In the 1950s and 1960s, a craze glorified sleep deprivation. Some daredevils tried to outdo one another by setting dangerously long records for staying awake.
Guinness World Records put an end to that in 1997. The organization stopped tracking achievements related to sleep deprivation, citing safety concerns. At the time, the record belonged to professional stuntman Robert McDonald, who stayed awake for 18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes in 1986.
“While we no longer track such records due to the dangers associated with sleep deprivation, it can be argued that since McDonald, no one has broken this record,” said the Guinness World Records website.
Guinness representatives also said McDonald did not suffer any long-term consequences from his sleepless marathon. If that’s true, he was lucky—sleep deprivation is tied to a range of health problems.
Johns Hopkins Medicine warns that prolonged lack of sleep raises the chances of developing colorectal cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Staying awake for too long can also age the brain by three to five years and increase the risk of dementia by about 33 percent.
Recent mouse studies back up those concerns. Experiments showed sleep deprivation significantly depletes the brain’s protective protein pleiotrophin (PTN). When PTN levels fall, neurons in the hippocampus begin to die, which leads to cognitive decline and can contribute to neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Former record holder Randy Gardner, who stayed awake for 11 days in 1964, reported that the attempt harmed his short-term memory. He was later diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and some accounts have linked that diagnosis to his sleep-deprivation experiment. Just days after trying to set the record, Gardner experienced hallucinations and problems with working memory, according to IFLScience.
Scientists now suggest that past sleep-deprivation record holders probably experienced micro-sleeps during their attempts. Micro-sleeps are brief dozes that last only a few seconds and can go unnoticed. So while those challengers may not have allowed themselves real rest, they likely did not stay awake completely without any sleep.
