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The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior
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Biology 202
2001 Third Web Report
On Serendip
The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior
by S.L.
Sleep deprivation is a commonplace occurrence in modern culture. Every day there seems to be twice as much work and half as much time to complete it in. This results in either extended periods of wakefulness or a decrease in sleep over an extended period of time. While some people may like to believe that they can train their bodies to not require as much sleep as they once did this belief is false (1). Sleep is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep neurons may begin to malfunction, visibly effecting a person's behavior. Some organs, such as muscles, are able to regenerate even when a person is not sleeping so long as they are resting. This could involve lying awake but relaxed within a quite environment. Even though cognitive functions might not seem necessary in this scenario the brain, especially the cerebral cortex, is not able to rest but rather remains semi-alert in a state of "quiet readiness" (2). Certain stages of sleep are needed for the regeneration of neurons within the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep seem to be used for forming new memories and generating new synaptic connections. The effects of sleep deprivation on behavior have been tested with relation to the presence of activity in different sections of the cerebral cortex.
The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is associated with the processing of language. During verbal learning tests on subjects who are fully rested functional magnetic resonance imaging scans show that this area of the brain is very active. However, in sleep deprived subjects there is no activity within this region (3), (4), (5). The effects of this inactivity can be observed by the slurred speech in subjects who have gone for prolonged periods with no sleep (6).
Even severely sleep deprived people are still able to perform to some degree on a verbal learning test. This implies that some other area of the brain must become active to compensate for the loss of temporal lobe functioning. In fact, activity can be seen in the parietal lobe that is not present during verbal learning tests using rested subjects (5). Greater activity within this region corresponded to better performance by subjects in research studies (7). Still, sleep deprived people do not perform as well on these tests as do fully rested subjects (3), (4). One possible reason for the poorer performance after missing sleep, aside from unregenerated neurons, could be the fact that since the parietal lobe is not usually used to performing tasks such as these it is not as adept at carrying them out. Therefore, when control switches from the temporal lobe to the parietal lobe some speed and accuracy is naturally lost. Interestingly, sleep deprived subjects have been shown to have better short-term memory abilities than their well-rested counterparts (6). Since memory is associated with this region of the cerebral cortex the fact that it is already active in sleep deprived people could make it easier for new synapses to be created, thus forming new short-term memories more easily.
While activity is seen within the parietal lobes of rested people as they think through math problems no corresponding activity is visible within the brains of sleep-deprived subjects. Also, no new area of the brain becomes active while the sleep deprived people work on math problems. Since sleep deprived people can still complete math problems, albeit with less speed and accuracy than a well-rested individual, this data implies that a region of the brain already in use is used for this task (1).
The frontal lobe is the most fascinating section of the brain with relation to sleep deprivation. Its functions are associated with speech as well as novel and creative thinking (5). Sleep deprived test subjects have difficulties thinking of imaginative words or ideas. Instead, they tend to choose repetitious words or clichéd phrases. Also, a sleep-deprived individual is less able to deliver a statement well. The subject may show signs of slurred speech, stuttering, speaking in a monotone voice, or speaking at a slower pace than usual (6). Subjects in research studies also have a more difficult time reacting well to unpredicted rapid changes. Sleep deprived people do not have the speed or creative abilities to cope with making quick but logical decisions, nor do they have the ability to implement them well. Studies have demonstrated that a lack of sleep impairs one's ability to simultaneously focus on several different related tasks, reducing the speed as well as the efficiency of one's actions (8). A person may be able to react to a complex scenario when suddenly presented with it but, similar to the verbal tests, the subject will most likely pick an unoriginal solution. If presented with a similar situation multiple times with slight variations in the information presented the subject chooses the same solution, even though it might not be as applicable to the new senario (9).
Part of the frontal lobe, the prefrontal cortex, has several functions specifically coupled with it. Judgment, impulse control, attention, and visual association have all been related to this region of the cerebral cortex (8). A recent study has shown that the prefrontal cortex, usually the most active area of the brain in rested individuals, becomes more active as a person remains awake for long periods of time (3), (4). This region regenerates during the first stage of sleep, giving a person the ability to feel somewhat refreshed after only a short nap (5). The length of the first stage of sleep cycle is somewhat dependant upon how long the person had previously been awake. The longer the period of wakefulness, the longer the brain remains in the first stage of sleep. When the brain enters into the REM stage of sleep the prefrontal cortex is active once more.
The implications of this data seem to be fairly important in supporting the location of the I-function within the brain. The prefrontal cortex is active whenever a person is awake, no matter how little sleep they have had. Also, this area is active while dreaming. Since the individual is aware of him or herself during both of these instances, but is not aware during the stages of sleep when the prefrontal cortex is shut down, it seems logical that the I-function is located within this region. This indicates that the I-function is what is resting and regenerating during the first stage of sleep. It would be interesting to study prefrontal cortex activity while a person is conscious, but unaware of his or her actions, due to an influence such as drugs or alcohol. According to the results of the sleep deprivation studies little or no activity should be seen in the prefrontal cortex at anytime when the individual is unaware of his or herself.
One of the symptoms of prolonged sleep deprivation is hallucinations (10). This could also be related to the I-function since it is the system that integrates the input from all other areas of the brain. If the neurons composing the I-function become too taxed then the picture in the head that the I-function produces may be more dissimilar from reality than usual. The neurons, under pressure to continue functioning but unable to perform optimally, create an image useful enough for a person to see most of his or her surroundings. Metabolic activity in the prefrontal cortex can drop as much as eleven percent after a person has missed sleep for only twenty four hours (8). As a person loses more sleep or continues to receive less-than-adequate amounts of sleep the neurons become even more taxed and the I-function may begin to generate even less coherent images possibly resulting in temporary insanity.
Another piece of evidence supporting the location of the I-function is that mammals have REM sleep whereas cold-blooded animals do not and mammals have a neocortex, located within the prefrontal cortex, while cold-blooded animals do not. REM sleep stimulates areas of the brain used for learning and memory (10). When a person is taught a new skill his or her performance does not improve until he or she receives at least eight hours of sleep (11). An extended period of sleep ensures that the brain will be able to complete the full sleep cycle, including REM sleep. The necessity of sleep for learning could be due to the fact that sleep increases the production of proteins while reducing the rate at which they are broken down (10). Proteins are used to regenerate the neurons within the brain. Without them new synapses may not be able to be formed, thus limiting the amount of information a sleep-deprived individual can maintain.
One of the possible side effects of a continued lack of sleep is death. Usually this is the result of the fact that the immune system is weakened without sleep. The number of white blood cells within the body decreases, as does the activity of the remaining white blood cells. The body also decreases the amount of growth hormone produced (8). The ability of the body to metabolize sugar declines, turning sugar into fat. One study stated that people who sleep less than four hours per night are three times more likely to die within the next six years (11). Although the longest a human has remained awake was eleven days rats that are continually deprived of sleep die within two to five weeks, generally due to their severely weakened immune system (10), (11), (12).
In a way sleep deprivation studies help us to study the relationship between the brain and behavior in a very unique way by observing how a person's behavior changes as the brain shuts down. By taking images of the brain showing where activity is located it is possible to correlate the behavior exhibited by a subject with his or her brain patterns. Just like a person cannot jog for three continuous days a person's brain cannot operate without rest breaks. Since different regions of the brain rest during different stages of the sleep cycle, sleep cannot be cut short. In fact, if the brain does not receive a break it will soon begin to shut down for periods of microsleep. This is essentially several seconds of actual sleep; delta waves that interrupt the regular EEG of an awake person thereby impairing his or her continuity of cognitive function. Microsleep generally happens directly before performance failure occurs (8). Without sleep our brains deteriorate, and if the argument that brain=behavior is true, then our behavior will also suffer accordingly.
WWW Sources
1) an article written by the military concerning sleep deprivation, on the Marine Corps University web site
2) Sleep Loss and Frontal Lobe Function, Loughborough Sleep Research Centre
3)study of brain activity and sleep deprivation, University of California San Diego
4) study of brain activity and sleep deprivation, Nature
5) Lack of Sleep Takes Toll on Brain Power, on WebMD website
6) This is your Brain without Sleep, on about.com health website
7) Sleep-deprived brain can call in reinforcements, CNEWS science website
8) Normal sleep and sleep deprivation, on emedicine website
9) Sleep Deprivation and Cognitive Function, Loughborough Sleep Research Centre
10) Brain Basics- Understanding Sleep, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes
11)a journalist's experience with sleep deprivation, men's journal website
12) psychology class lecture notes, State University of New York Stony Brook
10/15/2005, from a Reader on the Web I have a comment and concern with sleep deprivation. Several of my friends actually stay up and get only 3 hours of sleep then go to school and work. They say that they recieve somewhat of a "buzz" as if they smoked a small amount of weed or drank alchohol. Is this anything that has been heard of before?
i know for a fact that you can go for more then 11 days with out sleep because i went 4 weeks playing computer games on a bet and won but i would never try it again the last 2 weeks it was hard to tell real from not and the stress has caused me some memory loss
Just an observation...you suggest a sleep deprived person uses a different portion of the brain for activities such as speech than a rested individual. I have noticed that at times of my own sleep deprivation it's almost as though my subconscious thought processes have been re-routed through my speech centre...or at very least through my "top-of-mind" thought centre. (Please excuse my lack of technical terminology...I'm not especially well researched in this area.) For example I may find myself aware of the fact that I'm short of breath...and subsequently need to remind myself to breathe...or blink...and sometimes find myself verbalising these stream-of-consciousness processes. Perhaps more concerning are those times I have found myself verbalising these processes while driving...along with the other driving-related requirements (ie. indicate now, clutch and brake, left-hand down a bit...) Any thoughts? Has this been observed elswhere or was it something I imagined in my sleep-deprived state? Darren
My Colleges and I are begining an independant sleep deprivation study, our goal is to remain awake anywhere from ninety-six to one hundrend sixty-eight hours. We were wondering when the Hallucinations occur\what they entail, and how great the effects are on behavior\health before continuing. Thus far, two of us have been designated to conduct this experiment, and the other two stationed to observe. The two that are being deprived of sleep have been awake for 25 hours, 40 minuets, 45 seconds and still going. Any advise?
