If you have to sleep for a week. What happens if you do not sleep for a long time, scientific facts
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Insomnia is a lack of sleep that prevents the body from fully recovering.
Prolonged insomnia (forced or voluntary) can seriously undermine a person's health. Of course, irreversible consequences they don’t come soon, but something can be “picked up” almost immediately ...
Records and achievements
For more than 40 years, enthusiasts have been trying in practice to find out how long you can 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 McDonalds did not sleep so much). At the same time, they still often remember the record of the schoolboy Randy Gardner, who lasted 11 days without sleep.Probably, people are seduced by the fact that after that he slept for only 14 hours, and not 2 days, as one might assume. This time was enough to restore normal cycle sleep and wake changes.
There is also an unconfirmed record of 28 days, but even that pales in comparison to some people's ability to stay awake all their lives. Yes, yes, there are some, but you won’t find them all over the world “by day with fire”.
It is noteworthy that people who do not need to sleep at all are quite healthy and enjoy life. But record holders, students, workaholics, just sick people and other “vigorous” people experience enormous overload during their constant vigils. Let's talk about them...
Effects of long periods of insomnia
Despite the fact that the causes of insomnia are different, the reaction of the body to lack of sleep in most people is about the same. 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 others and to the “subject” himself (irritability and fatigue are not taken into account);
- further consciousness begins to get confused, as it changes hormonal background, and the connections between the neurons of the brain are broken;
- on the fifth (and for some, on the third) day, hallucinations and paranoia come to those who do not sleep for a long time, then Alzheimer's disease companion syndromes appear;
- a week or more without sleep turns a person into a sick "old man" with slurred speech, trembling hands and weak intellectual abilities (up to forgetting arithmetic);
- well, then - either a long-awaited dream, or death (it is difficult to name the exact dates, because everyone has a different need for sleep).
By the way, according to NRMA statistics, every sixth car accident is associated with tired drivers who are asleep.
What causes chronic sleep deprivation
We figured out what will happen if we don’t sleep for a long time, but this issue is relevant only for a small part of the world’s population. Much more interesting and important is what problems the daily lack of sleep causes for each of us (and this begins almost from 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 do not sleep for only a day, the ability to learn and process information is reduced by 30%, and two days of wakefulness take away about 60% of a person's mental abilities. It is curious that if during the week you sleep less than 6 hours a day (with an 8-hour need), then the brain suffers as if it was deprived of sleep for two nights in a row.
The 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 and after 5-10 years chronic sleep deprivation it becomes more difficult for a person to fall asleep. In addition, immunity begins to fail, because due to the short duration of sleep, it activates an insufficient amount T-lymphocytes that resist viruses and bacteria.
In addition to pure medical consequences it can be added that people who lack sleep are more irritable and grumpy. Therefore, we recommend that you torment yourself with less insomnia, despite the requirements of your superiors, lack of time, and other factors.
Probably each of us was visited by the thought that if you do not sleep all night, of course, nothing bad will happen to you. A person may not close his eyes for more than a day. But today or tomorrow, his body will require a long rest and rest. It is impossible to stay awake for more than ten days. If a person does not sleep for several days, then he may die.
What will happen to the student if he did not sleep the whole night?
If a student does not sleep at night before an exam or defense term paper, it will have a negative impact on performance. internal organs and the student will not only be drowsy, but will also feel very unwell.
On the exam after sleepless night even an excellent student will become:
- Not neat;
- not attentive;
- scattered;
- He will decline intellectual ability, and this will affect student performance;
- sleepy;
- Very tired.
Many irresponsible students compensate for the gap in knowledge and complete unpreparedness for a test or exam sleepless night, in a single 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 reading books and notes of 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 cannot sleep soundly. In older people, around seven o'clock in the evening, the function of the liver and gastrointestinal tract decreases. The nutrition of many organs occurs due to the accumulated useful substances in blood. Grandparents need to eat properly and in a balanced way, then the body will have enough nutrients in the blood up to four hours.
By this time, the number of decay products in the blood will increase significantly, because the work of the liver is maximally reduced. The human brain receives alarm signal that awakens a sleeping person from sleep. For the above reason, it is at night that asthmatic principles and cardiac arrest most often occur.
What do retirees need to know? 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 series of dream phases rapidly resumes, and awakening shifts to seven in the morning;
- Doctors strongly advise people old age forty minutes before going to bed, drink one glass of kefir with finely grated black radish. The healing drink strengthens the vessels of the brain.
