It's August 1st 2010, at eleven minutes past eight PM, and I have been up for about 30 hours. And I intend to stay awake as long as possible. Whether or not I ever actually publish this post depends on how long I can go before falling asleep, but if you're reading this then presumably I've published it, unless of course you're me. But this is a problem only I really have to be concerned about.
So lets start with a description of my 'day' so far. I got woken up by my alarm (I have no idea why I decided to put my alarm on) at 1pm, having gone to bed at about half 4 the previous morning. I actually got out of bed at 2, which is when I'm starting from, as I'm not sure exactly what point I started being properly awake. About 30 minutes after getting up I agreed to go swimming, which I might not have done if I had been planning this sleeplessness thing. I did an hour of swimming, which is significant as I haven't properly swam for years, so got exhausted quite quickly, which isn't good for the no sleep thing. Once I got home it becomes something of a blur as I went on the computer and from there on everything blends into one. I ate dinner a bit after 2am. Then until dawn I spent quite a large amount of time doing random flow charts such as "determine if your a sex addict" and "determine if you would survive in a vampire world" with my sister, who stayed up until about midday. I then made bacon and have spent the rest of my time online. At 9am I started checking on this site to see my reaction speeds, which are so far quite consistent and not much out of the ordinary.
August 2nd, 00:42
At nearly 35 hours I actually feel quite good, all things considered. However my eyes do hurt and I'm aware of problems with concentration and sentence structuring. My reaction times have not noticeably changed since 9am. My plan to survive the night, which is the hardest time, is mostly just burn time online and watch things on iPlayer/4OD. I feel confident that I will make it through the night, however if this post ends up as just a large number of g's where my head rests on the keyboard you'll never know anyway, so lets assume that hasn't happened.
August 2nd, 04:51
It's getting light out now, though sunrise won't be at least another 10 minutes. I got through most of the night easily, but I think I lost my ability to concentrate in the last 10 minutes and now it's feeling more difficult. However once the sun is properly up it should get a bit easier though.
August 2nd, 07:42
I've reached something of a personal milestone, as 41 hours is approximately the length of time I stayed awake when I last tried this a couple of years ago. But it is really getting to me now and I'm finding it much harder to concentrate. However I think I should be able to keep going. My reaction speed is remarkably staying quite constant, although I wish I made a graph now so that I could really see. I have a target in my head of 48 hours, which I think I should be able to achieve if I can keep at least some focus.
August 2nd, 14:01
I've now been up for 48 hours. This is the third 2pm I've been through without falling asleep. Apart from my eyes I don't feel tired exactly, it's more like an extreme version of Monday morning feeling, where nothing in your body seems to be working quite right. I'm beginning to feel disoriented, although my reaction speed actually seems to be getting faster, apparently showing that I'm very alert. This has lead me to realise I am in fact not human at all, but rather a moon fairy with powers that you humans can't even imagine. [Note. Delusions and hallucinations are known to happen at this level of deprivation]
August 2nd, 21:34
I was staring at a photo earlier. It became 3d. And started moving slightly. Also I've passed 55.5 hours, or 3,333.3 minutes, or 199,999 seconds. That's interesting right?
August 3rd, 02:07
Going into my fourth day. A little concerned as Randy Gardner (that really is his name), who has the record for longest time without sleep without using stimulants with 11 days, on his fourth day he "had a delusion that he was Paul Lowe winning the Rose Bowl, and that a street sign was a person". So that could be bad. Also my plate of nut shells is planning to kill me.
August 3rd, 03:00
My sister notices I've fell asleep. I achieved approximately 61 hours without sleep. Had I of stuck with the computer instead of watching the simpsons maybe my time would be longer. It's hard for me to say, as I barely remember any of the events of the last hour.
Anyway, I believe bed would nice right about now.
August 4th, 07:00
I get up, having been in bed for 27 hours. 27 hours without food or drink. I remedy this, then go online. I haven't got a clue what will happen to my sleep pattern.
As I mentioned earlier, I think the reason I didn't stay awake longer was the fact I started watching something, which is too passive. The same thing happened last time I tried to stay up.
And in case you're wondering, I won't be trying again in a hurry. At least not until I forget what a bad idea it is.
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