The effect of not sleeping for days

Research in the International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environment Health records the longest time a person has not slept, which is 264 hours. That is, this number is equivalent to 11 consecutive days. Even though you can still live a normal life, of course there are a number of effects that will happen to your body if you don't sleep for days.

The impact of not sleeping on the condition of the body

Despite the results of existing studies, there is no definite limit on how long humans can last without sleep.

In just 3-4 days, the body can experience severe symptoms such as hallucinations and difficulty concentrating.

These symptoms only cover the aspects of behavior, not including the biological side that occurs in your body. In general, here is a list of effects that you will experience after not sleeping for days:

1. After 24 hours

Not sleeping for 24 hours may have become commonplace.

Even though at this stage, your ability to remember, coordinate, and make decisions has started to decline. You may also experience other effects, such as:

• Severe drowsiness
• Easy to get angry
• Trouble concentrating
• Blood sugar levels and the stress-inducing hormone cortisol increases
• The muscles of the body become tense
• The body is shaking
• Vision and hearing begin to become blurry

This effect occurs because the brain tries to save energy while you are not sleeping. The brain will enter a phase called "local sleep".

During this phase, the body stops nerve function in some parts of the brain, but other parts continue to function normally.

You may seem conscious, but your ability to do some things has diminished. The effects you experience will fade away once you get back to sleep.

2. After 36 hours

After not sleeping for 36 hours, the production of the hormone cortisol, insulin, and various other growth hormones begins to go awry.

These changes also mess with appetite, metabolism, body temperature, mood , stress levels, and the overall sleep cycle.

Apart from these various effects, other effects that arise from not sleeping for a full day and a half include:

• Severe fatigue
• There is less motivation, attention, and decision-making skills
• Difficulty thinking of solutions when faced with everyday problems
• Speech disorders, both in word choice and tone of speech

3. After 48 hours

Most people usually find it difficult to stay awake after not sleeping for two days in a row.

The body starts to stop functioning so that you may experience microsleep that is, short sleeps of 30 seconds or less.

For people who have not slept for a long time, this effect can occur at any time without being controlled.

After awakening from microsleep , You may experience dizziness and disorientation without remembering having experienced it.

4. After 72 hours and so

After not sleeping for 3 consecutive days, the various effects that you previously experienced are now getting worse.

The desire to sleep is getting so unstoppable that most people will give up during this period.

However, if you are able to stay awake, you are likely to experience a variety of severe impaired thinking functions. mood , as well as emotions.

Daily conversations also become a very difficult thing to do.

In addition, not sleeping for 72 hours will also have the following effects:

• Severe fatigue
• It's easy to get annoyed
• Severe memory and concentration problems
• Difficulty communicating with other people
• Paranoid, mood depression, and anxiety
• Experiencing hallucinations
• Inability to perform multitasking and recognizing other people's emotions

Experiencing sleep deprivation every once in a while may not do much for your health.

However, leaving your body not sleeping for days can have more dangerous consequences, both for you and for others.

In order to avoid the harmful effects of not sleeping, you can improve your sleep quality by adopting healthy sleep habits or sleep hygiene.

If this method doesn't work, you can try to consult with your doctor to find the cause and solution.