Sleep Deprivation World Records

In 1959, Peter Tripp, a New York radio DJ, set a new Guinness World Record for sleep deprivation. He stayed awake for 201 hours (8.4 days) under strict observation.

Within three days he began laughing uncontrollably at things that weren't funny. He then became upset for no reason, and then paranoid, accusing the lab technicians of trying to kill him.

After his 200-hour wake-a-thon, Peter Tripp slept for 13 hours before returning to a normal sleep schedule. However, his family and friends say his personality changed after the sleep deprivation study, and he went on to have four divorces.

In 1964, Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old student, set a new Guinness World Record by staying awake for 264 hours (11 days) straight.

Unlike Peter Tripp, Gardner didn't use any stimulants to stay awake. The effects of sleep deprivation on Gardner included moodiness, paranoia and hallucinations.

He also demonstrated a lack of concentration, forgetting how to do the simple math problems set by the sleep researchers. He slept for 15 hours at the end of the wake-a-thon, but showed no long term side effects.

In 2007, David Blaine announced his intention to stay awake for 276 hours (11.5 days) in New York's Central Park.

To date, it's not clear whether David Blaine's stunt will go ahead, with no recent press updates. What is more, Guinness World Records no longer runs this category due to the potentially harmful effects of sleep deprivation.

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Gene discovered that allows you to sleep less.

"Now the same team has found a gene involved in regulating length of sleep. In one family, the 69-year-old mother and her 44-year-old daughter typically go to bed around 10 p.m., and Mom rises around 4 and her daughter around 4:30, with no apparent ill effects. The rest of the family has typical sleep patterns." -cbsnews.com

Some people can get by on only 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night, and some people even claim to never sleep at all, but doing so without the correct genes can be very bad for your brain and your body.

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Staying up a long time may have these effects:

"Sleep deprivation can have serious effects on your health in the form of physical and mental impairments. Inadequate rest impairs our ability to think, to handle stress, to maintain a healthy immune system and to moderate our emotions. In fact, sleep is so important to our overall health that total sleep deprivation has been proven to be fatal" -www.sleep-deprivation.com

"When you suffer from sleep deprivation, your body's levels of leptin fall while ghrelin levels increase. This means that you end up feeling hungrier without really feeling satisfied by what you eat, causing you to eat more and, consequently, gain weight." -www.sleep-deprivation.com

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Sleep Recommendations:

8 hours is the standard recommended time for nightly sleep.
10 hours are recommended for children.
Some claim you will live longer if you sleep just 7 a night.

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Energy drinks may actually make you more tired.

Recent articles suggest that energy drinks may actually make you more tired in the long run. While the FDA puts limits on the amount of caffeine legal in coffee at 71mg per 12oz, these standards do not apply to energy drinks. Energy drinks may have as much as 505mg. Furthermore, as of yet, energy drinks are not required to have warning labels for high levels of caffeine and other substances.

The theory is that energy drinks cause you to get a less restful nights sleep, thus making you even more tired and causing you to drink even more energy drinks, and the problem starts all over again.

Click here to learn more.