain etc.)
In some situations, a person needs to stay awake for a long time, but it is a mistake to believe that if you don’t sleep for 3 days, you can do three times more work. During insomnia, a person’s performance decreases significantly, and his state of health worsens, and this process increases as the lack of sleep lasts for two or more days in a row.
Processes in the body during prolonged insomnia
If a person is forced to stay awake for three days or more, changes occur in the physiological and mental state. Violated normal operation all organs, because they are not allowed to rest and recover.
The first and main consequence long absence sleep - a sharp decline ability to work. The feeling is growing physical fatigue, a person is not able to do even that physical work, which usually does without difficulty.
Are decreasing mental capacity: a person cannot solve basic arithmetic problems, has difficulty remembering dates, surnames, etc. It is difficult for him to concentrate on anything. When typing, a large number of errors and typos are made.
Three days without sleep cause speech impairment: already on the second day a person begins to speak more slowly, and after 48 hours of insomnia he begins to “talk”, loses the logical thread of the conversation, and has difficulty finding the right words.
Memory lapses can relate to both long-standing events and those that happened an hour ago. Sharp behavioral changes occur: a person becomes irritable, causeless tears and even hysterics are possible.
Changes appearance, the person seems older than his age. Rubbing his eyes causes him to have red, swollen eyelids with bruises or bags under his eyes. Skin covering and mucous membranes turn pale, nails may become bluish.
Along with physical weakness, coordination of movements is impaired, tremor (shaking) of the arms and legs appears, convulsive twitching of the limbs and facial muscles is possible ( nervous tic). If you don’t sleep for 3 days, visual acuity decreases, the visual image “floats” and becomes unclear. There may be spots before the eyes. Your arms and legs begin to go numb, your skin becomes very cold to the touch, and you may sweat profusely.
This condition is accompanied by attacks of chills. Appetite decreases or is completely absent, the person feels sick. If he is not allowed to sleep when such symptoms occur, sharp deterioration conditions: visual and auditory hallucinations may begin, after which the person falls into coma and may die.
Consequences of prolonged lack of sleep
Such a physiological load cannot pass without leaving a trace on the body. You shouldn’t assume that all you need is a good night’s sleep and everything will be fine. To get back on track normal functioning, you will need not only long sleep: to relieve the stress received by the body during insomnia, a rehabilitation period is needed.
If you don't sleep for three days, you get weaker immune defense body, since T-lymphocytes, responsible for the antiviral and antibacterial barrier, are produced during sleep. Therefore, there is a high probability that after three sleepless days a person may develop an infectious disease.
With forced insomnia, people try to cheer themselves up with the help of various drinks (tea, coffee, energy drinks), which large quantities dramatically worsen work of cardio-vascular system. Even after a person gets enough sleep, he will experience headaches due to spasms of cerebral vessels, arrhythmia and tachycardia. Possible malfunctions gastrointestinal tract(constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea and vomiting, flatulence).
Restoring the body after three days without sleep
In order to get out of a severe physiological “tailspin”, sometimes you may need drug therapy: the doctor may prescribe sedatives, vitamin complexes, cardiac drugs.
Changing the biochemistry of the human body will require restoration measures. Relieves a person’s condition after insomnia drinking plenty of fluids. A diet with high content protein, food should be easily digestible. After suffering stress, it will be difficult for the body to digest heavy fatty foods, therefore the table must correspond to the diet that is prescribed to patients after surgical operations and transferred serious illnesses. These are light first courses, lean meat, eggs, dairy products. Food needs to be boiled (meat and fish can be steamed), simmered with a little added oil.
Physical activity should be increased gradually.
If a person is busy with work that requires concentration, coordination of movements, and attentiveness, he should begin professional activities no earlier than a week after the shock occurred.
Only for such a period can we talk about full recovery functionality of the body and overcoming negative consequences prolonged insomnia.
Techniques if you need to stay awake for 3 days
When a situation arises in life that requires prolonged wakefulness, you can alleviate your condition by following simple rules.
- The day before, you need to have a good rest and sleep longer than usual.
- Replace heavy food with lighter food, and be sure to stock up on fresh fruit.
- Once an hour, do short, simple exercises: move around, jump, squat. Bends to the side and in front of you will ensure a rush of blood to the brain and relieve tension from the spine.
- Eat little by little, preferably every 3-4 hours. Drink better still water and juices, tea and coffee, drink no more than 400 ml per day, in small cups.
- Keep the lights on at night, but make sure the light is not too bright or shining directly into your eyes.
- You need constant communication with others, you can turn on upbeat music.
Excluded for this period professional activity and any activity that requires concentration, visual acuity and concentration (driver, dispatcher, etc.).