This is in response to the question posted on 10/15/2005 on the page /bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Ledoux.html: Yes, I believe this effect would happen in case of moderate sleep deprivation. Serotonin, the neurotransmitter which is used up during the sleep cycles, is partially responsible for mood balance. The longer a person sleeps, the more serotnin gets used up in the brain, resulting in somewhat of a depressed state of mind - the lethargy we feel if we sleep, say, 14 hours straight. (Antidepressant drugs such as Prozac work by inhibiting the excessive consumption of serotonin in the brain.) The reverse of this is when we don't get enough sleep, there is a slight excess of serotonin in the brain, resulting in the "buzz" you mentioned. It's tired hyperactivity, not really an energetic state.
I think the "buzz" associated with not sleeping has to do with the hallucinations that being to affect the brain after long bouts with no sleep. I suffer from insomnia occasionally and after a long day at work I am definitly not right in the head.
hello my forst time here. I was looking for the functions of the 345 cranial nerves. I have a tumor pressing on it and I want to know there functions, Thank you
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Additional comments made prior to 2007
hello,
my mom works most nights from 9:45 pm until 7:30 am. by the time she gets home i am about to go to school so i dont see her during the day. when i am at school she is takind medical classes untill about 2:30 pm. she tries to take a nap until i get home at around 3:30 pm. She hardley eats and she comlains aout gaining weight but no more than 20 lbs. today she threw up. i asked her are u ok. she said its fine ive been doin this for a few months now. "mom , why didnt you tell me?" i said. she replied, " u dont need to kno, its just a fact of survival now." i told her she needs to go see the doctor. she refuses, shes a busy woman. I read somewhere that if u have a serious case of sleep deprevation, then u are able to die within the next 6 years. I love my mom to death and i am starting to get worried , she hardly sleeps and when she does it is for short amounts of time. please email me back and tell me if there is anything i can advise to my mom. I care about her so much and!
i dont want her to be hurt or sick. I would greatly appriciate it. Thank you ... Ty, 31 January 2006
Does lack of sleep increase your appetite? ... Jenna McLaughlin, 5 February 2006
I have a hard time sleeping sometimes, I am guessing insomnia I dont know for sure. I am a student and also work a very physically demanding job. I have found that I can barely work some days and others I have an incredible amount of enerrgy. I have also realized I suffer bouts of depression and was wondering if this is related to the lack of sleep I suffer from. I also at times break down from what I beleive is stress. Could the lack of sleep cause more stress or even make the already present stress even more, for lack of a better word, stressful? Thank you ... Nathaniel Kiser, 17 February 2006
I have suffered from some sort of sleep disorder all of my life. I can sometimes get 2-3 hours a night, usually I do not sleep at all. This lasts for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. I recently completed a sleep study. The test showed that I have leg movements at 60-70x per hour, while the normal rate is 10-15x, when I am actually asleep. However, my brain activity is rapid and constant, as opposed to being stimulated by the leg activity. Doctor's questions seemed to indicate a suspicion of bi-polar disorder, but no other symptoms are present. I was prescribed Requip for the restless legs, but had no success with it.
I experience some mild exhaustion during the day, but never to the point of needing a nap. I have taken the Epworth test and my final score was 1. I do not feel impaired; actually I am quite energetic. I work out 3-4x a week, do not intake caffeine, sugar or any other stimulants. The longest I have gone without any sleep at all is 5 days, then got flu-like symptoms and slept for about 8 hours-a sleep marathon, so to speak. Then back to the same routine.
I am deeply concerned about the long term effects on my body. I am a 37 year old female with no serious health problems to speak of. I have tried numerous sleep aids, ranging from herbal alternatives, over the counter medicines to hard core prescription medications (ex: 800 mg of Seroquel). Shockingly, none of them have helped my sleeplessness. It is almost like I just simply do not have an "off" button.
If there is anyone out there who might be able to shed some light on this problem, or anyone who may be suffering from the same symptoms, I would certainly welcome any commentary and/or suggestions ... BZ, 21 February 2006
I am currently serving in the US Army. I can guaruntee you that i only get around 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night. I work all day and basically all night. I train for war. There are short periods i guess you would call it microsleep, that occur to me when i am driving a humvee. i pass out for i guess 5 seconds which seems like 5 minutes. i do have trouble thinking of solutions and most of the time my words are kind of slurred. Sometimes i cannot stay focus on any task and just sit on a chair staring into the great unknown. Everyone in the army works extremely hard everyday and everynight going without sleep for 3 or 4 days.. probably only getting 2 to 4 hours asleep a night. i feel dead inside. when i am given a task to do and i find it difficult to do that task. i am extremely frustrated and angry and i feel like yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs and then passing out for all eternity. You should do a study of sleep deprivation in the Army. I think you tests would be more accurate than using civilians. the army is said in the army regulation books that we are suppose to get 4 non-consecutive hours of sleep a day. that is bs. you should tell the army that our soldiers need more sleep time. everyday i am angry at not getting enough sleep. i'll stp typing now ... Sean, 26 February 2006
just from my own experience I can tell you that I have not slept more than 2 hours in over a week now...due to stress and a terrible mattress...in the past I have often used it as a means to acheive a certain level of consciousness for spiritual reasons. But this week has begun to feel like torture. Today I have distressing pinched nerves in my neck, and excruciating pain all along my spine. I cannot get into a position that doesn't hurt. I cannot lift anything or move freely. It is beginning to effect my speech...a few days ago I noticed an increase in irratability but was able to get a handle on it today...however there are some benefits I would like to share: my subconsious is definitely much more accessible. I have noticed a heightened feeling that I am channelling other people's thoughts in chat rooms, and can tell what they are thinking before they say it in person. A huge amount of insight has been dumped on me that I hope I do not forget. Last night, while laying in the dark for about 6 straight hours just contemplating....I had revelations about the rune & corresponding Norse mythology that I had picked out randomly the hour before during a bath. It was incredibly complex and simple at the same time for me to get a firm grasp on its' archetypical meaning, how it applies to me, my particular situation; as well as to ancient man and also other mythologies (i.e., Christian). I really enjoyed this insight as a lot of new knowledge came to me that had escaped me previously. So it has its advantages. Now that I have had that experience, I went to purchase a better mattress and some Nyquil so that I may sleep at least 6-7 hrs. sometime today or tonight, whenever the conditions in my household permit. At this point my subconscious is telling me that there will be health risks if I don't. I have learned to listen to it.
Thanks for letting me share that ... Lou Anne Cavin, 27 February 2006
This was pretty informing thank you. I am doing an open ended investigation in biology on sleep deprivation. Im going to be the experimentation though. Just wondering where I should set my limits for my lack of sleep, I\'ve made sure I have no exams when I do it =P. And I was wondering if this like, was a problem because of the hormones and the insufficient time to like recharge them. So, what hormones they are and what they do. Im gonna go research that now hehe. Thanks. Bye ... Amy, 1 March 2006
Everyone says you can't make up lost sleep. Is this true? ... Reader on the web, 3 March 2006
If I stay up all night and study I seem to do better on tests than when I study in incrimates. Why is that or am I just imagining it?
Secondly I have migraines. I first got them 5 years ago when I was only getting 4-5 hours of sleep. I've been getting 8 hours of sleep for the past 4 years. Why haven't my migraines subsided?
Thank you ... Beth, 3 March 2006
I thought id just add some of my experiences of sleep deprivation and hope it helps this site and anyone with their research.
normally after the first 24 hours i begin to fell as would be expected 'stupid'. in the sense i tend to vier of track of whatever i was doing and easily loose focus. speech is still fine although it may take me a few secoonds more than usual to think of what im actually going to say or do. this cant often lead to me being paused and just stood there in a total blank for 10 seconds or so. after 48 hours aside from being tired logic seems to go out the window. simple tasks become hard to do without concotraing very hard for as something like putting a shoe on.often whilst doing this i can do much like i did before and just stare blankly wondering what i as doing before i carry on again. coming up to the third day which is the most ive been awake, lead me into sort of a dream world where i could doze off standing up and walking. conversations were hard to understand due to the amount of concontration needed. i was pretty much in my own world, so to speak. from the outside i looked as if i were inder sedativews or something with an open mouth and just blank thinking. very simple thoughts ran through my head and life seemed simple to me. thoughts of the weel ahead or anything like that came to mind. just the simple task i have to do in the next hour or so. towards the end of the 3 days even eating became a complicated task and required full concontration. having DESCENT conversation was near impossibe.
as for what was mentioned earlier about a 'buzz' after smoking weed and mixed with lack of sleep. i can describe it as the same as sleep deprivation, but its how you view the effect of it on yourself... you can view it as fun and just another way to be not in the right state of mind , as is the point of most drugs and alcohol.
as a matter of fact im actually going without sleep now, not quite 24 hours but long enough for me.. im going to bed!
hope this was of some help ... Dom, 7 March 2007
i have a severe sleep disorder. i have been going on maybe 8 hours sleep every 2 weeks for the last 6 months. And before that i was sleeping maybe a good 8 hours a week and this has been going on for 4 years almost. can anybody beat this. surely if i am out there and do this other people are too. i am surprised i still am even here ... Sandy, 13 March 2006
As part of a bizarre school project, myself and a group of mates are attempting a sleep deprevation experiment later on in the year(i fell upon your website as part of my researsh stage). The idea is to see who will last the longest without sleep (with a slab of beer at the end to the winner, thats to keep them motivated). i would like it very much to hear from you with an idea of what to expect and also some info of previous experiments done from the past.
