What happens if you do not sleep for several days? How many days a person can live without sleep?

A third of our whole life goes to sleep, provided that we get enough sleep. However, with the modern rhythm of life, few of us spend enough time to sleep. Many mistakenly think that prolonged wakefulness gives many opportunities: there is more time for work, entertainment, active rest. And some just for fun want to know how much you can live without sleep. But by systematically replacing the time of sleep with other personal matters, you can face very unpleasant consequences. What happens if you do not sleep for a long time? This will be discussed in this article.

What for to the person a dream?

An exact answer to this question has not yet been found. However, the scientists presented facts confirming that sleep is extremely important for a person. At this time, the work of all organs and systems of the body slows down. Slows down even the heart rhythm, which makes it possible to relax and heart muscle. During sleep, cell regeneration is most active. It is established that during this period there is an ordering of emotions and memories received during wakefulness.

The brain does not sleep!

In the human brain is the center that controls the biological clock. When the time of sleep is right, this center is triggered, and the consciousness begins to gradually turn off. First of all, there is a slowdown in the work of neurons, which are responsible for associative connections. There comes a phase of deep sleep. Together with the disconnection of consciousness, the transmission of transmission from the sense organs (sight, hearing, sense of smell) is disconnected. All thought processes are regulated by a special regime of interaction and functioning of certain groups of neurons. Thus, when the sleep period sets in, the human brain starts to work in a different mode. And the intensity of these processes is different at different stages of sleep. So a dream is quite an active and important process.

Why can not a person sleep?

It happens that a person does not have a dream of his own free will. Sometimes it is impossible to force yourself to fall asleep for hours or whether awakening occurs in the middle of the night, and the wakefulness lasts until the morning. This is insomnia - the most common violation of sleep. What provokes such a phenomenon? A person can not fall asleep for various reasons, the main ones are as follows:

• fear;

• Emotional overstrain;

• Information overload;

• Increased excitability;

• diffidence;

• Physiological problems.

All causes are interrelated, one can become a consequence of another, at times a person may be bothered by several of the above-mentioned phenomena. Such conditions, lasting for a long time, can provoke a complete lack of sleep. And this threatens irreversible consequences. Up to a lethal outcome.

Lack of sleep: consequences

On average, people need to sleep at least 7-8 hours per day for well-being and working capacity. Of course, there are people who have enough and 3 hours, but this is an exception. So, what happens if you do not sleep?

1. After one sleepless night, a person has fatigue, reduced concentration and memory.

2. 2-3 sleepless nights threaten with a violation of coordination of movements, deterioration of concentration of vision, speech, nausea and nervous tic may appear.

3. After 4-5 nights without sleep, there is increased irritability and hallucinations.

4. If a person does not sleep for 6-8 nights, then there are gaps in memory, trembling in the limbs, speech slows down.

5. What happens if you do not sleep for 11 consecutive nights? In this case, a person becomes numb and indifferent to everything, and fragmented thinking develops. Ultimately, death can come.

Chronic lack of sleep is no less dangerous

The systematic lack of sleep adversely affects the memory of a person. There is an accelerated aging of the body, the heart relaxes less and wears out more quickly. There are disorders of the nervous system and after 5-10 years of chronic lack of sleep, it becomes more difficult for a person to fall asleep. In addition, immunity decreases. Because of the low duration of sleep, T-lymphocytes are not produced in sufficient quantity by means of which the body resists viruses and bacteria. It is also found that people who experience a constant lack of sleep, become more irritable.

How long can you live without sleep? Interesting Facts

To get an answer to this question, many experiments were conducted, both by scientists and simply by curious enthusiasts. Below are the most amazing facts.

1. For today the officially recognized record is wakefulness for 19 days. It was that much time without sleep that the American Robert McDonald's spent.

2. Also an amazing record was put by schoolboy Randy Gardner, who could not sleep for 11 days.

3. After suffering a fever, Thai Ngoc from Vietnam has not slept for 38 years.

4. The Vietnamese Nguyen Van Kha has not slept for 27 years. According to him, it all started on the same day after he closed his eyes and felt a burning sensation in his eyes. Moreover, he clearly saw the image of fire. Since then, he no longer sleeps.

5. Farmer Eustace Burnett from England has not slept for 56 years. In one night he just did not want to sleep. Since then, instead of sleep, he has been solving crossword puzzles every night.

6. Yakov Tsiperovich is a man with phenomenal abilities, the cause of which is the clinical death experienced by him . After that, he does not sleep, body temperature does not rise above 33.5 ºС, and his body does not age at all.

7. Ukrainian Fedor Nesterchuk is awake for about 20 years and at night reading books.

So, how many days a person can live without sleep? A single answer was never found. Someone can not sleep for 5 days, someone - 19, and for someone and wakefulness for 20 years has no effect on health. Here everything is individual and depends on gender, age, physical condition of the organism and many more factors. Without sleep, the average person can live from 7 to 14 days, provided that he will lead a low-activity lifestyle.

The benefits of daytime sleep

Daytime sleep has the most positive effect on the person's health. If for some reason the night's sleep was short, then an afternoon nap will help to improve well-being. Scientists have found that only 26 minutes of daytime sleep significantly increase work capacity and attention. This effect can persist for 10 hours. Scientific studies have shown that daytime sleep only 2 times a week reduces the chances of developing coronary heart disease by 12%. If daytime sleep is given 3 times a week, then the risk of this pathology is reduced by 37%.

The positive effect of a short day's sleep:

• Increases mood by 11%;

• By 6% improves physical condition;

• Increases productivity by 11%;

• Reduces sleepiness by 10%;

• Improves mindfulness by 11%;

• Increases brain activity by 9%;

• Reduces insomnia by 14%.

For car enthusiasts on a note

With prolonged absence of sleep, the driver's condition is equated with alcoholic intoxication. If the driver has not slept for 17-19 hours, his condition is similar to that when the alcohol level in the blood is 0.5 ppm. 21 hours of wakefulness is equal to the alcohol level of 0.8 ppm. This state gives the right to recognize the driver drunk.

From this article you learned about what will happen if you do not sleep for several days. Do not experiment. Take care of your health, despite the lack of free time, try to get enough sleep every day and fully rest. The time spent on a sound sleep will certainly pay off with interest. You will always be cheerful, cheerful and healthy.