And how long can the body really go without sleep?

Dear Reader,

It's great that you are looking for unique ways to raise funds for needy groups; however, you pose and interesting dilemma. The short-term effects of sleep deprivation include fatigue, trouble concentrating, impaired decision-making, lack of motivation, impaired reaction times, and irritability. If sleep deprivation continues, a person may experience slowed or slurred speech, impaired memory, flattened emotional responses, apathy, and an inability to multi-task. As a person nears the point of falling asleep, s/he will fall into "micro sleeps" that last between 5 to 10 seconds (such as nodding off while reading or driving). Eventually, hypnagogic hallucinations will occur (the dreamlike sensations you have when falling asleep), which indicate the onset of REM sleep.

In terms of the brain, research shows that sleep deprivation has dramatic effects on brain functioning, including impairing performance on high-level thinking tasks and shutting down the brain's language center. Studies also show that when people are deprived of sleep, they become less adept at mathematical and verbal tasks. Paradoxically, the more tired people are, the more confident they are that their performance is normal, when in fact it is worse.

It is not entirely clear how long a person can go without sleep, although a period of several days is probably the maximum. In 1965 a high school student set a world record by staying awake for 11 days in a row. In some research studies participants have stayed awake for 8 to 10 days in a row. These people did not experience any serious medical consequences, but they did exhibit serious deficits in concentration, memory, and cognitive ability as the period of their sleep deprivation increased.

The effects of sleep deprivation are not necessarily dangerous — unless you engage in behavior where you may be putting yourself or others at risk, such as driving, operating heavy machinery, etc. If you need to stay awake for organizing the fundraiser (e.g. if you're running a 24/7 event over several days), perhaps you and your friends can sleep in shifts, so that one or two people are always awake yet you all have the chance to get some shut-eye. If the fundraising activity is solely the feat of staying awake, you will likely not experience any long-term damaging effects from staying awake for 5 days straight, although the effects listed above may be less severe if you stayed awake for 3 days instead of 5.

In any case, you probably won't be your coherent, competent, and awake self until you are rested and back to a normal sleep schedule. So when your event is over, make sure you get plenty of rest — and don't drive yourself home!

Alice

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