Cheers ... Louis Van Pelt, 22 March 2006
well i wuz doin this science project with my friends and we found out that it does cause it can erase your memory and y r u doin this u dont even know wat your doin cause i tryed sleeping late 2 see wat happens and after a while i couldnt remember wat wuz i doin or y wuz i doin this so just remember next time u try sleepin late just remember not sleepin does effect your behavior ... Carolina, 28 March 2006
How does Al Herpin fit into all this? He reportedly suffered from total insomnia. Did his brain learn to recover, or simply move activity to another portion of the brain without sleep? Did he suffer a long but slow degradation of memory? Sorry I can't find any good mention of him on the net, or provide any more information on the net on him than this: http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI/1.3.4.htm (look at 5. Unwanted Syndromes) and http://www.freepres-markethill.org/witness/manneverslept.htm
Do you know anything about this case? ... Mifune, 28 March 2006
Your article by SL on sleep deprivation really has helped me. I am a semi-retired radio broadcaster who recently began working a couple hours a day hosting early morning radio programming and doing occasional news anchor duties in order to keep my fingers in the business. I have not yet been able to develop some consistent sleep hours, so I may have 6 or 7 hours of nighttime sleep and other times get only 4 or 5 hours, followed by short afternoon naps, then usually crashing for a major late morning nap at some time during the week.
I noticed that my speech on the air is effected. Yesterday, "inexplicably," I didn\'t finish a word while doing the morning host gig...while I don't remember the word in question, it was something like "spoken" which I pronounced "spokuh," not finishing it with the "n" sound. And on the same day, while doing the news, on too-many newscasts I mispronounced at least one word in a way that just didn\'t add up. From time to time, its possible to mispronounce a word while on the air, but it seemed like there was a disconnect between the split second that I read the word on the copy in front of me and the time the word came out of my mouth. It was a totally different feeling psychologically, than a "normal" on-air mispronounciation. And then a week or two ago, when I had to make a routine "timing" decision whether I had time to do a planned story before the commercial or if I had to make a quick switch to a shorter, unplanned story (this decision had to be made while I was in the newscast reading the copy but thinking ahead to how much time I had left)...it felt like I was clueless as to what to do. Though this is routine, my thinking was definitely impaired.
All this is to say that Ms. L's article has really helped me understand what sleep deprivation has been doing to my brain. It seems to effect (or is the word "affect") my "thinking" more dramatically than my physicality (though I find myself working out at the gym less than my usually disciplined 5 or 6 day a week workout schedule.) Please thank Ms. L for her article for me. I really need to work much harder on getting to bed around 8 p.m. on most nights, and factoring in a better scheduling around the nights when I have obligations that take me to 11 p.m. ... Tom Moller, 1 April 2006
It is like when the section of brain that is most active for specific function gets used to the less state of optimal transfer and next section starts cache for function switching over something "bottlenecks" "lags" or slows down, this seems detrimental to length of time used to render descernable output, but may also be slowly acessing the old or first active section and new same time maybe gaining wider length or more less used in that specific routeing of functions process. I find it harder to speak simply, needing more complicated explanations to gain the feeling of "defintion or quoitent correct" nodding head in understanding. Lol the line between actual relevant transfer of understandable "coherant" information v.s. giggity giggity spam blah babble grows <--SMALLER? umm Me thinks the brain on the verge of using all portions due to extreme lengths of slack time (sleep) maybe inherantly affecting perception of reality in a more or less indifferent state i.e. self realization of irrelavance of time to entirety of all existence.Numbers obviously become more dominate rates of optimal language due to universally understood medium words letters are relayed less efficently because of the wide format of interchangeable strings user can understand easier different language regardless of font type etc if relavant numeriacal equivalent is present i.e. health=100 10=*&&*% health=110 or health=90... health could be string in any format of chacters symbols etc but cannot =present amount of self or numbers? Useless if Ω or exponet man I\'ll just stfu and goto sleep try again after those 8 hours, nay it burns I want to define but fear persecution but am hitting the send button regardless big step for me ... Reader on the web, 3 April 2006
i would like to try to stay in wal mart for a weekend. and try to not fall asleep, would this alter my mental health. or woulld it get so boring that i would eventually pass out. thank you ... Chase, 13 April 2006
When sleep deprived and using parts of the brain that are not normally used is it possible or been researched that a new telepathic sense can be awakened, for the past few years iv lost a lot of sleep and in the past year iv had 4 or 5 very detailed dreams that came true and theres no way they were coincadence. I strongly believe Im telepathic or at least have been and am hoping to find some answers here ... Lewis, 23 April 2006
After being an alcoholic and stopped 4 days ago, I have only slept all together about 1hour 30 min. My mind will just not stop working. I am so sleepy but just can not do it. I only catch a few minutes at time. It really starting to affect my health. Is there anything I can do? I have read in the Big Blue Book that Sleepless can not kill you. I am beginning to wonder...
Please advise me ... Kat, 13 May 2006
when i didnt sleep for only 3 days i went off it,i was seeing hair growing on me and my boyfriend at fast rates and i saw lights flyin around and insects on my bed, they were very vivid and intense ... Rebeckah, 14 May 2006
Hello. I have been diagnosed with Narcolepsy in 2002, and then subsequently rediagnosed in 2005 with Sleep anpnea, none of the medication that i received for both diagnosis did not work and I'm still suffering very severly with this problem. I'm currently seeing a chiropratic in which the results of an x-ray of the lower brain and neck shows that I have a sligh cure in my spine resulting in some abnormal pressure on a nerve which is responsible for blood oxgen getting to the brain which could be preventing me from getting sleep, doe anybody now of any other information that might be helpful in helping me combat this disorder I desperately need your help, concerned! ... Fred, 14 May 2006
Was looking at site to see link between Bipolar Disorder and Sleep deprivation. I am studying to be a psychiatrist. It is interesting to note that many "manic" Bipolar episodes are preceded usually by 2 or more days of no sleep at all or a period of severely deficient sleep patterns. Also note that Bipolar depression is often preceded and associated with oversleeping? Is this (Bipolar) a real mental illness, or is it often "created" and thrown at individuals showing symptoms of temporary insanity or sadness due to oversleep or undersleep respectiveley? I beleive at the least the "real deal" behind many "Bipolar Disorder" most especially mania is extended periods of sleep deficiency or no sleep at all, all of which go against the brains natural ability in mantaining stable levels of serotonin...good sleeping lifestyle practices should be the prescription in many cases rather than throwing Mood-Stabilizers, Anti-Psychotics and other Bipolar Meds at people who are! nothing more than severely sleep deprived or oversleeping ... Brian C, 19 May 2006
Hi im still young but im really looking foward to study my perfect career, so lately i havent slept good. Im experimenting a little to see if maybe i could get used to it, i agree with some points of your essay and some points i don't know them well yet but im interested on them. If this is true i would start sleeping 8hrs per day but i think is important 4 ppl 2 know this kind of stuff because everyday everyone sleeps less and less ... Swam, 10 September 2006
hey im in 8th grade and im doing a project about this. uhm okay i sleep really late like around 5 am. then wake up at 7 for school. im doing a project on this cause maybe on my way of doing it i can realize something very important that im missing! at school i just start acting lazy meaning not wanting to do my school work and getting behind my clsses. and im not usaully that kind of person i use to get all my things done in time but now everything is falling apart! so i was wondering if sleeping is affecting my daily acedemics and routines in my life? ... CeeCee, 23 September 2006
I don't have anything to comment on but I want to know whether the body temperature of a person increases if the person has slept only for 3 hours at night or even lesser. Or it depends on the time period when he/she has gone to sleep or the temperature or weather of the place. Also does the immunity of the person also reduce due to loss of REM sleep? ... Gayetri Ramachandran, 22 October 2006
I think I'm sleep deprived. I work a condensed work week 4 - 10 hour days. I've been doing this for about 2 years now. I drive 1.5 hours 3 of the 4 days to start work at 6am and end at 4:30pm. I have a three year old who co-sleeps with my wife and I. I usually try to go to bed around 9-10pm to get 6 or 7 hours of sleep before the drive. What usually happens is that my daughter tosses and turns or my wife usually ends up working until midnight, my daughter won't go to sleep easily without both of us there. By the time I get into a really good sleep it's around 12:30am - 1am, during the night my daughter repeatedly kicks off the covers in her sleep. I usually wake up several times a night to cover her back up. Then the alarm clock goes off at 4 in the morning, I shower, shave eat breakfast and then commute to work. I've been experiencing some behavioural problems such as MicroSleeping while driving, or at work, inability to concentrate, focus or staring off into space. When people talk to me I usually hear about the first three words and then drift off into la-la land as my eyes glaze over and drift away from whomever is talking to me. Last Friday at work I tried to explain what I was doing to my boss and couldn't spit it out! I ended up grunting and pointing like a caveman! This lasted about 40 seconds and he looked at me very strangely until I was finally able to spit it out in short sentences.
I think my work is suffering from lack of sleep, my wife notices that I'm listless and zombie-like when I get home. This in turn is affecting my marriage. So with both my marriage and job at stake is there any recommendations that you can suggest.