Record time without sleep
As part of 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 luminaries of science, after eleven sleepless nights, the young man only became more quick-tempered and inattentive. And more none catastrophic consequences for the human body, prolonged lack of sleep had no.
After the experiment, the person went through a complete medical checkup, which showed that all organs are functioning, as before the experiment, the doctors also did not reveal brain damage and mental disorders. But it is worth considering that the experiment ended after eleven days. There is absolutely no guarantee that the extension of this experiment would not cause irreparable damage to human health.
In this video in the program "Nauchpok" Andrey will tell you what will happen if you do not sleep at all at night for a long time:
What is the risk of sleep deprivation?
A person needs to sleep during the day at least 8-9 hours. If a person does not sleep well at night, then this has an extremely negative effect on his health and mood. If a person does not get enough sleep more than twice a week, then during the day he also feels bad.
Constant lack of sleep can lead to terrible ailments, namely:
- Oncological diseases;
- Impotence;
- Joint destruction;
- Premature appearance of wrinkles;
- Diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- High blood pressure (hypertension);
- Metabolic disease;
- Diabetes.
Are you unable to fall asleep more than three times a week? This means, unfortunately, that you insomnia . Make an appointment with a therapist or neurologist. The doctor will find out real reasons insomnia and 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 the dose of the drug.
Doctors warn: it is very dangerous for life. It is very bad to sleep fitfully at night. Sleep must be sound. But how can this be achieved?
- Try before bed 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. And it is better to sleep with an open window.
- The best, comfortable temperature for sleep +18 degrees C.
- Stop watching your favorite TV shows or movies once and for all before bed. The TV prevents you from completely calming down before going to bed, and the human brain will analyze the information received for several hours and prevent you from falling asleep normally.
How much sleep do you need?
As it was written earlier, lack of sleep has an extremely negative effect on a person’s mood and the work of all internal organs. Young and possessing good health a twenty-year-old person can not close his eyes all night, and the next day he can easily go to work or college. But after such a serious load, a person needs to restore his strength and have a good rest.
At forty years old, it will not be very easy for a person not to sleep the whole night, and then go to his favorite job. Any physician will tell you that not closing your eyes even for one night is highly undesirable.
If you work at night, you need to get enough sleep during the day. However, scientists do not give an unequivocal answer to the question of how much sleep you need at night. Some people need only four hours of sleep, and they will feel great, while others are not enough even ten hours.
The brain just needs a strong and healthy sleep. During sound sleep the brain sorts all the information received per day. That is why all the most challenging tasks best resolved early in the morning. Many people think what will happen if you do not sleep all night - this will have a very negative effect on the ability to reason logically, concentration and memory. I did not sleep all night - the 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 do not sleep at night, but stay awake all the time:
Weekends for many people are an opportunity to have time to relax for the whole past. working week and few people get enough sleep. What will happen if you don’t sleep at all and what will come of it - in our material.
First day
First day without sleep serious consequences for health and in terms of well-being will not cause. However, for sure, there will be a failure of the circadian cycle responsible for internal The biological clock person.
Circadian rhythms are associated with brain activity and metabolism and are "reconciled" circadian clock with a 24-hour light cycle of day and night, so one day without sleep will cause minor disruptions in the work of the human body. A person who has not slept for one day, of course, will feel tired and have some problems with memory and attention.
Second and third days
In addition to the fact that fatigue will increase, and memory work will deteriorate, there will also be added: impaired coordination of movements, tangible problems with concentration of thoughts and concentration of vision. There may be a slight nervous tic due to exhaustion nervous system.
The degradation of speech will begin - it will become monotonous and replete with clichés. Violations of the frontal lobe of the brain will lead to deterioration creative thinking and inability to focus on a task.
In addition to worsening the functioning of the nervous system and brain, it will be unusual to work digestive system- this is a consequence of the "inclusion" in the long period of wakefulness of the evolutionary defense of the organism, in the form of a "fight or flight" mechanism.
Leptin production will increase and appetite will increase, especially for salty and fatty foods - the body in stressful situation launches the function of preserving fats, as well as the production of insomnia hormones, which means that it will not be easy for a person to fall asleep.
Fourth-fifth days
During this period, a person may experience hallucinations and strong irritability. On the fifth day without sleep, a slowdown in the work of parts of the brain will be pronounced, respectively, neural activity is very weak.
