What happens to your body if you don't sleep for a day or more?

Anyone can remember an episode from their life when they had to stay awake for at least one night. For some, this was due to long parties, New Year's holidays, others were trying to prepare for a session, to complete some task, while others were required to stay awake by work. But what happens if you don’t sleep for a long time? How will this affect the condition of the body? After all, there may be situations when there is a need to stay awake longer than one night.

Sleep is very important for the body, since at this time all systems are restored and rested. The brain processes the information received during the day, and the immune system is restored. Therefore, regular and long sleep is extremely important. It allows you to maintain body functions in a stable state. So, let's look at what happens if you don't sleep for a day or even several nights in a row.

The role of sleep for the body

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of sleep for the full functioning of a person and the functioning of body systems. Since childhood, everyone has heard about the need for sleep; in kindergarten they practiced regular “quiet hours”. With age, the routine changes, less time is spent on sleep, but does the need for it decrease?

Sleep allows every cell to rest and relax. During this period, useful processes occur:

• strengthening the immune system;
• regulation of hormonal levels;
• stabilization of physical and mental health;
• strengthening neural connections that contribute to brain development;
• lowering cholesterol levels;
• regeneration of damaged tissues and cells;
• restoration of wasted strength and energy.

This period is characterized by structuring and analysis of information received during the day. Night rest contributes to its decomposition “on the shelves”. Therefore, many schoolchildren and students study educational material before going to bed.

Sleep regulates weight. During insomnia, hormones are released that increase appetite. People suffering from insomnia are more likely to be overweight

How to prepare yourself for night work?

It can be very difficult to get yourself ready to work during the day, let alone work at night. If it is necessary to work at night, and this cannot be avoided, you should:

• Get a good night's sleep before a sleepless night. If this is not done, then poor health and an acute desire to sleep will not contribute to the productivity of night work
• Eat nutritiously throughout the day, the body should receive all the necessary vitamins and minerals
• Positively set yourself up for the need to work at night. It is unlikely that you will be able to work productively if you are in a bad mood.
• Set yourself a goal to complete the work at night. The reason may be the lack of opportunity to do it during the day, or the fact that after completing night work, you can rest for several days
• Motivate yourself with the fact that by doing night work you can earn a certain amount of money for certain needs
• Create the conditions necessary for night work

Days without sleep

As people grow older, they sleep less: a newborn baby spends up to 20 hours dreaming in the first weeks of life; by the age of one year, this mark is 14 hours. An adult needs 7–8 hours to get enough sleep. Everyone sets the duration of their rest, which is influenced by work, routine, well-being, and temperament.

Therefore, for one, 9 hours is not enough to feel cheerful, while for another, 4–5 hours are enough to restore vitality (a striking example of this is Napoleon, who slept 4 hours a day). In pursuit of achieving a goal (writing a report, passing a coursework, preparing for an exam), many sacrifice rest, rarely wondering what will happen if they don’t sleep for 1 night.

For many, 24 hours of wakefulness pass without harm, for some there are visible deviations in behavior:

• someone literally “falls asleep while walking,” loses strength, and becomes despondent;
• others become more active, show increased vigor and vigorous activity;
• some are distinguished by anger, hysteria and aggressiveness, which is usually not observed in their usual life.

This is not such a radical phenomenon and a person can get used to not sleeping at night, especially if it is necessary for work: workers according to the “every three days” scheme know that they cannot sleep the whole night, so the body gradually adapts. The logical consequence of this routine is to sleep throughout the next day.

REFERENCE! It has been proven that without harm to health, the number of hours without sleep should not exceed 20. Otherwise, disastrous consequences cannot be avoided.

Directly at night

The preparation is done, the remaining 50% of success is the simple rules described below. The maximum effect will be noticeable if you adhere to their entire complex. The more of them you do, the better you will feel.

Don't get addicted to caffeine

We've already talked about why you shouldn't get too carried away with caffeinated drinks. But there is no point in denying that they are capable of slightly increasing activity. In this matter, clear restrictions are needed - you can drink a cup of coffee in the evening, until 23:00 . It is strictly forbidden to drink energy drinks and coffee throughout the night. At best, you will look like a robot. At worst, you will get serious health problems.