I would be entirley grateful ... Matt Strawbridge, 22 October 2006
Recently,I happened to come across a fact that getting less than 6hrs of sleep per night actually leads us to diabetes and obesity.Infact,when a person wakes up in a sleep deprived state ,there's a growing drive for high carb foods(in the morning).Moreover,production of insulin in the pancreas is also inhibited in this state.Usually I end up getting just 4-5 hrs of sleep per night and if by chance,I get to sleep some 45mins in the public bus on my way to college.Sometimes I experience slurred language,inability to focus and feeling sleepy all the time.Meanwhile,in the weekend I sleep for around 8-11 hrs and this drives me too lazy and decreased energy.And then the life goes on ... John Kane, 8 November 2006
hello im a middleschooler who todally dosnt agree w/ having to wake up sooo early. ive also read that us teenagers should get more sleep than we do so i think that they should give us more time to sleep, on school days and we should at least try to go to sleep earlier ... Jay Bruner, 14 November 2006
I have also noticed the 'buzz' effect of sleep deprivation, it was kinda pleasant, and I think it's similar to a kind of psychosis, you feel slightly removed from reality, as if having taken a mental painkiller.
Also, I have noticed when sleep-deprived, that it is easy to drift off into a kind of daze, and in these times it's easy to get into a stream-of-consciousness rant about varied unrelated subjects. I would have expected this to be a cause of increased functioning in language/creative ideas parts of the brain, because it seems like more thoughts can escape from your unconscious into the conscious, but your research suggests otherwise.
Another effect of sleep deprivation that I have felt is that when sleep deprived, the body's tollerance for alcohol, (and probably other drugs), is much lowered, so a small amount of alcohol will have more effect on you when you're very tired.
Remember this is all from personal experience and shouldn't be considered empirical/true. Everything I have mentioned is only fit for stimulating ideas ... Mombius Hibachi, 19 November 2006
I have done a great deal of sleep deprivation related training in the military, under the mistaken belief that through practice you can get good at it. Afte around 15 years of service I had a seizure, and all the blood vessels in my left eye popped amongs some other unpleasant effects like forgetting my name. The nuerologist told me there was a good chance that this was caused by a life of repeated bouts of sleep deprivation (after I was tested for a myraid of other things like low blood sugar, and epilepsy). Is there anything that I can do to lessen the effects of sleep deprivation? My job kind of requires that I stay up for long hours in order to survive, and be able to carry out my duties ... Nordeen, 9 December 2006
Its really nice to read people's experiences in life.
please keep on adding guyz....its really interesting to read about what happened to your life style when you got deprived of sleep ... Mr. Yelmar, 27 December 2006
your list for SYMPTOMS of sleep loss leads one to believe you'll just feel "sleepy".
Doctors KNOW about the PSYCHOSIS you can get from it, so you should INCLUDE this on your site.
These symptoms include:
-hallucinations (visual, tactile, smell, taste)
-hearing "voices", most of which or MENTAL VOICES
-total loss of judgement
-false memories
-paranoia
-fears
-believing things that aren't true
-following "commands" (when the mental voices tell you to do something)
-"movies" playing in your head where "mental voices & chaaracters" appear & play a "storyline" (like a movie would), which can last for seconds, hours, days, or weeks. and you may BELIEVE it to be REALLY occurring.
please post this so people will KNOW what it is that's happening to them, & people will know WHY they shouldn't sleep deprive themselves ... Dudbubbin, 1 January 2007
For a project i stayed up for 37 hours and i never reached the point where i got hillucinations and actually i didn't really experience any really terrible side effects. I did experience the typical side effects such as headaches, slowed movements and thoughts, but after a span of time i felt normal but around hour 36 i could really feel the drag towards sleep. This article has really helped me with an essay that i have to write for this project and i will be sure to use it as a reference. Hope my input can help you in some way ... Mike Radford, 7 January 2007
I can't sleep. when to a sleep clinic was told that I had a very bad sleep D.gave me all kind of medication but notting help could you help me ... Suzanne Thibault, 14 January 2007
I seem to have woken up to the idea that the symptoms of sleep deprivation can easily be misdiagnosed or misunderstood by others, and,then theres the posibility that the sufferer may believe he or she has other unrelated problems. In my case i began to think that i was autistic to some degree, and as a result i embarked on a course to find out. To cut the story short, i came to a point where it was obvious that prelonged periods of sleep deprivation over a span of some 20-25 years have gradually turned me into a completely different person. I have no motivation to do even the things i've always enjoyed and tasks that require ones undivided attention seems to be too much to handle. I made a lot of mistakes typing this dialogue and had to continually make amends to the text, which to me proof is that disorientation is a key symptom. On a daily basis i wander about the work place not able to do whatever job i've been given, even to the point where i have packed up for the day and gone home. Other days are different to the extent that i suffer a kind of panic attack but afterwards i seem to be fine for a while, but definitely a lot more sluggish. I may be suffering from depression too but i've not looked into that side of the matter as yet.
I was tired when i typed this and it was a chore. I hope its of some help, better still will it result in something that will help me! ... H. Rojewski, 22 January 2007
I start hallucinating after about 3 days of no sleep. I see people everywhere that ive never seen before. They just appear out of the walls and ceilings. All i have to do is stare at a solid object for a few seconds. Sure enough people will start coming through and they usually float up towards the ceiling. Also dark rooms are just full of people floating around and walking through. Once i get some sleep i dont see these things at all. The longer i stay up the more clear and intense these experiences become. I used to take large amounts of Dextromethorphan and would experience these types of things. But i havent touched Dxm in years. Could this be some form of permanent brain damage? ... Jay Grigsby, 4 February 2007
I am a homicide investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. We work a 21 day cycle. 3 days off, five days on during which we are on call. one of those days we work a shift of desk duty answering telephones from either 0500-1300, 1300-2100 or 2100-0500. This is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year including holidays. During the on call we get called out at all hours throughout the county to investigate murder. We commonly leave late at night, go home late the next day. we get 3 days off then we begin a 10 day stretch. Starting on a friday we are on call until monday at 0600 hours during that time we work one shift of desk duty. What effect does this have on a persons health? ... Boyd Zumwalt, 16 February 2007
Re: "i know for a fact that you can go for more then 11 days with out sleep because i went 4 weeks playing computer games on a bet and won but i would never try it again the last 2 weeks it was hard to tell real from not and the stress has caused me some memory loss" -- Reader on the web, 11/06/2005
SS or it never happened.
In the state of sitting on your backside for 4 straight weeks, without any sleep, and more than likely consuming high-energy, caffine full liquids and or foods, you would have died of a heart attack ... Matt Bryant, 20 March 2007
ALOHA! MY NAME IS BOB. I HAVE NOT SLEP FOR 4 MONTHS NOW. PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPS, I AM HAVING A HARD TIME TO SEE. I SUFFER FROM CHRONIC BACK PAIN AND OTHER FAILED SURGERIES. PRAISE THE LORD,INDEED, HE HAD HEALED ME 6 MONTHS AGO FROM MY SCIATIC NERVE THAT I HAD SUFFERED FOR 35 YEARS, PRAISE THE LORD. I AM ON MY 2ND PUMP NOW FOR PAIN. IT WAS SET ON #11, FILLED WITH DILAUDID PLUS. ANYWAY AFTER THE LORD LEALED ME, PRAISE THE LORD, I CUT IT BACK OVER A 6 MONTH PERIOD TO A #4. WELL THIS OPENED ANOTHER CAN OF WORMS FOR ME. I STIL HAVE A BULGING DISC, A LEASON, SPINAL STINOSIS, MASIVE SCARTISSUE, NERVE DAMAGE, ETC. I CAN ONLY HAVE MY PUMP REPROGRAMED ONCE A MONTH AT 10% INCREASE DURING MY SLEPING HOURS, FROM 8:30PM TO 4:AM. I HAVE NOT SLEP FOR MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES AT A TIME OVER 4 MONTHS. NOW WHAT I AM About to say is that without any sleep your brain goes crazy. i am lucky that i am retired. i start to think about a lot of weird things, really crazy, i cannot explain. it is also sooooooo hard to keep my concentration. I PRAY THAT MY NEXT INCREASE WILL HELP ME WITH MY SLEEP. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING AS FAR AS SLEEPING AIDS. NOTHING WORKS. I WILL GET UP MAYBE 6 TIMES A NIGHT. I AM SOOOOOOOO TIRED WHEN I GET UP IT IS NOT FUNNY. CAN ANYONE HELP ME. GOD BLESS YOU ALL ... Robert Boyko, 23 March 2007
I am doing research for a science experiment for my science class and I need to see what will happen to people when they don't sleep for 48 hours. Do you have any tips or information I could use? ... Talyn, 23 March 2007
Hi. I'm a student and i don't think i'm getting enough sleep. I normally go to sleep from 11 - 12, and wake up 6 30, will this effect my studies? What effect will it have on me? ... Frank, 5 June 2007
I really hope there is someone out there who can help me with this problem.Some three years ago I was struck down with a nasty dose of Chronic Bronchitis, during that period of illness there was a period of thirteen days when I hardly got a wink of sleep due to continually coughing.I felt dissorientated couldn't think straight and was basically quite poorly. Also in that period I did something Quite uncharateristic of me, I sent an email to a work coleague stating that my presant wife shouted at me because of my incesant coughing and that she would get annoyed if I had not cooked her meal by the time she arrived home from work. I remember saying more or less the same thing to my mother some fifteen years ago when I was married to and alcoholic wife. My presant wife read the email which caused me even more traumer and her daughter will not let the subject drop. Could there be a connection here because I cannot explain why I did such a thing, I love my wife dearly and wouldn't do anything knowingly to hurt her. at the time of the illness I was 63 yrs of age ... John Evans, 16 September 2007
I guess i don't get as much sleep as i should be getting, but last night it got creepy. story is, i have a mouse. i used to have two, but one ran away, so i got a new one, because the petsmart people say they are social, but unfortunately, the old one ate the new one. well, last night, i looked down at the cage and there were two mice. i starred blankly for some period of time. then i ran to my cell, and called people to see if anyone knew anyrhing about the extra mouse, and non one did. i went back later, and it wasn't there any more. i've looked ever since then and haven't seen it. what?? did i really see osmething that wasn't there? ... Noel Knight, 25 September 2007