Solving simple arithmetic problems for will be an overwhelming task, due to serious violations in the work of the parietal zone 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 to seventh days
On the sixth day, a person will radically differ from himself in normal condition. Behavior will change dramatically, and auditory hallucinations will also be added to visual hallucinations.
Mental deviations on the seventh day will become pronounced - paranoia, hallucinations, signs of Alzheimer's disease, persecution mania, signs of schizophrenia. A person can communicate on an equal footing with road sign, prove something to him and be sure that the radio host wants to hunt for him and wants to kill him. So it was with the record holder for insomnia Randy Gardner, in total he survived 11 days without sleep.
Randy had a strong tremor of the limbs - this is a consequence of excessive exhaustion of the nervous system. He lost coherent speech, and problem solving is no longer for him, he simply forgot the question he was asked.
On the seventh day, the human body experiences severe stress. Immunity will seriously fall, brain activity will be extremely weak, there will be a deterioration in the functioning of the liver, kidneys and other systems.
Below, especially for those who do not believe in similar violations of the work of the human body, we will give the story of our compatriot, who decided to put a similar experiment on himself.
The first day
I woke up and decided not to sleep today. I need to do things that I can't do. 2 o'clock in the morning - I feel fine. At the same time I correspond with friends in ICQ.
Dela made it.Second day
At 6 am I felt nauseous. Ate, watched TV, played a game, Nausea was gone. Feeling slightly tired and weak. 13:00 in the afternoon - no fatigue, weakness. Sensation of weak anesthesia on the whole 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. Anesthesia is felt more on the tongue. Sometimes there are freezes of body movement. The easiest part of the body to manage is the eyes. I am playing a game. Irritable. Weakly expressed delusional ideas.
Day four
I have a feeling that the day is unusual, very long. I began to forget what happened on the 1st and 2nd day. Good to have a notepad. Where is the pen?
Searched for 30 minutes. Turns out it was in my left hand. I began to see myself from the outside. The body is weakly felt. Sometimes there is a “cut-off” effect (lags the processor) from 1-10 minutes, although with open eyes. Crazy ideas are strongly expressed.Day five
I read that it was the first and second day with me. I don't think this happened to me. It seems that the day and life in general is endless. Specifically, hallucinations passing at times into euphoria. Losses in memory and body sensation. I can independently, and sometimes without control, get out of my body and fly up to 10 meters around me. And what is most interesting in this state, I can go, controlling myself as in a game from a third person. Crazy ideas are very strongly expressed. 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 abruptly and ran to the switched off TV. Began to convince upper part TV that I have to pick up brushes from my place of study. They are in danger. Slow speech. Passing by, I hit the corners and, I stop to realize this blow for 2 minutes. Next I turn on. There was an opportunity, the ability to predict what will happen next for the event. It often gets scary. I see different people. The imagination is highly developed - objects can walk, and I control them. I understood the fullness of the word Insanity.
Day seven
I'm in paradise? Notepad does not lend itself to writing. Limbs twitch, tremble. Strange behavior. Vegetable. If a person touches me, then he will be lucky if I answer in a minute or a minute and a half. From lack of sleep, severe memory lapses continue.
Further, I know almost only what people told me. I don't smile. Facial expressions in sleep mode. Eyes move furiously in different directions.
I decide to finish with the experiment. I'm not very happy that I can sleep. I don't believe.
Leg. I leave the body and circle over my corpse for about ten minutes, seeing myself from the side. The chandelier starts to lower and the ceiling starts to press down on me. I don't remember how I fell asleep.
Slept 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 notebook and began to remember. Entered all the notes into the computer. I am pleased to.
Such experiments with one's health are highly undesirable and can be dangerous. Sleep is a necessity developed by millions of years of evolution that cannot be overcome, so don't 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 amount of it affects health in the same way as a serious illness. But in life, few people managed to avoid the situation when 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 do not sleep for 3 days, then changes begin in the 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 briefly consider why a person needs sleep, and what it should be like.
During sleep, all processes in the body slow down: we breathe less often, slows down heartbeat, decreases muscle tone. The brain also changes its work during sleep: it switches to night mode and sends commands to all organs and systems of the body to reorganize into a night mode. At the cellular level, regeneration occurs during sleep. The psycho-emotional sphere also rests: it is not for nothing that it is said that anxiety and unrest go away with sleep.