Drink more water

But drinking water in unlimited quantities is the best option. Water is the source of life for any creature. And a person needs it most of all on a sleepless night. Water awakens the body, makes it actively function, all organs and systems work as normal. Regular drinking of water stimulates the brain to be active. A person relieves himself naturally, warming up and distracting himself from drowsiness; his nervous activity continues to work at night.

Move more

Have you noticed that when you are in one position for a long time, your body begins to relax and drowsiness occurs? This is a big problem during a sleepless night, when the body does nothing but wait for any signal to rest at night. Therefore, while working, regularly get up, walk, move from room to room so that your body does not relax.

Many create a work area near them, where they have everything they need - water, snacks, necessary documents, laptop and phone. Then there is a possibility of spending the whole night in one place, which will reduce a person’s performance. Place a carafe of water in the kitchen so that you can regularly get up, leave the work area, and move. You can do a light warm-up at regular intervals to keep your muscles toned. And you definitely need to give your eyes a break from the phone or laptop screen. A few minutes of eye exercises will maintain visual function at the proper level.

Two days of wakefulness

What happens if you don’t sleep for 2 days? For an unprepared body, two days will have a negative impact on health and well-being. The following processes are launched:

• changes in blood pressure;
• defocus of attention;
• low absorption of information;
• lack of coordination;
• deterioration of hearing and vision;
• attacks of nausea and headache.

During this period, metabolism is often disrupted, and a person is exposed to viral diseases. Speech slows down and articulate pronunciation is impaired. Often this condition ends with involuntary falling asleep. A week of systematic lack of sleep reduces intellectual abilities by 15%, and the risk of premature death also increases. Insomnia increases the risk of depression by 30%.

Death from lack of sleep

The body of a city dweller, already suffering from a seasonal lack of sunlight, experiences additional stress due to the lack of time for proper sleep - a long journey to work and back, traffic jams, household chores...

It is believed that over the past hundred years, the average duration of human sleep has decreased from eight hours to six, and in some cities it is already less than six hours, and this is a very big problem, the somnologist notes. The fact is that during sleep, the cerebral cortex processes information coming from internal organs, and recovery processes are launched. If sleep is disturbed, then the functioning of internal organs immediately goes wrong and immunity drops sharply. Therefore, if a person does not get enough sleep, then the risk of getting the flu or any viral disease increases significantly.

Dream

Photo: TASS/Artem Korotaev

Scientists have identified a connection between chronic lack of sleep and alcoholism

“This is truly a global problem, because, on the one hand, we treat, lower blood pressure with pills, use high-tech methods of treating coronary heart disease, oncology and other diseases, and by reducing sleep and deteriorating its quality, we are increasing the prevalence of these diseases, and in to a significant extent. That’s why we’re chasing a carrot here, but it’s tied in front of us, and we can’t catch up with it,” the scientist explained.

If you leave any living organism without sleep for seven days, it will die, says Alexander Kalinkin: “If we deprive a person of water, he will live for 18 days, without food for 72 days, and without sleep for only a week. Of course, in a week there are no heart attacks, no strokes, no cancer, no atherosclerosis, or any other significant morphological changes, but there is a sharp decrease in immunity. Since we are surrounded by microbes, both on the skin and in the gastrointestinal tract, an invasion of microbial flora occurs, and a person dies from intoxication.”

Third day without sleep

The sensations will remain the same, but 3 days without sleep will lead to unexpected consequences in the form of chills, fever, nervous tics, complete loss of appetite, and vomiting. After several days in this mode, a person begins to wrap himself in all the rugs and blankets that are in the house. Stupor was often noted, expressed in the immobilization of the body and the gaze directed at one point. At this moment, individuals are not in control of the situation and may not perceive information from the outside.

There are attacks of “microsleep” - a state when the brain turns off consciousness for a certain period of time (from 1 second to 1 minute or more)

What happens if you don't sleep for 7 days?