i had noticed u said the longest a human has stayed awake was eleven days.ive went without sleep for 16 days last summer without the use of drugs.during that time i aquired my GED considering i dropped out in the seventh grade i would say i was comprehending and retaining information pretty well but anyhow i just wanted to ask how long i could go without sleep safe from dying ... Zachary, 30 September 2007
i am a senior in high school and i have to get up between six and six thirty to be to school on time by seven thirty. i usually set my alarm clock to go off at six then again at six fifteen. sometimes my dad comes in and wakes me before my alarm and on these days i always feel more tired than i would had i woken uop to my alarm even if its just a few minutes before my alarm. is this normal? why does losing just a few minutes of sleep make me feel exhausted throughout the day? ... Britni, 1 October 2007
hi... I was wondering about sleep deprivation verses major depression. I've been diagnosed with major depression but I have also had a lot of sleep deprivation. i go back and forth between being deprived of sleep and sleeping for really long periods of time. could my sleep deprivation be the reason for my depression? and if so, why wouldn't my psychologist and psychiatrist have caught that because I've described my sleep patterns to them both. are there other factors in diagnosing major depression that I'm missing? from what i can tell, sleep deprivation has a lot to do with behavior malfunction, speech problems, etc., which are symtoms of depression. anyway, I would really like your advice if possible. thank you for the article - it was fascinating ... Anna, 1 October 2007
I'm 14 and i just had a hallicination the other night but i can't recall what it was, but previous hallicinations i remmember. One hallucination was I was the size of an ant in a forrest at night but i also was a hungry chameleon and was trying to eat myself, no joke. I recall that got out of bed cause i felt odd, so i just went to the bathroom, and while i was on the toilet i felt scared, i got up exited the bathroom and i found myself freaking out, my sister was trying to calm me down. Her point of veiw was she came out to go to the bathroom and she saw me standing there looking at the ground, and she said my name and i started to freak out and said there was a worm on my head, but i thought she asked me if there was a worm on my head and i just went with it, so i start saying "There is a worm on my head get it off!" which i don't remmember, also another was a little more calm but still as stressful, it was black every where and i was as if standing on glass, there were old ruin looking columns every where and i had to choose the one REAL column or the whole universe would cease to exist. I also have ones with strange feelings where my mind thinks in a totally different way that i can't explain, One there was bright light all around me and two pitch black wholes on either side of me, in each whole there was a small Imp, and both kept on coming up at the same time trying to pull me in their hole and split me apart, another was the calmest one, There was a frame arch and i was standing in it, there was a light bulb at the top pointing down, (like on the inside) and i was floating through space and breathing. When i hallucinate my mind thinks TOTALLY different, and anything can make me feel like i'm about to die, another was (i know "Don't watch so much TV." wasn't the case though) it was the same setting as the imp dream was, but i was awake, each Dragon Ball Z villain had a hole 3 villains were there, but they were standing above their hole, and i had to go Super Saiyan or they would kill me but there was a chance i would die if i went Super Saiyan, i was 9 at the time, also random things will remind me of my dreams or hallucinations, such as when i was writing this i was going to write "fourteen" instead of 14 but i thought i had a typo and didn't know how to spell fourteen even though it was correct and i got the Sleep Deprivation "feeling" almost remmembering the hallucination i had last night (but i couldn't). So if anyone can explain my type of Sleep Deprivation or anyone that has similar problems or hallucinations or anyone that knows and has experiance the type of "Feeling" or different type of thinking, please contact me ... Devin Farrell, 22 October 2007
Fantastic site! I really enjoyed the article "The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior." I'm looking for information on types of diagnostic tests for chronic insomnia and studies that gives ratios on degree and types of impairment for amount of sleep loss. For example: For every 5 hours of sleep lost, there is a 10% decline in ability to focus, concentrate, etc ... Pamela Jackson, 25 October 2007
Hi my name is femi, i am 15 years old and i live in essex, U.K. Althuogh i haven't carried out any research on this issue, but what i think is that the human brain is designed in away that everything you do is to a set out programme in your head, so when you sleep your brain recollects the days events and thats why you have things known as dreams. Then theres an unconsious state during the sleep were your brain works in credibly hard to programme the next day. Thats why you feel very tired and heavy even when you haven't done anything hard, this is very evident i.e those who sleep more do anything better than those who do not ... Femi, 30 October 2007
Comments
Reply to Obsdtructvie Sleep Apnea
Have you tried the little ones that just go under your nose and blow into your nostrils, or the mask that just goes over your nose?
I was lucky enough to be handed 4 different "masks" when I got my CPAP and as a back sleeper the hose bugged me a bit but the masks weren't too bad.
CPAPs are changing the lives of millions!
CPAP & sleep studies
I have had 4 sleep studies done in the last 6 years all of which showed that I have an upper airway resistance(which can over time progress to sleep apnea). They tell me I receive 0% of restorative sleep. As I understand it there is REM sleep of which I only receive a very minute amount of(this is when you dream), after REM there are 3 stages of deep/restorative sleep, and my body wakes me up before I can ever reach them. I have never seen anyone leave a sleep study without a prescription for a CPAP machine. In the 2 sleep studies where I was made to wear the machine, I was waking up more times an hour than without it. My family doctor agreed that purchasing one was unwarrented (after 1st time). The 2nd time they said I received a slight amount of REM sleep but still no restorative sleep, and I remember waking up quite a bit more and was in more pain and less rested than before. I do have some underlying medical conditions to which doctors/specialists have not been able to properly diagnose (except for several little things that prove there is an underlying issue) like occipital neuralgia(a constant headeache at the left base of my skull which shoots what I call lightning headeachs occasionally to the back of my left eye) I also suffer from migraine(anywhere from 3-15 days long and usually 2-3 times a month,also tension headaches,silent migraine with aura, my white blood cell count has been elevated for the last six years, and now possibly an auto-immune disorder or connetive tissue problem and now more recently tinnitus(buzzing ringing of the ears) for the last 2 months. I was just informed that my migraines worsening and the tinnitus are the result of sleep deprivation. The doctors say that there is nothing that they can do except pain management, so I've been on Oxycontin(large amount),percocet,vallium,antidepressants,gravol,melatonin(a natural supplement for helping you sleep and stay asleep),and ibuprophen. I know the first time that I was prescribed a CPAP machine that they company I was supposed to purchase from was constantly harrassing and also threatening me that I had to buy one or they were going to tell the doctors that I was not complying. Of course OHIP does not cover the entire expense of the machine which can cost up to $3,500.00 and I am sure that the Sleep Clinic gets a kickback for every machine purchased.....the last time I was there (6 months ago) they wanted me to start the purchase process before even analysing the results of my sleep study, when I questioned how they would know for sure that I needed one when I hadn't seen the Pshycologist for the latest results, they said that I wouldn't need to see him, and that he would just be calling me with the prescription. Because I questioned the practice so much and asked "Does anyone ever leave the clinic without a prescription for a CPAP?", I suddenly got a refferal to an ENT (ears,nose,throut doctor), but was still given the prescription for CPAP before the appointment. I will not be buying one because I don't believe that it helps me and I cannot afford it I have been off work for almost 6 years now and the only other option I have been given was to get a tonsilectomy (even though there is nothing wrong with them and now the ENT says he doesn't recommend it) I'm 38 and there are too many risks involved and too many specialists would have to clear me for the operation and they won't. I can't seen to get a straight answer on what this sleep deprivation is doing to my health, and the only other option to relieve the headaches was to receive nerve block injections.....which I tried 3 years ago and it was 3 shots right into the occipital nerve that were ridiculously painful(no freezing or anything) and the doctor actually CAUSED some nerve damage and I did not get any relief! So I'm stuck on these medications and a 0% quaility of life until they can figure out what the underlying issue is. I know this was supposed to be a reply to you but I am also posting as a question. I have heard this complaint about sleep studies from a lot of people, please let me know if you find out anything more on the subject.
Thanks & Good Luck.
my boyfriend gets up at 430am
my boyfriend gets up at 430am every morning an does paper routes til 7am, an then we have school til 3pm. after that he has tennis practice everyday til 5pm. with chores and homework, he doesnt usually go to sleep til 11pm. the problem is, he says he lays in bed for an hour, waiting to fall asleep, an when he wakes up, he never feels refreshed. this has been going on for 3 months. he has come to the idea that if he goes 2 straight days without sleep, he will finally get some rest. so he pushes himself to exhaustion for a few hours of actual sleep.
my question is how long does it take until effects start to happen that cause serious damage? hes already got irritability, change in hormonal balance, exhausted all the time, just recently got stomach flu, change in appetite, and slow thought and reaction time.
okay, so your boyfreind needs
okay, so your boyfreind needs a day or two off tennis, or he needs to quit his paper round. that's just stupid. and 2 days straight? he's an idiot. and you're his girlfriend? he obviously doesnt see you a lot does he.
Lack of sleep so I'm told.
Well, I was reading up on some things but not really anyone mentioned about stuff like sleep walking or something. I might be in the wrong section but I'll still say what's on my mind. I'm a person that goes to sleep around 11-1pm and wakes up around 5am to go to school. On weekends I'll stay up the whole night or to at least 1-3 in the morning and wake up at 12-1 in the afternoon.
