Randy Gardner (record holder)

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Randy Gardner holds the scientifically documented record for the longest period of time a human being has intentionally gone without sleep not using stimulants of any kind. In 1964—as a 17-year-old high school student in San Diego, California—Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours (eleven days even), breaking the previous record of 260 hours held by Tom Rounds of Honolulu.[1]

Gardner's record attempt was attended by Stanford sleep researcher Dr William C. Dement. His health was monitored by Lt. Cmdr. John J. Ross. Accounts of Gardner's sleep-deprivation experience and medical response became widely known among the sleep research community.[2][3][4]

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[edit] Health effects

It is often claimed that Gardner's experiment demonstrated that extreme sleep deprivation has little effect, other than the mood changes associated with tiredness (mood swings, short temper, loss of concentration).[5] This is primarily due to a report by researcher William Dement, who stated that on the tenth day of the experiment, Gardner had been, among other things, able to beat Dement at pinball.

However, Lt. Cmdr. John J. Ross who monitored his health reported serious cognitive and behavioral changes. These included moodiness, problems with concentration and short term memory, paranoia, and hallucinations. On the fourth day he had a delusion that he was Paul Lowe winning the Rose Bowl, and that a street sign was a person. On the eleventh day, when he was asked to subtract seven repeatedly, starting with 100, he stopped at 65. When asked why he had stopped, he replied that he had forgotten what he was doing.[6]

On his final day without sleep, Gardner presided over a press conference where he spoke without slurring or stumbling his words and in general appeared to be in excellent health. "I wanted to prove that bad things didn't happen if you went without sleep," said Gardner. "I thought, 'I can break that (Peter Tripp's 1959) record and I don't think it would be a negative experience.'"[7][8]

[edit] Recovery

Gardner's sleep recovery was instrumented by sleep researchers who noted changes in sleep structure during postdeprivation recovery.[9][10] After completing his record, Gardner slept 14 hours and 40 minutes, awoke naturally around 10:00 p.m., stayed awake 24 hours, then slept a normal eight hours.[11]

[edit] Subsequent record information

Tony Wright on May 25, 2007 exceeded Randy Gardner's feat[12] in the apparent belief that the last Guinness record had been beaten.

Other sources claims his record was broken two weeks later by another student, Jim Thomas, Fresno State College, who stayed awake for 266.5 hours, and states that the 1981 Guinness record is 449 hours (18 days, 17 hours) by Maureen Weston, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in April, 1977, as a rocking-chair marathon.[13]

According to the Australian National Sleep Research Project,[14] the record for sleep deprivation is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes. However, few details are available for this claim.

In an internal sleep deprivation study of the Liverpool John Moores University, UK among, it was claimed that a 20 year old student, Jonathan Daley, John Moores University, Liverpool, broke the world record by being deprived of 502 hours and 6 minutes (20.91 days) within a non-zeitgeber context of a windowless chemistry laboratory.

It is difficult to determine the accuracy of a sleep deprivation period unless the participant is carefully observed to detect short microsleeps, which the participant might not even notice.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sleep Deprivation, Psychosis and Mental Efficiency, Stanley Coren Ph.D., March 1998, Vol. XV, Issue 3
  2. ^ Eleven days awake, Extract from "Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments," by Alex Boese.
  3. ^ Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments, Alex Boese, ISBN 0156031353, Harvest Books, 5 Nov 2007
  4. ^ Neurological Findings After Prolonged Sleep Deprivation, Ross J. (1965), Archives of Neurology 12:399-403.
  5. ^ The Nature of Sleep and its Impact on Health, Ben Best, life-extensionist homepage, undated article
  6. ^ Sleep Deprivation, Psychosis and Mental Efficiency, Stanley Coren Ph.D., March 1998, Vol. XV, Issue 3
  7. ^ Sleeping In, David Goldenberg, Gelf Magazine, 31 May 2006
  8. ^ The Nature of Sleep and its Impact on Health, Ben Best, life-extensionist homepage, undated article
  9. ^ Psychiatric and EEG observations on a case of prolonged (264 hours) wakefulness, G. Gulevich et al, Arch Gen Psychiatry, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 29-35, 1 July 1966
  10. ^ Sleep Patterns Following 205 Hours of Sleep Deprivation, Anthony Kales et al, Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol 32, No. 2, March-April 1970
  11. ^ http://science.jrank.org/pages/6176/Sleep.html, no author, undated, unsourced
  12. ^ Man claims new sleepless record, BBC, unattributed author, 25 May 2007
  13. ^ What happens when you stay awake for eleven days?, psuedonymous contributor, Digital Journal, undated, with picture
  14. ^ 40 Facts About Sleep You Probaby Didn't Know, The National Sleep Research Project, undated, site (C) 2000
  • Sigrid Veasey, Raymond Rosen, Barbara Barzansky, Ilene Rosen, and Judith Owens (2002). "Sleep Loss and Fatigue in Residency Training". JAMA 288 (9): 1116–1124. doi:10.1001/jama.288.9.1116. 
  • McGrann, S et al (2008). "Sleep deprivation effects within a non zeitgeiber environment: A Grounded theory Analysis". British Journal Of Psychology 14 (3). 

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[edit] Further reading