The challenge of staying without sleep became a game of death

We all are aware of the fatigue and restlessness that comes after a sleepless night. Some people on social media are competing to set a record of staying awake for days and nights by participating in the 'no-sleep challenge'.

We are all aware of the fatigue and restlessness that comes after a sleepless night. Some people on social media are competing to set a record by participating in the 'no-sleep challenge' and staying awake for days and nights. A YouTuber named Norm (19) broadcasted his attempt to set a world record for the longest time without sleep live on the site. After 250 hours, viewers began to express concern about Norm's health, but he did not stop and spent 264 hours and 24 minutes 'without sleep'. After this, social media sites like YouTube and Kik banned him.

Norm claimed to have broken the Guinness World Record for staying awake for the longest time, which was not true. This world record is registered in the name of Robert MacDonald, who spent 453 hours i.e. about 19 days without sleeping in 1986. Guinness World Records stopped monitoring the record for the longest time spent without sleep in 1997 due to security reasons.

This was a good move as

staying without sleep for long periods of time can be extremely dangerous. Adults should try to get more than seven hours of sleep every night. Being consistently unable to get enough sleep increases the risk of developing life-threatening conditions such as depression, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke. 

Sleep is an important part of our daily routine.

It enables many systems of our body to rest repair and recover from damage. During the first three stages of sleep, the parasympathetic nervous system is active, which controls digestion and the process of going into a state of rest. This causes the heartbeat to increase and blood pressure to decrease. In the last stage i.e. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage, heart activity increases and the eyes move. This stage is important for cognitive functions such as creativity, learning ability, and storing memories.

Do not take these things before sleeping.

Consuming alcohol or caffeine-rich things before sleeping can disrupt the sleep cycle. The problem of lack of sleep can be acute or long-term. Acute problems can mean not being able to sleep for a day or two. Although it may seem like a short period, but spending 24 hours without sleep can have many dangerous consequences apart from lack of concentration. This can lead to symptoms like swelling of the eyes, dark circles (dark spots around the eyes), irritability, loss of memory, confusion, inability to take quick decisions and analyze information, and increased food cravings.

What will happen if you stay awake for two consecutive days?

If you spend the second day without sleeping, the symptoms can become more severe and changes can be seen in the person's behavior. The body's craving for sleep becomes more intense, due to which the person starts taking 'microsleep' i.e. he starts taking unwanted naps, which can last for about 30 seconds. Lack of sleep also increases the desire to eat and there are complaints of various systems becoming more active and the immune system weakening, due to which we become more susceptible to diseases.

How does one feel on the third and fourth day?

If one spends the third day awake, the craving for sleep becomes more intense, which increases the possibility of the person taking longer periods of 'microsleep', feeling disconnected from the real world, and being in a state of confusion. On the other hand, if one spends the fourth day without sleep, the symptoms reach their peak and take the form of 'sleep deprivation psychosis', where the person becomes incapable of telling the reality and starts wanting only to sleep under all circumstances.