Lately, I've been more social than normal. So it started a few days ago when I was talking to my friend late at night. I was asleep, but awake.. I remember that over the time of talking to her while I was relaxed on my bed her words slowly started to become very uncomprehending. I would be having an ADHD moment and start dreaming about something because 'i was asleep' while talking to her, so when I comprehended it was my time to reply it'd come out jibberish with what I was dreaming about. Like for example she was talking to me while I somehow imaged another friend of mine stepping out of a door holding a baby and when I replied I said "Who's baby is that?" and my friend on the phone woke me up saying "What the heck are you talking about?" But then after awhile of listening to her I'd do it again. This happened for two nights, the other time she said she tried getting me to go to sleep while I really don't remember what we were talking about besides her telling me to go to sleep. She told me I replied with "I don't want to leave my monkey" before she hung up.
Then early in the morning, supposibly I was msning on my phone telling my friend happy birthday when I could of sworn her birthday was the next day. But when I got on msn in the afternoon she thanked me for being the only one remembering her birthday. I don't remember doing this at all..
Then I decided to try experimenting and started texting my friend at night. We held a good conversation that I do not remember until my words started coming out as jibberish text before I stopped..
I don't know if this is something to worry about but my memory on these subjects are horrid and I was curious that memory could be really affected on sleep deprived.
I have a sleep disorder so
I have a sleep disorder so I'm always sleep deprived. It's pretty common for me to be reading a story to my kids and doze off and say something like "and Mickey ran to my new apartment" or "so the angry giant finally fixed the dishwasher".
Active sleep deprivation and long term effects
I was wondering if anyone knew what the effects of complete sleep deprivation are while active such as light exercise. Also whether some of these effects can last on a long term basis, of course excluding death. The specific scenario I write of being 7 days and 7 nights.
Thank you.
thanks a lot for this site. I
thanks a lot for this site. I did a science fair project on this sleep deprivation for 24 hours. it helped me a ton with my background research and everything!
behavour change
hi my name is yesenia
i have a friend that went oversease for one month with his father and then became desperate to come back home his father stated that after been oversease with him it took 5 days for his son to want to come home quickly as he missed every body he knew, the father couldnt get him a flight back because it was full, the father also stated he didnt sleep much as there would be nights that he wouldnt sleep at all, his son would wonder around in the night,and his behavour became worst , he would state things like " people are after him to kiill him or my father is holding the sun and is controlling the weather at the same time ... as the one month past he came home and then just started to be very paranoid , agitated, very very tired wantting to sleep thats all, slow in responding to you , interacts into conversations not knowing what they are about, when asking somthing to him you need to repeat it, if not then need to speak clearly or slowly so you can get a reply, would make facial expresion in all of a sudden, stays stairing at things or people, now he doesnt talk much not even can talk and make an actual sentence....... iv asked him what he feels and says " nothing i feel fine" not knowing that his behaviour from before leaving to go oversease was totally different, he would be cheerful, funny,always smilling, talkative... if you do know what it is ..... is it treateable and would he become back to his normal behaviour?
unable to sleep, eat or hold fluids down.
I am seriously ill and have been for the past 5 days. I have not slept, eaten or held any fluids down for 5 days and I am starting to feel dilerious. I am worried that a collection of all three could lead to death. My doctor said it would pass but do you think I should go to the hospital?
Do i really need a rest????
Hello,
bout 3-4 years i experimented with weed in order to excel in my acadmics.I did preety well i guess as i had to cramp in lots of imformation in a span of 2 weeks. later i went in to depression because of som problem which i failed to face up. In that depression i smoked lots of weed and i started to get the impression dat my thoughts were being read my others.4 yrs i'm off smoking weed, i do however smoke ciggretts and the problem of my thoughts being read my people around me has arised again. it seems dat dis phnomean is cyclic.i thout dat my mind needs som rest so that my brain can formate itself n den reprograme it self n all my hallunation ( if u call dem) can go away. i hav stopped thinkin i'm tryin i'm still struggling to keep my mind void which is very difficult.... in sense i'm now suffering frm memory loss. i am undergoin treatment. i jus wanted a second opinion since lots of been discovered by west on brain.
Weed
Ok, man you seriously need to chill out and relax. First off marijuana is not going to do anything like that to your mind. Second, research has proven that texting will lower your IQ twice as much as smoking marijuana. It seems to me like your vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and over all communication skills have suffered dramatically. Cigarettes have many harmful chemicals that could do just about anything imaginable to your body, so you body may be having an adverse reaction to any one of those thousands of chemicals. As for the thinking that other people are reading your thoughts you may want to go see a doctor about that. Depression has been known to cause many psychiatric illnesses. If you have any more questions feel free to email me.
peace,
Hunter Brooks
My mental health
Ok well im starting to get worried about myself im starting to feel as if nothing is real.I constantly feel dizzy and im afraid im going crazy.I like to party alot like all the time is the way im feeling coming from lack of sleep or the drunken sleep that i do get enough? plz someone tell im getting really nervous nd scared.
my big sister never sleep's!
oay i have an older sister she's 20yrs old she goes to school ,work,&goes stright to dance practice ,fter she goes to hang out with her friends..nd sometimes she know's she is sleepy...she would get home at about 5:00 in the morning..nd still have to go to school around 6:00,but when she get home she never goes stright asleep..she would end up cleaning or something eles wyh is that??nd how could we make her go to sleep by not cutting out her busy time.?
Sleep Deprivation
Hello, I 17 years old and I had a question about sleep deprivation. I was quite enlightened by this article and also scared at the same time. Recently, while in school for the past six months, I have only been getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I have noticed myself becoming less intelligent and having speech problems. I just assumed that I was conditioning my body to be able to function with less sleep, when I really have been destroying my body. What would be the best thing to do to stop this harmful cycle? Did I already develop any long term effects of
sleep deprivation?
About Owl City...
...back again.
This time at least it's not about me. I was wondering about the singer/songwriter Adam Young. He is Owl City, the one man band, and is also an insomniac. For all the people that read this article, surely someone would know who I'm talking about.
So I was wondering that after all we've been learning about sleep deprivation on this page, what would happen to a young musician who can't sleep properly? Being diagnosed with insomnia seems hard enough on its own, but having to do rigorous touring and shows would surely be more than taxing on him right?
Feel free to comment and leave your thoughts about this.
P.S. - I'm not obsessed with Owl City or anything. I'm just intrigued as to the effects of sleep deprivation on Adam Young.
Polyphasic Sleeping
For those of you who dont know what polyphasic sleeping is it is breaking up your sleeping times into 20-30 minute chunks ever 4 hours. That is the equivalent of 2-3 hours per day. And you are getting more REM sleep while doing it. I didnt take the time to look through if anyone else has wrote about it but I am trying it starting today actually and I am going to blog about it probably about everyday. So if you want to see if this actually works you can read about it.
My scholar programme is not
My scholar programme is not allowing me to sleep enough.
I have been sleeping less than four hours a day for a few weeks now.
I have been experiencing memory loss.
There is nothing I can do about this. My workload is insane.
......
i stay up for 3 days alot an it doesnt effect me but try different tempatures in the room cold makes me sleep.
adderall and no sleep
I am now currently on a adderall binge. I have not slept or eaten anything for three and a half days straight. The only nutrients my body is getting is from the two gatorades that i take with me to my classes everyday. I have lost 13 pounds, I have crazy huge bags under my eyes. My vision is very distorted at random times. Btw, I am only doing this binge to get my school work done. I accomplish a lot more during the odd hours of the night and early morning. I space out randomly, and i am having trouble with everyday simple tasks. I have exams and papers due this week and the next. My heart is definitely beating irregularly and i feel sharp pains in my chest/heart. I can't fully remember how many adderall i have taken, but i know i have had at least two or three 25mg xr's each day. If i had to guess i would say i have taken approximately 7-9 adderall(25mg XR) in the past 3 and a half days. I am stressing out very easily, and i am constantly keeping myself occupied. I have smoked about 6 packs of cigs so far and i can definitely feel how weak my lungs have become. I also get random twitches throughout my body. After i started reading things on this webpage i started experiencing the incidents for myself.....it was a bit trippy and scary. My overall state of mind and body is extremely distorted and after my roommate told me he heard about people dieing or getting messed up from not getting enough sleep i started to become worried. I have never stayed up this long in my life.....this is not natural. no one should ever attempt what i have accomplished. any feedback? tonight is my last all nighter, so all together i will have stayed up without any food or sleep for about 4 to 5 days.
Don't be a fool
Yeah, I have feedback. Fuckin' eat food, dude. The lack of sleep probably would not hit you as hard if you were actually eating.
Over 144 hours without sleep...
I read above that lack of sleep can cause:
-hallucinations (visual, tactile, smell, taste)
-hearing "voices", most of which or MENTAL VOICES
-total loss of judgement
-false memories
-paranoia
-fears
-believing things that aren't true
-following "commands" (when the mental voices tell you to do something)
-"movies" playing in your head where "mental voices & chaaracters" appear & play a "storyline" (like a movie would), which can last for seconds, hours, days, or weeks. and you may BELIEVE it to be REALLY occurring.
