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 ].
Indeed people seem to be able to function with very little sleep for prolonged periods of time, albeit not happily. Randy Gardner in 1964 showed that even after 264 hours (eleven days!) of total sleep deprivation he was able to continue to function. With a relatively short period of recovery sleep (about 14 hours) he showed no lasting negative effects. Even longer periods of sleep deprivation have been reported.