In order for the body to really rest and sleep to be physiological, it is necessary that the quality of this rest meets certain criteria:
- sufficient duration;
- comfortable bed;
- comfortable environment.
The physiological norm of sleep depends on age and individual characteristics, but for the normal functioning of the body you need to sleep at least 7 hours a day.
Quality sleep means horizontal position body to unload the spine and relax the 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;
- absence external stimuli(light, noise, smells).
Missing one or more conditions normal sleep can cause insomnia.
Causes of insomnia
Insomnia can be caused by:
- negative emotions accumulated during the day;
- depressive state;
- fear;
- psychological overstrain;
- overexcitation;
- 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 do not sleep for 3 days, you can do three times the amount of work. During insomnia, a person's performance drops significantly, and well-being worsens, and this process goes on increasing as the duration of lack of sleep 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, there are changes in the physiological and mental state. violated normal work all organs, because they are not allowed to rest and recover.
The first and main consequence prolonged absence sleep - a sharp decline working capacity. Feeling grows physical fatigue, a person is not able to do even that physical work which he usually does without difficulty.
are declining mental capacity: a person cannot solve elementary arithmetic problems, hardly remembers dates, last names, 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 a speech disorder: 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 finds the right words with difficulty.
Memory lapses can relate to both long-standing events and those that happened an hour ago. There are sharp behavioral changes: a person becomes irritable, causeless tears and even tantrums are possible.
changing appearance, the person seems older than his age. Because he starts rubbing his eyes, he has red, swollen eyelids with bruising or bags under his eyes. Skin covering and the mucous membranes turn pale, the nails may become bluish.
Along with physical weakness, coordination of movements is disturbed, tremor (trembling) of the arms and legs appears, convulsive twitching of the limbs and facial muscles is possible ( nervous tick). If you do not sleep for 3 days, visual acuity decreases, the visual picture “floats”, becomes fuzzy. There may be "flies" before the eyes. Hands and feet begin to go numb, the skin becomes very cold to the touch, profuse sweat may come out.
This condition is accompanied by bouts of chills. Decreased or completely absent appetite, the person feels sick. If he is not allowed to sleep at the onset of such symptoms, there will be sharp deterioration conditions: visual and auditory hallucinations may begin, after which the person falls into coma and may die.
Consequences of prolonged sleep deprivation
Such a physiological load cannot pass without a trace for the body. You should not assume that it will be enough to sleep properly - and everything is in order. To get back on track normal functioning, you will need not only a long sleep: to relieve the stress received by the body during insomnia, a rehabilitation period is needed.
If you do not sleep for three days, it weakens immune defense body, since T-lymphocytes, which are responsible for the antiviral and antibacterial barrier, are produced during sleep. Therefore, it is highly likely 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 in large numbers drastically worsen performance 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).
Recovery of the body after three days without sleep
In order to get out of a difficult physiological "corkscrew", sometimes it may be necessary drug therapy: the doctor may prescribe sedatives, vitamin complexes, heart remedies.
Changing the biochemistry of the human body will require restorative measures. Relieve the condition of a person after insomnia plentiful drink. Restoring strength will help diet with high content protein, food should be easily digestible. 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), stewed with a little oil.
Physical activity should be increased gradually.
If a person is busy with work that requires concentration, coordination of movements, attentiveness, it is necessary to start professional activities no earlier than a week after the shake-up occurred.
Only for such a period can one speak of full recovery functionality of the organism and overcoming negative consequences prolonged insomnia.
Techniques if you need not sleep for 3 days
When a situation arises in life that requires prolonged wakefulness, you can alleviate your condition if you follow simple rules.
- The day before, you need to have a good rest and sleep longer than usual.
- Replace heavy meals with lighter ones, be sure to stock up on fresh fruit.
- Once an hour, do short, simple exercises: move, jump, squat. Tilts to the side and in front of you will provide a rush of blood to the brain and relieve tension from the spine.
- Eat little by little, preferably after 3-4 hours. Drink better still water and juices, tea and coffee per day, drink no more than 400 ml, in small cups.
- Do not turn off the lights at night, but make sure that the light is not too bright and does not fall directly into the eyes.
- You need constant communication with others, you can turn on peppy music.
excluded for this period. professional activity and any activity that requires concentration, visual acuity and concentration (driver, dispatcher, etc.).