This all happened to me. It was within the last two weeks of July 2007. I had been having trouble sleeping, there was a lot of stress in my life and at the time I was off work on STD. Night would come and I couldn't sleep so I would clean, day would come I would still be awake so I would walk or do whatever I could to fill my day... Long story short after 6 days the worst happened as I laid in my bed the tv was on in the other room, it was night 6 no sleep. My roommate begged me to rest, brought me food and said don't leave this bed, you need sleep. I had watched a movie earlier that day and left the set on. Tv was not something I generally watched but that day I had and I often wish I had not. At some point I started the hallucinations, I got up and watched this show, the people on the show were speaking directly to me, I went back to bed, I was scared, they said they had been watching me, the last week was a test and I was on a show, the whole world was watching, including G-d. I laid there for hours, I still couldn't sleep, I could hear the tv, I was texting some friends back home and then all they sudden I was instructed to leave the house, it all seemed so real. I opened the door and ran out with my dog mind you. My roommate said when he came home he found the doors wide open. I continued this hallucination of thinking I needed to run from where I was... I was texting friends and whatever come up on predictive was the message I sent. I thought they were traveling to see me (they were 2,000+ miles away). They were coming to rescue me from my extended vacation. Needless to say I was not in my right state of mind. A security guard at a near by condo building saw me and asked me if I needed help. I was apparently very confused. From there a life squad was called, because I told him someone told me to run, I thought he was someone I knew and I started talking to them in song. I was using the word of all the 2Pac songs I knew and it all seemed to play out in my reality. I was taken to a nearby hopsital where I was convinced that G-d himself had sent me there on a mission, I must have been clear out of my mind, but in the same token I can remember it all. To this day that fact scares me. My finally memories were of me being nice to everyone and being able to answer all there questions, but trying to convince them I was there to tell them G-d loved them. Last thing I remember was them giving me something in an iv to make me sleep, that part was terrible and still haunts me, because at that point I felt like I was going to die. I can't believe it now. I believe I told the hospital I hadn't sleep in over 6 days, I also told them this was all a part of a show were G-d had been watching me with all of American and I had finally won, the goal was for me to realize my future and to let go of the past. The last stop was suppose to be the hospital where I was to be reunited with my lost love. It was to say the last very scary to wake up in the hopital the next day. I was suppose to have psych evaluation but decided that I was fine out of fear. My roommate got a call from the pound they had my dog and finally found me at the hospital. When I was released I slept for days on end. I don't even remember eating, just waking now and then to go to the restroom. That's it. Since then I have been able to sleep pretty well but I too worry about my future and how this has and will contiue to affect my overall wellbeing. Any thoughts or comments are welcome. It was nice to share this, and get it off my chest; I have admitted this experience to few. I still think about that day and wonder if my mind has been permentatly damaged from this experience.
I went two months sleeping
I went two months sleeping little or not at all. I was severely depressed and had broken up with a boyfriend. I am wondering if this will shorten my life now. I have three children who mean everything to me.
No it will not, if you seek a
No it will not, if you seek a doctor's help immediately. a dr can give you medication to help you sleep and to help you pull yourself out of depression.
sleep
i had a doctor hit me in a accident i have had 5 sergery 4 been put to sleep every since i woke up shared room man saying things only i would know first was a neck sergery i close my eyes images apear they move my puples follow i then hear voice askink me about my past before i think or thought comes out they tell me if it is different from what in i think they use the people that you run around against with you i have had cia and secret service aquaintances i was up for months with sleep only when my brain shut down when i was shocked or something my arms and legs moved so hard it awoke me then it started all over again same questions never stopping thre my life it has been three years and six months so far places i go weird things happen they tell me thre my head to drop the lawsuite against the dr. he amitted falt said my car blended in with the road the insurance co refused medical treatment to me when i called them even thought my neck was injured and on accident report.his insurance company paid for damagies on car i was driving to this day i have contacted several agencies fbi cia us marshals office i have had windows broken out of my apt glass could have cut my throth phone calls going out and coming in have been a problem.i cant believe that these agencies would not respond i went to the defence dr he xrayed me asked if i was wired, i ask what he meant he said do u fell any tlingling in my legs i said i feel them sometime but also had phone in my pocket if u have knowalege. several things under sleep deprivation cia torture i feel like they are going thre my injuries simulating as for i have had 3rd degree burnes and several other injuries
hey guys... ummm... well i
hey guys...
ummm... well i suffer from lack of concentration, 'videos' playing in my head, i think i hear my name called out heaps, i speak really softly when i think im being really loud, i stare into space a lot and have no concept of time while im doing so... the longest was a whole school lunch time with a think a few minutes of 'normal' time during...
i never really linked it to sleep deprivation...
but thanks to this site i think im gonna monitor my sleeping patterns and see it if i can't nail down the problem...
maybe i'll even keep you posted...
thanx XD
something
sometimes but very rarely i will be up for more then 24 hours then the following
day i will sleep close to 15 hours. wonder what causes it its just weird.
I dont think its my diet i dont consume caffine (i.e soda or coffie) have little to no stress and eat healthy and i dont smoke or anything like that but it happens and i dont know why anyone got a clue ?
Sleepin Problems
Hi. I want to thank you for having such a good information on this page. I have had very bad sleeping problems for about two months now. I basically sleep less than four hours a night and in two or more segments. Normally I can't fall asleep since I have all this stuff running through my mind, but now it is just that I am afraid of not falling asleep. This is absolutely horrbile since it makes it impossible to get any sleep. The first few weeks it was ok but now I really start seeing the symptoms as I am having serious concentration problems and my mind has kinda slowed down. I am going to see a doctor on wednesday and I will do anything to get a good eight hours of sleep one night...
Hi, have you tried Magnesium
Hi, have you tried Magnesium tablets, they can help with sleeping problems. Take them at night time and they are natural too.
not sleeping for 24 hours
it was hard but we drank alot of energy drinks to help us stay awake!!! another thing is, this was our science fair project! this is the only thing we could think of and it was kinda last minute cuz our project is due in about 13 days and we have to do it on a powerpoint which is hard for us cuz today is the only day we have cuz im always busy!! but anyway if i were u dont try this cuz its HARD!!!!!!!!
its not that hard, trust me.
its not that hard, trust me. i usually work 36 hour shifts at work. I'm around hour 50 since the last time i took a nap. the reason it was hard for you is because your a healthy well balanced individual.
sensitive to noise pollution
I can't sleep because i think every little sound might be in reference to me, and somethings seem suspicious or just annoying. It seems like the whole world revolves around me and not in a good way.
Sometimes i get no sleep and sometimes 4 or less and hardly ever get the average 8 wanted.
Lets hope it all gets better for us.
6:42 am April 27th
Iight so im 19 hours awake right now..
Im gunna keep login.. Daily Like alll day..
*Huge sigh*
Probly gunna use this site as another way of staying up..
Im pretty much doing this because i want to experiance that awake dream state & see if i can like start moving objects N shit whith my mind.
I really bealive , Our human minds can completly bend the laws of gravity , physics & anything we see as impossible on this earth.. Can be done. There is a way to do everything & anything we can think up. Period .
Anyways like i said , Daily log Catch you again =)
Its just a matter of time before it starts happening.
...and i thought i was back to normal again
so its Luke here again. its been a while since my last post here.
So since the incident with Call Of Duty, i went back to getting more sleep, and before i knew it i was basically sleeping like a normal person again, and I was happy. But we know that wouldn't last long.
I once again started staying up late texting or talking to my friends and barely getting any sleep. Now I've kinda hit a brick wall... I always have trouble remembering which of my friends told me what. Haha, so if one of them ever tells me a secret, I might accidentaly let it out to somebody else. I'm trying to work on that now... Sometimes it's funny, because I'm like, "Hey did you tell me that?" or, "Is it your birthday or somebody else's?!"
Now I don't know if this has anything to do with sleep deprivation, but I'm practically famous for falling, tripping, and getting hurt by gravity. It's something i can't stop. I'm always getting helped off of the ground. Getting called a klutz is basically normal now. Oh well, it's not like I'm emotionally wounded.
I'm going to NASCAR with my friends tomorrow... Let's just hope i don't trip onto the track. :)
LukeT
S.O.S. need help for science fair
hey me to! though i havent found any info please send suggestions if you have any thanks :l
i had to do a science fair
i had to do a science fair project on sleep deprivation. This sight helped me to get background research! sweet thanks!
sleep deprevation correction
This is what I would say.
1. Try Yoga...get DVD's by Beryl Birch, or Bryan Kest, & learn those very slowly; 5 mins a day. Sounds overly easy, but make it impossible to fail at first. Then increase each week by a minute or one posture. After a year you will be at 52 minutes or 60 minutes. You will have changed your life.
2. Try changing your diet. This means get rid of all processed foods. They are not foods, but chemicals made in a lab; packaged to simulate foods. Foods grow...like fruits from a tree, vegetables from vines or plants. The basics are:
-pure yogurt, NO sugar. No additives...simple
-pure vegetables, doesn't need to be organic, just the whole thing
-pure fruits, not canned, not packaged, not cut, but whole
-pure grains, barley, spelt, oat meal, brown rice.
-pure legumes...whole nuts, almonds, sunflower seed, sesame seeds, etc.
Another rule is the NO's:
-no white flour, period.
-no white sugar, period--very acidic
-no salt, period--very acidic
-no orange juice--very acidic--leaches our all your calcium, which is the cheerful mineral.
-no tomatoes, or tomato products--one meal leaches out all calcium you ingested in the previous 7 days
-no pork--go 30 days without pork & some miracles will happen...aches, pains, discomforts will be "gone." Just try it...as pigs have no sweat glands...
Finally, work up to 2 hours of exercise each day.
I know of a 101 year old woman, was hunch backed, had a walker and in a rest home. Her 80 something yr old daughter came to visit & was following a TV exercise program in this woman's rest home room. The mother started following a long with a can of soup that was sitting on the table, while sitting--all she could do was sit & lift this can. When the daughter saw her mother's interest, she began to come to her room daily. She gradually helped her build to 2 hours/day. After the first year, the mother was up to an hour a day. She no longer needed a walker.
After two years, she had no more hunch back.
She was out of the rest home & working out a full 2 hours every day "at a gym," at 103 years of age. She now works out with her daughter every day. Every day.
A television network wanted to interview her and caught her on the way to the gym. Can we interview you about this great metamorphic change you have gone through, they asked? She said, sure, but you'll need to follow me to the gym, because this is when I'm scheduled to exercise and I don't let anything interfere.
So they did. Beautiful story, huh?
