What Happens If You Stop Sleeping?
Hello and welcome back to Lifeís Biggest Questions, Iím Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Sleep has long mystified scientists, and continues to do so to this day.
And as long as we have needed sleep, humanity has looked for ways to avoid it.
Whether youíre trying to stay awake to look for predators, or finish that paper before
the deadline, humans often go long periods without sleep.
But what if you stopped completely?
Letís explore.
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science stuff, check out our Biggest Science Questions Playlist!
Now get ready, itís time to ask the question: What Happens if you Stop Sleeping?
The short term effects of sleep deprivation are probably quite well known to most of us.
Most people have pulled an all-nighter at some point, even if it was just to binge a
tv show or play a new video game.
Without the Rapid Eye Movement sleep, or REM sleep that our body needs, our brain begins
turning off non-essential functions.
As the night wears on, you will feel more and more fatigue in both the mind and body.
Certain mental faculties begin to weaken, with reaction time and decision-making suffering.
The next day, you may notice that you actually feel more energetic than usual, which many
refer to as being ìOvertiredî.
This happens because your mesolimbic system is stimulated, causing a release of dopamine.
This dopamine can cause you to feel more energized.
This is the main reason why you often feel more tired two days after an all-nighter than
you do the day after.
Unfortunately, that is more or less where the positive effects end.
Despite the newfound energy of the new day, your brain will continue to take power away
from certain areas so it can continue to function.
Unfortunately, the brain turns off the areas involved in decision making fairly early on.
So, while you might FEEL okay, your brain wonít be working very well, which can lead
to people engaging in dangerous activities without realizing their decision-making and
reaction time are in a weakened state.
If you somehow manage to make it through a second night without sleep, things can start
to go very wrong.
At this point, the body begins to shut down certain physical functions.
You begin to lose immune system efficiency, and it becomes more difficult to metabolize
glucose, which leads to even further fatigue.
You will feel extremely tired and sluggish, and will be noticeably less fit for physical
and mental activities.
Day 3 is when it can get pretty funÖ or pretty terrifying.
On your third day without sleep, you may begin to hallucinate.
Visual and auditory hallucinations are relatively common at this point, making you hear or see
things that arenít really there.
Unfortunately, you wonít necessarily be seeing cute little animals buzzing around you could
hear breathing, or voices, or see the world begin to move around you.
While there is some debate on the subject, many scientists believe this to be due to
a buildup of adenose, the chemical that sends us to sleep.
Others believe that sleep deprivation simply allows a hidden psychosis to come to the forefront.
Either way, itís pretty concerning.
By this time, you may also find yourself forgetting certain things, even forgetting where you
are or how to brush your teeth.
This can be particularly disconcerting, as itís a bit of a rude wake-up call that things
are going very haywire in the old hat rack.
But what if you somehow managed to stop sleeping altogether?
Well, you could see a number of ill effects in the coming days, weeks, or even months.
You can suffer from still more hallucinations, develop dementia, and even die if youíre
awake long enough.
Fortunately, most healthy individuals will succumb to sleep long before they come close
to dying from sleep deprivation.
The longest a healthy person has gone without sleep is 11 days, before falling asleep.
However, this can be very dangerous in individuals with Fatal Familial Insomnia, an incurable
form of worsening insomnia.
These people slowly lose the ability to sleep, achieving less and less sleep every night
until they lose the ability altogether.
For these people, sleep simply isnít an option, and this deprivation can lead to delirium,
dementia, and finally, death.
Michael Corke, the famous case of FFI, went 6 months without sleep before dying.
These months were spent in great discomfort, with increasingly debilitating symptoms.
Strangely, however, a Hungarian soldier named Paul Kern went without sleep for 40 years
following a shot to the head that removed part of his frontal lobe, seemingly without
negative symptoms.
The Dimes even made a song about him called ìPaul Kern Canít Sleepî.
While his case remains something of a medical mystery, it does bode well for the future
of sleep research.
If youíre interested in fiction involving sleeplessness, Iíd suggest checking out Stephen
Kingís novel Insomnia.
Itís an interesting and surprisingly lighthearted read.
And now we return to our question: What happens if you stop sleeping?
Well, in the short term, sleep deprivation can cause sluggishness and fatigue.
As time goes on, the brain will begin to shut down non-essential processes.
Youíll likely feel a burst of energy the first day, but that will soon give way to
some pretty unfortunate side effects, like hallucinations and delirium.
On the bright side, there is some evidence that people can live without sleep, like Paul
Kern, so hope is not lost!
If youíre tired of sleep, the answer might be right around the corner!
Thank you for watching Lifeís Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While youíre down there, let me know the longest youíve gone without sleeping.
Until next time, Iím Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Lifeís Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.