Tony Wright, who stayed awake for 266 hours in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record, shared the effects of sleeplessness on his mental state.
How long can you go without sleep? Imagine staying awake for 11 days straight. That’s exactly what a man did with hopes of trying to break the world record for the longest time without sleep.
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Tony Wright’s sleepless marathon didn’t win him the world record but did stay awake for 266 hours. Tony spoke about how his mental state totally shifted while he stayed awake.
“Basically you’re starving the rational mind, the egotistical mind, of sleep, and its batteries are running down,” he explained.
Tony said, “Of course, it doesn’t feel very good… but if you push beyond that, [the rational mind’s] ability to stay in charge starts to break down as well, and that’s where you can start to get glimpses of the other side of the brain, the other self.”
He continued, “There’s nothing new in staying awake to get to a different state – it’s not understood anymore, it often seems it must be some kind of primitive nonsense – but it’s still a living tradition.”
Tony added, “I have spoken to a lot of people about this. Most people have recollections, after partying or working hard. Sure they get tired, but within that, they get glimpses of something else. A kind of softness, a more relaxed state, often more emotional – because there’s more access to that emotional side of the brain – and even feeling quite good for brief windows, or getting a second wind, even.”
He said, “What I was interested in, is making sense of that. And was it possible to exploit that and bring in combining techniques to tie the left side of the brain, which initially doesn’t feel great, but the reward on the other side of that makes it worth the effort.”
The Guinness World Records does not keep track of this record due to the serious health risks associated with sleep deprivation.
Last month, the organisation said, “Although we no longer monitor the record due to the inherent dangers associated with sleep deprivation, we can say that no one is known to have broken it since McDonald.”
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Robert McDonald was the last person to hold the world record for maximum hours going without sleep. In 1986, McDoanld went 453 hours and 40 minutes, which adds up to about 18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes, without sleeping.
The first person awarded the ‘sleeplessness’ record was radio DJ Dave Hunter, from Florida, in 1959. He stayed awake for 225 hours.
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