I think it would be earlier this year, when I was in such bad back pain I literally had like 2 hours sleep per night for a week. I would sit on a Physio ball in the living room, almost crying whilst awake and looking up back pain solutions using the wii remote with opera on the internet channel.
I once went about 30 hours without sleep, give or take an hour. The first half of my day was spent traveling from Florida to Texas to visit with my parents. Then instead of sleeping like a normal person that night I went to see a concert with some old friends (YAY POE!). I spent a good chunk of that late evening at Denny's with a few guys from the band at the world's finest restaurant... Denny's. So by the time we were done it was nearly dawn and my parents who lived about an hour away. That was the hardest drive of my life and I almost fell asleep a few times. After that I've always made it a point to break my day up with naps if I can't get more solid sleep.
robio said:I once went about 30 hours without sleep, give or take an hour. The first half of my day was spent traveling from Florida to Texas to visit with my parents. Then instead of sleeping like a normal person that night I went to see a concert with some old friends (YAY POE!). I spent a good chunk of that late evening at Denny's with a few guys from the band at the world's finest restaurant... Denny's. So by the time we were done it was nearly dawn and my parents who lived about an hour away. That was the hardest drive of my life and I almost fell asleep a few times. After that I've always made it a point to break my day up with naps if I can't get more solid sleep.
Don't drive whilst tired robio. See what happened to Bugs.
You know when you suddenly feel like your falling asleep and your eyes pop open whilst driving? Research says that you had been asleep for microseconds already.
Oh yeah I learned my lesson well enough. Keep in mind this was years and years ago when I still a young man with hopes and dreams, and not the crushed shell of a human being that I am today.
During my internship and residence years I went through 36 and 48 hr shifts more times that I'd like to remember. Lots of those I went through without a single nap or rest break.
Eventually I learned that you can always push yourself a little harder. And that no matter how tired you are, there is always room for more tiredness and exhaustion.
SteelAttack said:During my internship and residence years I went through 36 and 48 hr shifts more times that I'd like to remember. Lots of those I went through without a single nap or rest break.
Eventually I learned that you can always push yourself a little harder. And that no matter how tired you are, there is always room for more tiredness and exhaustion.
I should have expected a doctor would take the cake. It's something that I know is true in Australia as well. Is it a shortage of doctor's? Or just sharp increases in sick people coming in that cannot be anticipated that cause doctors in hospitals to work such long hours?
robio said:Oh yeah I learned my lesson well enough. Keep in mind this was years and years ago when I still a young man with hopes and dreams, and not the crushed shell of a human being that I am today.
I did a few like that when I was young and stupid. Oh shit, I did that two years ago. I drove from Sydney to where I live which took 14 hours. Idiotic.
2-3 days. Probably longer, I'm not sure, depends on which time. I've also slept for 24-48hours straight. Contexts? Anything from insomina to glangular fever, to whooping cough. 
I'm not sure if it makes it better or worse that if depending on the context, the sleep after the long time spent awake, would have had no refreshing affect beyond merely beyond unconscious for a few hours. 
Also, in my experience, "cheating" can make things much worse. By that I mean, say you're up for 48 hours and you spend 10 of those lying down trying to sleep, drifting in and out of it perhaps totalling 2-4 hours sleep. Can make you feel a hell of a lot worse. Also, to me, things can be a hell of a lot easier if you're working as well. Then many of the phyiscal effects of sleep deprivation become second to merely trying to stay awake; actually that's probably the difference there! It's easier to stay awake, than be unable to sleep, even if you're doing draining, physical work. xD Plus, drugs are more likely to make you feel better then. By drugs, of course, I mean coffee.
I reckon I could do pretty well on speed.
Okay, maybe not just coffee.
aspro said:I should have expected a doctor would take the cake. It's something that I know is true in Australia as well. Is it a shortage of doctor's? Or just sharp increases in sick people coming in that cannot be anticipated that cause doctors in hospitals to work such long hours?
Shortage of doctors. There's more need for nurses, though.
Edit:
Forgot to mention, the "cheating" technique can result in some interesting hallucinations.
~72 hours
I had a tree branch flung into my right eye, which caused several cuts across the cornea and upper sclera. The first night I didn't sleep because it was so itchy and irritated . The second night I didn't sleep because closing my eye for longer than a couple seconds caused excruciating pain, and all the doctor gave me was eye drops that didn't affect pain. The third night I went crazy and/or overdosed on Tylenol, causing me to halucinate and think I was in a skateboard park (when in reality I was in my living room at around 5:00AM).There, I pranced around for a bit and finally fell asleep on a quarter pipe (a couch).
Listen to Iced Earth and play Doom
Coopersville said:~72 hours
I had a tree branch flung into my right eye,
How?
gamingeek said:How?
I'm guessing a burro was involved.
That's just teasing!
Someone around here was poked in the eye by a branch and got brain damage. Not sure if there are any troubles sleeping involved, though!
aspro said:I'm guessing a burro was involved.
Fucking burros. They're always involved in weird shit.
gamingeek said:How?
A friend being a douchebag (Danny, some people here know him).
We were walking along a nature trail and he gave me the whole "Hey bro, let me hold this branch for you... derp, just trolling!" routine.
Listen to Iced Earth and play Doom
^Da'mhn, whnat a dick.
(Okay, I'mll try hnot to post withn thne keygboard like thnis!)
Coopersville said:gamingeek said:How?
A friend being a douchebag (Danny, some people here know him).
We were walking along a nature trail and he gave me the whole "Hey bro, let me hold this branch for you... derp, just trolling!" routine.
I'm sorry. It must have hurt but that's lol.
Topic. And no cheating, no naps or anything, I mean, awake for the whole time. No international flights where you got 2 hours sleep, or cross-country drives where you snuck a few hours in the passenger seat.
I remember once I was at work for over 27 hours without having gone home. So add a couple hours on either side (at least) and that would have been 31 hours straight. Our company had moved, and since I was in charge of the tech (and it was a company that operated 24 hours, there were reasons I had to be there the whole time. I was at work the next day at the normal time, though I thin kafter that day, and a few beers, I slept in the next morning.