Re: The longest time you\'ve been continuously awak
I've done 36-48 hour stretches a few times. Once during a short vacation that was cut shorter by car trouble, another at an all-night New Years' Eve party where I just didn't crash around 5 AM like everyone else, and another because I had insomnia during a hectic week of work and personal business (this has happened more than once).
I've never experienced visual hallucinations, but my sense of reality gets, uh, thinner during those times. I have had vague audio hallucinations. My mind wanders like mad and I'm easily distracted. If I have something to concentrate on, I can usually manage whatever task. Driving can do the trick. A sense of urgency helps to keep the mind somewhat sharp.
The really sickening thing is getting to sleep after that long stretch. Some describe it as being "too tired to sleep." I'd call it paranoia. Reality has begun to unhinge on you, and something is going to get you if you fall asleep. It's fun.
I agree that the hour after sunrise is tough - even if you've gotten enough sleep and are just, say, working overnight.
Whenever I keep late hours on "weekends" (I work 2nd shift, so turning in around 3-4AM is normal), I still try to get to sleep before sunrise. 'Can't completely fight the circadian rythm. I inevitably wake up a few hours after sunrise if I turn in just as the sky brightens and have difficulty sleeping.
I've done full weeks of 1-4 hours of sleep per night. Towards the end of the week, the sensation is similar to the last 8 hours of a 36-48 hour stretch.
The wierdness isn't worth it. I'd like to be able to trust my senses. The negative effects on my health aren't worth it either - I start feeling like crap in a vague sense after 24 hours, and it just gets worse as time drags on.
Tangential ... I've found there's nothing for auditory hallucinations like vaguely harmonic background noise while you're doing something else - often at night. This happens to me occasionaly when I've been depriving myself of sleep and I'm wering headphones and doing something at the PC. Usually it's the AC, but sometimes a combination of air rustling something and whatever I'm listening to will make my head "fill in the gaps" and trigger recognuition, followed by removing the headphones and straining to hear it then my skin crawling as I realize it was all in my head...
Er, anyway... the brain and body need sleep.