After only 5 days of such a “suspended” state, irreversible destructive processes begin: neural connections weaken, brain cells are destroyed, even the most intense speech is replaced by primitive and monosyllabic speech. Logic and mental activity do not allow solving even a basic example.

If you don’t sleep for a week, they will definitely come to visit you:

• hallucinations (audio or visual), delusions;
• paranoia;
• tremor of the limbs;
• panic attacks accompanied by cold sweat and rapid heartbeat.

If someone manages to resist dozing and continues to stay awake for 7 days in a row, there is no longer any need to talk about the functioning of the brain: its main areas have gone into “offline mode.” If you don’t sleep for a long time, the consequences will affect not only the internal organs, but will also make themselves obvious - a person literally ages before our eyes! Paleness, dullness and sagging skin are complemented by dark circles under the eyes. It has been experimentally proven that the body no longer resists infections and germs.

How long does it take to stay awake to die?

To die, for many it is enough to cross the line of 7-8 days. As a person, a person no longer exists; his body is subject to convulsions and memory loss. If he does not fall asleep, death will be the logical conclusion of such executions.

But death can come earlier. Few are able to withstand more than 5–6 days without sleep. After how many days the person begins to die depends on the exhaustion of the body at the start of the experiment and on health indicators. The chance of living for a long time without sleep is especially small for people with diseases of the cardiovascular system.

REFERENCE! A person should sleep 248 hours per month. In a year, people tend to sleep 2888 hours (subject to a daily 8-hour rest) or 120 days. It is estimated that the average person spends about 25 years of his life sleeping.

Scientific experiments

The subjects repeatedly amazed not only the general public, but also the scientists who conducted the experiments. There are several examples that demonstrate that it is possible to stay awake for very long periods of time.

• American neurophysiologist Nathaniel Kleitman conducted an experiment on himself. He hypothesized that hallucinations are dreams in the REM phase. Using an electroencephalogram, he recorded that up to 5 days the brain is still fighting for the right to rest and recovery.
• To extend the time of activity, military doctors use psychostimulants for special forces soldiers. The subject remains awake for several days, but after stopping the medication, severe physical and mental exhaustion is observed.
• In 1965, 17-year-old Randy Gardner set a record and did not sleep for more than 10 days. The Guinness Book of Records holder was Tony Wright, who did not sleep for 275 hours.
• Experiments with animals show that deprivation increases the production of cortisol, a stress hormone that slows down the regeneration of brain cells. Drowsy states, which are a temporary mental disorder, have been noted.

During the Inquisition, sleep deprivation was used as torture. With a clouded consciousness, any information could be obtained. In the NKVD of the USSR, interrogations lasted for days, after which people simply went crazy.

How to recover after several sleepless days

It's actually very simple - get enough sleep. Moreover, even after sleeping for only 8 hours, a person will fully recover and all unpleasant symptoms will disappear. Both Randy Gardner and Tony Wright, having rested and slept well after the experiment, felt good, and Gardner spoke to reporters the next day and spoke without any hesitation, and he looked great.

But this does not mean that you can conduct such experiments on yourself constantly - the consequences will be very serious. These include hormonal imbalance, cardiac pathologies, etc. of course, mental disorders.

Source https://www.medsovet.info/

Life without sleep or phenomena in history

It's hard to believe, but there are several people who don't sleep at all. Yakov Tsiperovich, who experienced clinical death, stopped sleeping. At first he was very bothered by insomnia, but now his body has gotten used to it. There are no health problems observed (except for low temperature). At the same time, it seems as if old age has canceled the meeting with him: in the photographs, the 43-year-old Belarusian looks the same as he did at 25.

Vietnamese Ngoc Thai has not slept for more than 40 years after suffering from a fever. Alcohol and pills did not help to plunge into the kingdom of Morpheus. But this does not prevent him from feeling good at 77 years old.

People whose insomnia is the result of pathological processes in the brain know firsthand how many days you can go without sleeping. Morvan's disease is no less mysterious. Patients with this diagnosis, in the absence of brain damage, may not sleep at all for several months. We know of at least 13 people from all over the world whose lives are deprived of such an important component as sleep.