If you think you don't have time to exercise 2 hours a day, then you don't, I guess, but think of Thomas Jefferson, who said, "no less than 2 hours a day should be devoted to exercise." [Don't you love that word, 'devoted?']
Well, he didn't accomplish very much, other than write the declaration of independence, was pres of the US, and an independently wealthy lawyer, experimental farmer, inventor, ambassador, etc, etc. I might have some of the details missed there, but he accomplished more than most of us are in this modern society of conveniences, and yet he knew the value of a healthy body. Actually, the body and mind are so closely related that there probably really shouldn't be a line drawn there.
This is a great little deal, 2 hours a day. Send me a note of what happens. I'd love to hear from those that get off their "walkers" whatever that is...weight, sleep problems, drinking, lack of progress walkers, or marriage challenges, finances, educational, social, dating problem walkers. I'd love to hear from you. You'll get rid of your hunched back as well. Then you'll be able to see clearly enough to get to the next level. It might be spirituality, or service to your community. But you won't see it until you get over this hump of fitness. There's a whole new person and life just waiting for you to come and get it; to come and experience it. Best wishes.
I can't sleep...for weeks
I can't sleep for weeks.
I have real problem of not sleeping. My doctor told me that my day and night sleeping pattern is screwed up therefore, I should train my body to sleep in night not day. But, I just cannot sleep whatever I do. So, my doctor prescribed a Zopiclone. It works for first time I use it. But later it doesn't work. Now, the doctor give me a Quetiapine. It is working fine now but, problem is that if i don't use it I just cannot sleep for days even a week. I set a record for more than 2 weeks of not sleeping. Funny thing is that even I don't sleep for more than 2 weeks I don't have sleep deprivation behaviors. However, sometime I felt sensations on the whole brain. like I am feeling a small amount of voltage flowing around my brain. What's going on in my brian? Any suggestions?
ummm, you HAVE slept in that
ummm, you HAVE slept in that two week period, you just didnt realize it!
Actually dying from sleep deprivation........
There was a story in a nightime news program,maybe back in the eighties,about a man that became ill and they could not find out what was wrong with him.He steadily got worse until he had to be hospitalized.Eventually the nurses noticed every time they entered his room he was wide awake,but failing in his functionality.He underwent a myriad of testing but they could find nothing physically wrong and I think any psychological or psychiatric problems were also ruled out.He eventually died and the only thing they could note about him on his death was that he did not sleep.I think this went on for months.It wore him down.They had videos of him.I would like to find that story.Do any of you have any idea?
sleeping
i'm jessica and i'm in 6th grade.i haven't gone to bed for quite some time and i'm really tired.i go to sleep during classes,on the bus anywhere thats available but i'm still not getting enough sleep.i feel like my eye lids are stuck to the top of my eye and i can't get it down.i do NOT know what to do.
When I was younger I was
When I was younger I was like you and I couldn't sleep at home because I didn't feel safe. I was always afraid that something would happened to me if i didn't stay awake. I would sleep anywhere but at home. Here is the thing if you can go to sleep anywhere I mean anywhere and not at home. Then you have to figure out what problem is going on at home thats making you not sleep. I didn't truly figure out my prblem until I was 26 I am now 28. Till this day every once in awhile I still get that feeling that if I fall asleep someone will hurt me if I fall asleep. And talking helps you hae no idea how much talking can help relieve stress.
I dream (or would like to) of sleep
When I was a child my parents would keep me up at night listening to loud music. Perhaps they thought I would get used to it. I think it started a cycle of cronic insomnia that has yet to end. I have lived all over, had all different beds, had different jobs, but I can never, never turn my mind off. Last year I kicked a 3 year habit of Benzos, I was up to about 4mgs of Xanax a night and finally decided I had to stop. The reason I started however was because without sleep,I was always sick. So I figured what was worse, being an addict or being sick all the time. I choose addict. Coming off these drugs was (as my research shows) is as hard as coming of Heroin. I was sick, in terrible pain, had seizures and ended up in a hospital, it was awful but I did it. Recently, I have started getting sick again, all the time. I miss work, I feel guilty, that makes me worry, it keeps me up again, I get sicker, miss more work. So I find myself turning to the hard core sleep drugs again (having already tried every single natural remedy in the world) Today, after 6 days straight without a wink of sleep, I lost it at work. I raised my voice, I cried, I shook, I even pointed my finger. My behavior was completely irrational. I have experience all of the symptoms people on this board have, and I am I just sick and tired of being sick and tired. Then I see the commercials and wonder if I am depressed and need those drugs? But really, it is all a matter of my mind, I think about work constantly, I worry about things non stop, I cannot seem to stop, cannot seem to turn my mind off. I try counting and breathing and chanting and books and music.I am not really sure why all these people on this board are trying to stay awake when the rest of us would just love to sleep. One nigh, and I will always remember it, I slept 6 hours without waking once. It was an amazing thing I will never forget.
I dream (or would like to) of sleep
I read what you have written and was amaized because I thought that I was the only one getting grazy without sleep. No one around me understands what this is going to my body. My husband make noices in his sleep all night long the dogs keep me up with there noices. Anything that moves I hear and somethimes it feels like I am not lying down I am hovering over my bed. I cannot tell you when last I slept a full night through. Everything that happens around me is too much I want to cry and shout all day long. I don't know what to do? Don't know if I should go to the doctor because I don't want to live on medication I just want to sleep. I think it has to do with my perants fighting all night when I was still a child, I couldn't sleep because I didn't know when he was going to hurt her again and then we will have to run in the night before he would try to kill her. I don't know what to do?
Wierd Reality
hi i am a 14 year old. i've been awake for 2 weeks without any sleep and its strange that everything around me looks the same as it did before i stopped sleeping but its also different then what would make reality. seem like a one dimentional world which i think either i'm near death or have already passed on.
anything that can get me even 1 minute of sleep would help i've already had violent seizures that nearly put me in a coma (according to my parents it was horrifying)
this is valkyrie signing out
My results!
In total I made it for total of 4 consecutive days without any sleep. Some of the hallucinations I experianced were auditory as well as visual. One my experiances wasas follows I Was bed and I looked up and noticed a really wierd looking flying object in my room bumping the top of my ceiling. I thought it was a toy my sister was playing with but when i got up to investigate i discovered that i was the only one in the house at the time. It really wierded me out and actually frightned me . As for the auditory hallucinations I imagined i was hearing some sort of power tools but ithappened to be very late at night and noone would be using such a tool. Now as for the total experiance food became unedible. Soda and video games were my best friend during the time especially because i had contact with people at all time through the online games. I also found that talking to my meth head friensd over the cell phone helped me to stay awake. Im sure you can guess why she was awake......meth. Anyways on the final day of my concisesnoius i went to visit a friend at about 5 in the moring we talked for a few hours and i got home around 9 in the morning. When i finally got home i felt completely exhausted and felt an incontrollable urge to lye down. Next thing i know its almost midnight and im wondering where the time went. It was one of the most extreme things i have ever experienced atying up for so long. I plan to retry the experiment agin only this time without cigarretes for stmulation and without as much video games. I will stay in contact with friends through cellular texting and i will catch up on my reading. wish me luck and ill keep you all posted.
hallucinations
I have not had any sleep for 10 days and I can tell you I have hallucinated for allmost 8 days now. Can anyone shed some light on this please? Where do I go? What do I do?
most people, including
most people, including yourself, often THINK they have not slept for long periods, but usually doze off even for a few minutes during the night...10 days without ANY SLEEP? try video recording yourself. I'm sure you would be surprised!
It hurts to sleep
Hi I'm lubie from Canberra and 7 months ago the girl i loved broke up with me...
i have been having trouble sleeping because i always dream of her, i can sleep but i avoid it because its painful... now i force myself to sleep but i cant, i think it has become a habit of not sleeping... iv tried calming music and it all reminds me of her... iv been diagnosed with depression and i guess that's why i cant sleep... i need to sleep because my whole life has been failing because i cant think properly... but really i think ill be fine, although if everyone in my family knew, i think that they would totally freak out on me... I'm really witting for my cousin who is having the same problems because of a girl... he's 25 and I'm 15 and could anyone please tell me a way for him to be able to sleep properly?
Help
my mom and grandmother think im sleep deprived ,ive read some of the other comments and i dont think mine's that severe i skeep from around 12 -1 to around 6:50 i never hear my alarm in the morning so i miss the bus, my mom wakes me (angerly) im normally lazy in the mornings so in turn im usually late 4 school i have over 5 tardies 2 my first peroid class. most of the time in the morning i just close my door after my mom wakes me and go back to sleep because i feel like im 2 tired to function properlyand after my mom yells again that im gonna b late because she thinks im changing my clothes.yesterday (dec. 3,2008) around 12 my mom called my downstairs to ask me if i was done w/ my hw ( i have a project overdue that takes several more hours) i told her no and she wouldnt let me do my hw she reapetedly told me 2 go to bed because she said i looked like i was gonna pass out , and i looked confused. i thought it was random but she kept talking and i started 2 cry (i still dont know why) , my mom had 2 walk me up the stairs after i tripped,i had a really intense headache after i sat down and got up too fast, i began 2 feel slightly dizzy so i fell aleep in my day clothes in my bed and when i woke up it was 12p.m. in the afternoon . i knew i wouldnt be able to go 2 skool but when i awoke i was still tired . i now remember having test a long time ago when my mom said i was staring off into space they took me some place , put these things on my head & hair & made me sleep i didnt know what they were doing at the time i might have been 5 - 7 in 6th & 7th grade i went to sleep around 2 a.m. and ariving late to class, now reading theses articles it all fits together creepely . need help on what to do please email u if u have answers , im just a 13 year old 8th grader looking for answers