What's the longest you've gone without sleep and why?

the reason i stayed awake isnt as honorable as yours but i have stayed awake foralmost 70 hours once. I had no real reason to do it i was only 18 and my boyfriend and i were having fun and didnt ever want it to end i guess. we did get tired from time to time and drank an evergy drink and started all over again we did finally crash and boy did we crash hard i think we slept almost 20 hours only getting up long enought to use the bathroom and then back off to sleep again. when we finally got up we thought that it had been fun and exciting to do but we werent ever going to do it again.

I went about 18 days on roughle 3 hours of sleep a night. Why? My daughter. She did not routinely sleep thru the night until she was about 4 years of age. I thought I was gonna loose my ind. Of course, my family and friends tell me it's gone, but hey what do they know.

I was the Relay for Life Team Captain one time for the place I worked and I got up at 5 am and went to work and then was up until almost 7 am the next morning. That is the longest I have ever been up, but I do it quite often the up for almost 24 hours. Thanks for posting.

I know nobody will believe this, but when I was 26, my little sister and I went on a road trip to Vancouver Canada. We really had no business doing it, neither of us had money. Once we got there and saw the sights, we were ready to head home to Denver. We had a friend to stop and see in Grants Pass, Or. Once we saw him, we both just wanted to get on home. We got on the road in Grants Pass and I drove alllllll the way to Steamboat Springs Colorado. I drove for 37 hours straight. We stopped in Utah on the Bonnyview Flats and I tried to get a nap, but couldn't, we got back in the car and took off. We finally stopped in Steamboat Springs because I was dillusional and was starting to hallucinate while driving. I was insane back then. What an idiot. No wonder my mother was always mad at me.

Here recently not long, the ususal up at 6am in bed at midnight. But my mom tells me when I was a baby about 10 months old. I stayed up for 72 hours straight. She says I wasn't sick or cranky, I just wanted to play and was not tired. To this day she won't let me forget it. Especially now that I have kids.

This is very embarassing to write. I stayed awake for 47 hours once when I was 18. The reason? I had just gotten the original SIMS and could not tear myself away from the computer. I almost fell asleep driving my standard one hour commute.

The longeest that I have gone with out sleep was 3 days. I was really distraught and depressed about something I don't care to mention. That was in 2005. Before that the longest I had gone without sleep was about 12 hours.

The longest I have been awake is 48 hours and that is when my Son was Sick really sick I did not dare go to sleep and he was 19 then Before that it has been 24 hours and it was also to do with my Kids being sick

I have never tried such experiments but I think I can easily stay awake for 24 to 26 hours.

When my son was born, I could not sleep for weeks. (for 30minutes max for occasionally ) He was a good baby though my brain did not let me sleep. I was listening to him continuously. I could not switch off the feeling of care about him. Anyway I was alone with him, nobody helped me even in the first times either. Perhaps, if my husband, or my mother said me to take a rest and they would listen to him I could switch off. I was very exhausted. Then after about 2wks this feeling began to decrease. And I began to care about myself too. Anyway I could not sleep last night because my boyfriend is ill, and he was snoring all night!!! But I do not take a rest now, because then I will not be sleepy the evening :( When my son has a high temperature, or bad disease I feel the force to be by him all night. I can not sleep, when he is has any problems.

I couldn't tell you exactly how long, but when I was younger I often stayed up for 2 or 3 days at a time for much less noble causes. Then when my one daughter was younger I often stayed up night after night with her because she was sickly. Again, I couldn't say just how long I was awake at any given time, just that I was exhausted and slept for long stretches once it finally caught up with me.

I have stayed awake for 60 hours before. Not for something as worth wild as you did though. It was because we were short handed at work and I had already made commitments with some friends. I didn't want to disappoint anyone see I just went without sleep. I am also a single mother of a special needs child. When she was an infant I would go for a few days without sleep as well. I was so scared that she would stop breathing and I wouldn't wake up in time to save her.

Well, the longest I've gone without sleep was 72 hours. I was tryng to finish my thesis paper at that time. I was so eager to submit it in advance so I can get I high grade. Luckily, I did. My thesis paper turned out to be on the top 5 list in the whole batch. I got the second highest grade. It's really worth the sleepless nights.

Oh this is funny.when i was living on campus at uni last year myself and a friend thought it would be fun to take the 'who falls asleep first' challenge.after watching many movies,emptying the vending machines and engaging in epic discussions about the meaning of life,my friend's eyes were giving up.this was at 10 am when we'd been wake for 24 hours.I suggested he go to sleep cos he looked as though he was going to die.I went back to my own room and stayed awake for a further 24 hours watching films and playing on the internet.I drank so much caffeine in the form of both coffee and energy drinks that i began to mildly hallucinate! i freaked out so much that i reached for the trusty nytol and was out quicker than i'd ever been before,and i didnt rise for another 24 hours!!! lol x

Since I was around 12 I haven't had any kind of sleep schedule. I could go days without sleeping, then only sleep about 5-8 hours after that. I've had dreams during less than 2 minutes of sleep and have awoken fully rested after only 20 minutes. Going 72 hours isn't uncommon for me, and I've gone as long as 100.

I cant sleep good anyway, I havnt for as long as I can remember, I usually get about 3 hours of broken sleep a night, sometimes I just give up and just go and do something like housework or sit on the computer.

Many, many years ago, when I was much younger, a girlfriend and myself stayed up for 36 straight hours. We were attempting to catch a liar in a lie. We set up "camp" in her backyard, the prime location to see the alleged liar's home, yard and driveway. We had an old beat up camper set up with power, so we wouldn't have to be seen leaving the camper so often. THe crazy things kids do to prove someone wrong! This guy friend was claiming that a girlfriend was causing all of the hickies on his neck and chest, the scratch marks all over him. Living next door to him, we knew he rarely had any visitors, but he was claiming that he had his girlfriend over all the time. (A blatant lie). To make a long story short, we learned that our loner neighbor was inflicting everything to himself. The hickies were caused by pinching himself, the scratch marks (which were never on his back) he was causing with a darn back scratcher that had been filed. He was a sicko liar dude who got busted due to our diligent surveillance! We were PI's LMAO!

Recently my mother in law had an open heart surgery, and she was hospitalized. Her mental condition was not good, she would suddenly be violent and pull off all the needles and oxygen attachement and would try to run away from hospital. I stayed with her two night and could not close my eyes for a moment, because as soon as I closed my eyes, I found her messing up with the medical equipments around and throwing away things..... so I stayed there for about 32 hours with wide open eyes.I think that was the longest that I ever remained with Sleep. Yes next few days I was sick.......lol. Sleep is so important for human body.Thank God, those days are over now and I hope such time does not come back again.

For me, about 48 hours because I had to go out of town and sleep just wasn't much of an option during that time. I was of course around 18 at that time, because like you, I can barely handle being awake 24 hours although the last time I stayed up longer than 24 was last summer when I made that overnight trip to Florida. I was up for 28 hours straight.