What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep

Steve67

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I’m going thru a bad bout of insomnia so far 2 days and nights, I guess I will be making a Dr. appt.
 

85Hokie

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I’m going thru a bad bout of insomnia so far 2 days and nights, I guess I will be making a Dr. appt.
Something on your mind worrying you ? That will keep you awake ...........

Sometimes I will simply take 2 "pm" pills and that usually gets me back on a "normal" night of sleep.
 

DeepWoods

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Been there as well. The longest for me was almost a week. Bout the only thing I can say is don’t fight it . If you can’t sleep, don’t just lay in bed saying to yourself “go to sleep”. I found it only makes it worse. I usually just get up, sit in my recliner and try to relax.. I did try some YouTube videos of relaxation music, or sounds and to some extent it helps. Everything I’ve read about it is to have a routine and stick with it as much as you can. I’ve been told by many that the bed is only for sleeping, and if your not sleeping in it, get out of it. For me I think it depends mostly on how much stuff I have going on in my brain when I go to bed. The less the better. But sometimes I just can’t seem to be able to shut down all of the stuff I’m thinking about. I wish you the best.
 
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Bmyers

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The longest I have gone without sleep was not quite 48 hours (thanks to the days on fire department and ambulance along with strong storms that hit our area). Now days, I'm lucky to make it 4 hours without wanting a nap. The days of being young.

It could be a change in medication, stress, and biological changes. Talking with your doctor is a great idea and could help bring peace of mind that there is nothing seriously wrong.
 

Henro

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Wow. Interesting question.

For me it would be what is the longest you ever slept!

I sleep well for a few hours, wake up for a couple and sleep again for a few. So I end up getting six or seven hours every night, but not continuous.

NOT sleeping is something I never suffered.

No answer from my end, but hope you start getting adequate Zzzzzzzz's soon.

One thing I did notice was I absolutely cannot sleep while traveling. When we were going to Japan twice per year, which was a 24 hours door to door travel time, I just could not fall asleep on the flights or in between at terminals either. Even got something from the doctor, that was supposed to help, but all it did was ruin me as far as having a beer during the flights...go figure...
 

D2Cat

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I don't have that problem. When a commercial comes on when I'm watching TV I turn the volume down. Sometimes my wife has to rattle my brain to awaken it to turn the volume back up!

If, by chance, I'm in bed and have something on my mind causing restlessness I just force my self to think of a project I'm working on, or going to work on, and go through each detail of the project. I get a lot solved and soon go to sleep.
 

skeets

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Are you counting post boot camp training? Cause if you include that, SERE was a reall eye opener
 
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RCW

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Any problems I’ve had were related to work.

I’ve been through a couple days, but it usually due to long, extended and strenuous work hours in my much younger days. Weeks of 100 hours plus weren’t common, but happened in streaks of two or three when they did. 70-80 were the norm back then. 7 day weeks were the normal too.

I sometimes have issues a couple consecutive nights when work is very stressful still.

Others gave good advice.

I very much try to de-compress well before bed, and often wind down in bed with some television…mindless television.

Hope you get it sorted out soon.
 
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JimmyJazz

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Exercise and eliminate any alcohol consumption. If you are out of shape start by taking a daily walk and lengthen it every day. That will help . Taking pills can possibly create a new set of potentially worse problems. I am not a doctor. Thats been my experience. Good luck.
 
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rc51stierhoff

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1.5 - 2 weeks not including jet lag. Jet lag in my opinion is worse. Not sleeping for me is stress. Jet lag you struggle to stay awake, and that sucks. Not sleeping sucks less.
 

DaveFromMi

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I did about 40 hours straight during an outage at a nuke plant. I think that there are regulations against that now. On my way out I was confronted by a Senior Department Head wondering why my insignificant low priority report was not done.
 

NCL4701

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About 72 hours. Related to work. Not ideal.

Have a relative that’s has had a couple bouts of over a month. Not sure where the breaking point is, but at some point the mere lack of sleep results in hallucinations, mild psychosis, and a general intermittent disconnect with reality.
 

PaulR

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Try Melatonin. Available over the counter at places that sell varieties of pills
 

torch

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Longest I've done is probably a little over 72 hours. But I work 24 hour shifts and regularly go 30 hours - 40 or more with cat-naps here and there.

Some nurse claimed the 24 hour schedule was healthier than 12 hour shifts. But then, she doesn't have to work them.
 

Lil Foot

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About 54 hours.
I only sleep 3 1/2 - 4hrs a day normally.
 

jimh406

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Around 72 hours and mine was work related as well. If you are trying to sleep and can't, I agree with seeing a dr.
 

Steve67

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Thanks for all the suggestions. After 72 straight hours of not sleeping I finally got some relief with some short term meds. I must say at my old age it was affecting my brain functions and some minor hallucinations but nothing like the crazy days of the 60s and 70s.. 😎
 

Jhtractor

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After more than 25 years in law enforcement and working many years of midnight shifts and long investigations that stretched for days with little sleep, and sleep deprivation from working midnight shift and then coaching my kids sports, my best suggestion is exercise to wear yourself out. I had a basement bedroom with black plastic on the window, sleep mask, and box fan for white noise to sleep during the day. A good workout and I could always crash for 4-6 hours. Glad to hear you got some rest.
 

lugbolt

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drugs don't always work the same for everyone

melatonin is horrible for me, causes bad depression so i can't take it. Others have had the same experiences

alcohol is just as bad if not worse. I quit it in my 20's and never looked back! Man I feel SO much better without it!

Usually if I can't sleep I walk out to the shop and work on something til I'm too tired to work. Go back in, sleep for hours. Sometimes I'll sleep in the shop. I have a reclining chair on wheels that I use occasionally and have been known to sleep in it if the weather is good. Meaning all 4 days a year. Its either too hot or too cold most of the time.