caninecomposer
Unappreciated artist
- Dec 18, 2023
- 142
(Although there is evidence of an 18-day record, many sources still boast the 11-day experiment as the official longest time someone has gone without sleeping, so according to them, I broke the record)
When I was 14, I was brainstorming ways I could perish. I had heard of people "dropping dead from exhaustion" when not getting enough rest, and I loved the idea of just suddenly losing my life while doing normal everyday stuff. So I committed to staying awake as long as I possibly could, in the hopes that it would be the end of me, and be totally painless.
Like many things, the first day was the hardest. My body wanted to stay in its routine, and I had to intentionally make myself uncomfortable or get up to move around any time I yawned, always keeping my blanket away from my body at all costs. Eventually my body understood what was going on, and by the time the sun came up again, I was ready for school.
Each following day kind of felt the same – running on 0 energy, but being pushed by the sheer motivation for the outcome I wanted most. Getting through the weekend was my next biggest hurdle, since I was constantly sitting in bed and able to lay down at any time. I binged a ton of YouTube (Jacksepticeye and other high energy entertainment), and kept myself up at nights with exciting preteen Skype escapades, leveraging my friends across the world where it wasn't the middle of the night.
By a week after the start of my endeavor, things had gotten pretty rough – my reaction time and focus were in the gutter, using a pencil took an insane concentrated push of mental energy, dizziness was my new default state of existence, and hallucinations were scarily frequent. I was losing touch with reality, but my steady routine allowed me to keep going through the motions inconspicuously. Nobody had commented on me seeming abnormal or unwell. I kept telling myself I was so close, but I was getting really frustrated that nothing had happened. I distinctly remember marking hour 270 as a significant achievement, being 6 hours past what the guy back in the '60s was able to do.
But at some point before crossing over to the 12th day, I suddenly collapsed in bed. Not from my heart stopping, just passing out. All my hard work and progress has been undone with a consecutive 16 hours of sleep. Everything went back to normal and life unfortunately went on. Since then, I've given up on the method of pushing my body more than it can take, especially in my youth. I hope my experience interests someone :p
When I was 14, I was brainstorming ways I could perish. I had heard of people "dropping dead from exhaustion" when not getting enough rest, and I loved the idea of just suddenly losing my life while doing normal everyday stuff. So I committed to staying awake as long as I possibly could, in the hopes that it would be the end of me, and be totally painless.
Like many things, the first day was the hardest. My body wanted to stay in its routine, and I had to intentionally make myself uncomfortable or get up to move around any time I yawned, always keeping my blanket away from my body at all costs. Eventually my body understood what was going on, and by the time the sun came up again, I was ready for school.
Each following day kind of felt the same – running on 0 energy, but being pushed by the sheer motivation for the outcome I wanted most. Getting through the weekend was my next biggest hurdle, since I was constantly sitting in bed and able to lay down at any time. I binged a ton of YouTube (Jacksepticeye and other high energy entertainment), and kept myself up at nights with exciting preteen Skype escapades, leveraging my friends across the world where it wasn't the middle of the night.
By a week after the start of my endeavor, things had gotten pretty rough – my reaction time and focus were in the gutter, using a pencil took an insane concentrated push of mental energy, dizziness was my new default state of existence, and hallucinations were scarily frequent. I was losing touch with reality, but my steady routine allowed me to keep going through the motions inconspicuously. Nobody had commented on me seeming abnormal or unwell. I kept telling myself I was so close, but I was getting really frustrated that nothing had happened. I distinctly remember marking hour 270 as a significant achievement, being 6 hours past what the guy back in the '60s was able to do.
But at some point before crossing over to the 12th day, I suddenly collapsed in bed. Not from my heart stopping, just passing out. All my hard work and progress has been undone with a consecutive 16 hours of sleep. Everything went back to normal and life unfortunately went on. Since then, I've given up on the method of pushing my body more than it can take, especially in my youth. I hope my experience interests someone :p