Some people are not used to complaining about a new circumstance in their lives. And others honestly admit that this condition is exhausting, making you feel like a plant without water. Their whole life has now become one endless day without the opportunity to plunge into carefree bliss.

To summarize, you can without hesitation give a negative answer to the question of whether it is possible not to sleep (unless, of course, you are one of the unique individuals with lifelong insomnia). Everyone has their own maximum time without sleep, but you shouldn’t test your body’s strength. He already has enough daily stress and stress, and he may simply not be able to withstand another test.

Office passions

Scientists talk about the effect of sleep duration on metabolism

To avoid seasonal sleep problems, the main condition for office workers is to stay in a place with daylight as much as possible. According to the scientist, advanced companies that care about the health of their employees even use special light lamps that simulate sunlight in the workplace.

The somnologist explained that ordinary artificial lighting does not have this effect, because it has a spectrum different from the spectrum of sunlight. On the contrary, it enhances the negative effect of incoordination in nature, since an excessive amount of lighting devices, any gadgets, computers, especially in the evening, disrupts the production of melatonin.

Recently, clerks have the opportunity to sleep right in the office - special capsules for daytime rest are gaining popularity around the world. In the West, this trend is widespread; domestic employers, for the most part, are not yet ready for such a step. However, some large companies have had capsules for several years.

Dream

Photo: Global Look Press/Jenny Acheson

The physiotherapist considered the scientific conclusion about the most harmful position for sleeping to be far-fetched

The Izvestia correspondent was lucky enough to try out this miracle of technology for himself, but was unable to fall asleep there. Perhaps the fact that it happened in the morning, after a full night's sleep and a large glass of coffee, played a role.

Lying down in someone else's office to rest turned out to be a simple matter and not requiring any special liberation - you lie down in a chair, a large hemisphere covers you from above, a blanket on your feet, and headphones on your head. At the beginning of the session, a wave of vibrations runs through the chair, relaxing music sounds - it’s time to sleep. But for some reason I can’t sleep—thoughts about past negotiations and upcoming matters begin to swarm in my head, it’s very convenient, no one bothers me. Attempts to force oneself into nirvana have the opposite effect. The remaining time passes in a struggle with myself, finally the music becomes louder, the chair vibrates again - it’s time to go to work.

“When a person is at their peak of activity, there is no need for him to go there. If he processes a large amount of data and the reaction slows down, or there was some important meeting and relaxation is needed, or he cannot work at a high pace, puts off important things until tomorrow and begins a strategy of surviving until the end of the working day, then the capsule will extend the period of activity for about 3-4 hours,” Viktor Khodanov, managing partner of EnergyPoint, a Russian developer and manufacturer of capsules for restoring sleep, told Izvestia.

A whole team of Russian specialists of various profiles, from scientists to musicians, is working on the constant improvement of the gadget. “In our laboratory, the rate of falling asleep is about 70–80%. We look at the encephalogram, and the appearance of certain rhythms on it indicates that the brain has fallen into a state of superficial sleep and the necessary processes of restoring cognitive abilities have begun - memory, attention, concentration, assimilation of information. It’s like a reboot, it doesn’t replace night’s sleep, because there is no deep phase, but it makes it possible to extend the working day.”

Dream

Photo: Getty Images/Todd Warnock

Some people believe that napping during the day is harmful because, having enough sleep, a person worsens the quality of night sleep. “A short 20-30 minute nap, no more, really increases a person’s performance, alertness and cognitive functions,” confirms somnologist Alexander Kalinkin. “Therefore, from a performance point of view, it is useful. It can worsen the likelihood of falling asleep at night, reducing the so-called sleep pressure in the evening, but only over a longer period of time.”

According to the scientist, it is important to understand why a person becomes drowsy: he sleeps little at night or he has some kind of pathology. How to distinguish temporary difficulties from chronicles? Acute insomnia occurs in any person and is associated with stressful situations, and these can be both negative and positive emotions. If after the disappearance of the stress factor this situation does not recover and continues for more than three months, it is time to go to the doctor.

Scientists talk about the genetic causes of insomnia