How long can you go without sleep before you die?

It has even been said that one could survive for three times as long without food as one could without sleep. Indeed, one of the better known experiments on this subject, found that depriving rats entirely of sleep resulted in their death, or near-dying state, within 11-32 days (Everson et al. 1989). read more

In certain rare human medical disorders, the question of how long people can remain awake raises other surprising answers, and more questions. Morvans fibrillary chorea or Morvans syndrome is characterized by muscle twitching, pain, excessive sweating, weight loss, periodic hallucinations, and severe loss of sleep (agrypnia). read more

Ultimately, we do not know. Sleep science is a young discipline and only in the last few decades have we really started to make advances in our understanding of the importance and functions of sleep. read more

When you go without sleep for 20 to 25 hours, your performance impairment is similar to that of someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent. read more