Hey there viewers! Having a good sleep every night? Have you ever thought about how long
you can go without sleep?
You need a healthy sleep schedule. Otherwise, you’ll end up exhausted with a number of
health issues. The world record for the longest time a person went without sleep is 264 hours.
That’s 11 days precisely! And you thought you drank too much coffee...
But what exactly happens during this experience? Decreased concentration? Hallucinations? Psychiatric
disorders? Let’s discuss what happens to your body after a week of no sleep.
24 hours Many of us have gone through this at least
once. An entire day without shuteye is not my idea of fun. This can happen due to a school
assignment or studying for an urgent exam. 24 hours without sleep has little to no impact
on your general health. Although you will begin to see the effects of sleep deprivation.
Not sleeping for a full day is similar to having 0.10 percent blood alcohol content
(BAC) in your body. It causes your brain to enter the “local sleep” state to conserve
energy. This state temporarily shuts down neurons in certain parts of the brain. Your
ability to perform complex tasks will also decline.
So staying awake the night before your exam is definitely a bad idea. You may observe
side effects including drowsiness, difficulty concentrating and memorizing, as well as muscle
tension. Effects like impaired judgment and coordination can lead to an increased risk
of accidents. 36 hours
36 hours of no sleep can really be an issue. It disturbs your body’s sleep/wake cycle,
which helps maintain the day/night rhythm of hormone levels. Disruption of the sleep/wake
cycle may result in an imbalance of hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, stress,
appetite and immune system.
Staying awake for 36 hours leads to extreme fatigue, showing symptoms like muscle weakness,
tiredness, slowed response and irritability.
After 36 hours of no sleep, you’ll face difficulty choosing the right words while
speaking. Further, you’ll notice effects like poor reasoning.
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48 hours
When you hit the two day mark, the effects of sleep deprivation on your body worsen.
It will be difficult to stay awake. This will make your cognitive performance decline.
The brain starts entering short periods of complete unconsciousness. This is known as
microsleep. These episodes occur frequently and are uncontrollable. Microsleep may last
for 10 to 30 seconds.
Two days of missed sleep can damage your immune system. It significantly impacts inflammatory
markers of your body. Sleep loss activates your stress response system, which in turn
stimulates pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins.
This increase in inflammatory proteins contributes to health issues such as cardiovascular, mood
and sleep disorders. Sleep deprivation also decreases the activity of the Natural Killer
cell, also known as NK. NK cells are part of the innate immune system, which kills virus
infections.
72 hours
So now you have gone without sleep for 3 consecutive days! Expect symptoms of sleep deprivation
to become more intense. At this point, most people get extremely fatigued.
Staying awake for three days profoundly affects your cognition and mood. It will restrict
your thinking ability. As a result, you experience difficulty multitasking, concentrating, and
recollecting memory.
A study shows that two astronauts observed impaired cognitive functioning and increased
heart rate after 72 hours. They also experienced depression and became easily irritated.
Sleep deprivation alters your memory, visuals, and emotional perception. You might start
hallucinating after several days. It can even lead to paranoia.
One Entire Week
If you’ve had one full week without sleep, prepare for a tidal wave of negative health
effects.
After 7 days, it will be difficult for your brain cells to communicate. You will have
a distorted sense of time and a weak perception. You will develop sensitivity towards color
and light.
This will eventually result in psychiatric disorders, leading to emotional dysregulation,
which amplifies your emotional reactions. It includes crying, aggressive outbursts and
unstable mood.
Sleep deprivation for this long will not only trigger mental health issues, but bring about
many hormonal issues. Not to mention a weakened immune system.
If you fail to restore a regular sleep cycle, you’ll develop health issues like high blood
pressure, stroke and diabetes. Important functions of the immune system become disrupted.
You also find your hormonal balance disrupted. An extreme amount of sleep loss causes chronic
sleep deprivation, which has lasting effects on your overall health.
Before we move ahead, here’s another video you might like. Watch this video to learn
about natural ways to boost your metabolism.
How to sleep better naturally
Don’t smoke
It is crucial to focus on both the quality and quantity of your sleep. There are various
factors that tie into this.
A study found that cigarette smokers are more likely to suffer disturbances in sleep than
nonsmokers.
This can be attributed to the effects produced by nicotine addiction. It influences neurotransmitters
that are responsible for the regulation of sleep. This may cause sleep disorders. Further,
it increases your risk of depression, substance dependency and other disorders like the smoker’s
cough.
Change your diet
Well we all know the food we eat has a lasting impact on our health. It is even more evident
that certain foods can impact our sleep patterns. Changing your diet can actually help you sleep
better every night.
The first thing you need to do is avoid foods and drinks that contain caffeine. This means
no tea, coffee and chocolate right before bed. Caffeine blocks sleep-inducing agents.
Keep your dinner light. Spices in a heavy meal can cause heartburn and indigestion.
This might make it difficult for you to sleep. Add fruits and vegetables to your daily diet.
Choose high fiber grains and vegetable oils. They might improve the quality of your sleep.
Exercise regularly
Exercising can definitely give you a good night’s sleep. It helps you fall asleep
faster and improves your sleep quality.
Research has found that adults who spent a significant portion of their day sitting,
experienced an improvement in their sleep after adopting a daily schedule of aerobic
exercise. They also reported less depressive symptoms and felt much more active during
the daytime.
Aerobic exercise increases the amount of deep sleep, which gives your body and mind a chance
to rejuvenate. During exercise, your body releases endorphins that make you feel good
along with keeping you awake. So try to wrap up your workout sessions several hours before
bedtime.
Develop a bedtime routine
Sleeping whenever you want might seem convenient at the time. But irregular sleeping hours
disrupt your internal biological clock, which can lead to sleep disorders in the long run.
Work out a sleep schedule and stick to it. Going to bed and waking up at the same time
every day, even on weekends, will establish your sleep/wake cycle. It will help you reduce
the time you take to fall asleep.
Put all your electronic gadgets away an hour before sleep
Well we’re all guilty of overusing our smartphones. I get anxious when my phone’s not in my
sight. Smartphone addiction is real. Seriously, it might be time we start taking baby steps
to rectify it.
If smartphones and other electronic gadgets are present near our bed, we tend to check
them throughout the night. The blue light of LED-based devices raises the cortisol level
in the brain. It makes us extra alert and blocks the production of melatonin, a sleep-regulating
hormone.
So put all your electronic devices away an hour before going to bed. It is good for your
sleep and your body.
How long have you gone without sleep? Have you ever lost sleep for an entire week? Let
us know in the comments below. We would love to hear you!