All-nighters

[dr.walrus]

So, for the last three years, I've learnt how to stay awake for 48 hours at a stretch (last minute before deadlines, anyone? Before that, I can only ever recall doing it once or twice, though a few times on 25h flights (UK > NZ), I'd gone 48 hours without more than an hour or so's sleep.

Does anyone else do it often? Deliberately? Do you have a technique? Why? What's your record?

My record is about 60-65 or so hours, but that was horrifying - by the time body gave up on being awake I was falling asleep mid-sentence, my body felt like a ragdoll and my eyes were red raw. If I need to perform like that, I try to get at least 4 hours sleep a night, you can just about perform normally, but 10 hours sleep over a 4 day period is actually quite enlightening of just how much of the world you see - it's wonderful to see sunrise and sunset every single day.

[diluzio91]

im usually a 2 day guy... and right after i finish what i was up for i basicly pass out.

My plan involves alternating light and dark, coffee, and music. having tv in the back ground helps alot too... even if im not watching.

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

heh just this past weekend i stayed up for 97 hours... so it was actually longer than the weekend..

[x88x]

I think my record in college was 50-something hours. I remember passing 50, at least. Though, that was also one of the frighteningly frequent incidents where I OD'd on caffeine. :eek: There's nothing like a caffeine-induced arrhythmia to knock some sense into you..

I haven't done anything even remotely like that recently though. The closest I've gotten in the last couple years has been 3.5 hours sleep in a 48-hour period.

[jdbnsn]

My record that I know of is a little over 72 hours working straight through doing autopsies, no breaks except for quick dips in the peanut butter jar for meals. After that, I know I have worked longer, but not continuously like that.

[knowledgegranted]

I pull an all-nighter every night. :D


On a serious note, I probably only get about 3-4 hours of sleep a night. For a wake-stretch, I was on the appalachian trail one year and stayed up for three days.

[Beta-brain]

My approx 50 hours doesn't sound like much compared to some here!
A few years ago I decided that I would make the effort to rebuild a Kawasaki Z900 that I had been restoring for a while and ride it to a big Kawasaki owners rally that was in two days time, it was all repainted, chromed, rebuilt spoked wheels and many new parts it just needed putting back together.

I started at about six in the morning and ran into problem after problem with parts not fitting correctly and the new expensive wiring loom turning out to be from the wrong model bike which meant I had to rebuild and use the old loom :evil: I eventually got it running around eight in the morning two days later only having had 2-3 short breaks for sustenance, I rode the bike to the rally only about 40 miles away, parked it and put the tent up bought a beer and collapsed in the tent and slept for most of the day and completely missed the rally :facepalm:

My advice, Buy a simple British bike or a Harley!

[x88x]

Hahaha, doesn't have to be British or American to be simple. :P My Honda is dead simple...granted it's also 31 years old this year...but hey, it still runs great and hardly ever needs maintenance. :D

[xr4man]

i HAD to do stuff like that in the navy. the longest was when my radar broke and i had to fix it. my parts came in 10:00 sunday morning and i got to go to bed wednesday morning. that was the longest, but there were a couple of 48 hour stretches of troubleshooting and several 36 hour stretches. i have a civilian job now, so i don't do that anymore, i like my sleep.

[Airbozo]

i HAD to do stuff like that in the navy. the longest was when my radar broke and i had to fix it. my parts came in 10:00 sunday morning and i got to go to bed wednesday morning. that was the longest, but there were a couple of 48 hour stretches of troubleshooting and several 36 hour stretches. i have a civilian job now, so i don't do that anymore, i like my sleep.

My longest stretch was also in the Navy. We were on port and starboard watches (4 hours on 4 hours off), and it so happened that we had 6 general quarters drills, all of them while I was supposed to be off. It turned out I was up a little over 72 hours straight, then only 4 hours of sleep and at it again (actually less than 4 hours).

The Navy ruined my sleeping habits. To this day I rarely sleep more than 6 hours even if I try... A couple of years ago the wife was gone for a week with her sisters diving and while she was gone I hosted a mini lan with some of my friends. We ended up staying up for 2 days partying and I thought I was going to be able to sleep in. I went to bed at 3:30 am and at 8:30 I could no longer stay in bed.

[xr4man]

yeah, i'm the same way. only when i'm extremely tired can i stay asleep for 8 hours. otherwise it's 6 hours for me.

[lynn's engraving]

not show how long i've stayed up, probably in the 48 hours range back in the day. more often than not, i wake up at 3 am, work for ten hours in a factory busting my hump, get home around 3pm and close shop at 7. i eat and watch a little tv, get to bed around 10 and do it all over again, so i average about 5 hours a night through the week. the plan, however, is to eventually get an employee so i can sleep to noon after quitting my crappy day job.

[simon275]

I sleep very well I love my sleep.

During university I did a week of programming getting six hours of sleep a night and programming non stop for the other 18 hours in a team of four.

[mDust]

I once had a final project become corrupted which also corrupted the backup. I was supposed to have 30 days to work on it but I had to start all over with just under 2 days left. I was awake for around 70 hours...with only a couple breaks to stretch my legs and bring food back to my computer. It was only stress-induced adrenaline that kept me awake...no caffeine or energy drinks. I started hallucinating towards the end and kept seeing shadows moving out of the corners of my eyes. Then chunks of time kept skipping forward and I pretty much had a stop-motion memory of burning the finished project to dvd, driving to class, walking in late, presenting, ducking out early and then waking up a full day later on my bedroom floor. Might as well have been completely drunk.

Never again!

[d_stilgar]

I actually talked about this before here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5288&highlight=pinewood) but a few years ago I worked nights 11PM to 5AM. I also wanted to participate in a campus wide pinewood derby, but had class and work and no tools. In short, in a 96 hour period I got 6 total hours of sleep. It was kinda awesome.

But talking about not sleeping, a year or so before the pinewood derby I wanted to drive through the night to surprise my girlfriend (now wife). She knew I was coming to visit, but thought it was going to be later in the day. I took these really awesome prescription pills. The label on the bottle more or less said in very scientific terms, "These pill will keep you awake indefinitely as long as you keep taking them. We don't know how they work exactly. Side effects: Death." These were some pretty sweet pills and I took some so I could drive all night. The bottle literally only listed one side effect.

I didn't feel high while on the pills, but strangely awake and alert and calm. I would totally take those pills again.

[crenn]

The most I've been up is a 7 days straight, I could never sleep during that period. But I just layed down and rested, but I was completely aware, I was also aware I was very very tired, but I just could not sleep. On the 7th night, I took sleeping pills. I've had periods where I have problems sleeping, but that's usually due to my back or my stress levels. I think the last time I had insomnia, I went 2-3 nights without sleep because I could sleep semi-normally.

[Luke122]

I average around 5-6hours per night, I could probably sleep indefinitely if I didnt have responsibilities to deal with, and bathroom breaks. My record for sleep 26 hours.

The longest I've ever stayed awake was 73 hours. Get up, go to work, come home, drive across the province, pick up a friend, drive back home, party, party, drive him home, drive myself home, trip balls in rush hour traffic. Terrifying.

Yes, the exhausting hallucinations are SCARY.

[AmEv]

How was your 26-hour slumber? You missed out on a whole day of something.....