Related Issues. 1  Consumer Health: CAM Claims (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) 2  Credentialing, Licensing, and Education (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health) 3  Herbs at a Glance (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
The absolute longest anyone has voluntarily stayed awake before nodding off is 264 hours (about 11 days) â a record set by 17-year-old Randy Gardner for a high-school science fair project in 1965. Before falling asleep on day 11, he was essentially a vegetable with its eyes open. [ Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders ].
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. Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days), breaking the previous record of 260 hours held by Tom Rounds of Honolulu. LCDR John J. Ross of the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit later published an account of this event, which became well-known among sleep-deprivation researchers.