Sleep deprivation

==Longest periods without sleep==
[[Randy Gardner (record holder)|Randy Gardner]] holds the scientifically documented record for the longest period of time a human being has intentionally gone without sleep not using [[stimulant]]s of any kind. Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days), breaking the previous record of 260 hours held by [[Tom Rounds]] of [[Honolulu]].<ref name="Coren"/> [[Lieutenant commander|Lieutenant Commander]] John J. Ross of the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit later published an account of this event, which became well known among sleep-deprivation researchers.<ref name="Coren"/><ref name=Eleven>{{cite book |chapter=Eleven days awake |title=Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments | vauthors = Boese A |isbn=978-0-15-603135-6 |publisher=Harvest Books |pages=90–93 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wc-UlRRWQ1EC&pg=PA90 |date=5 November 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919124145/http://books.google.com/books?id=Wc-UlRRWQ1EC&lpg=PA90 |archive-date=19 September 2014  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ross JJ | title = Neurological Findings After Prolonged Sleep Deprivation | journal = Archives of Neurology | volume = 12 | issue = 4 | pages = 399–403 | date = April 1965 | pmid = 14264871 | doi = 10.1001/archneur.1965.00460280069006 }}</ref>

The ''Guinness World Record'' stands at 449 hours (18 days, 17 hours), held by Maureen Weston of [[Peterborough]], [[Cambridgeshire]], in April 1977, in a rocking-chair marathon.<ref name=Eleven />

Claims of total sleep deprivation lasting years have been made several times,<ref name="thanh">{{cite news |url=http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12673 |title=Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep | vauthors = Thao VP |work=Thanh Nien Daily |publisher=Vietnam National Youth Federation |access-date=26 May 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080513061843/http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12673 |archive-date = 13 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pravdareport.com/news/society/sex/15-01-2005/60995-0/|title=Ukrainian man has been lacking sleep for 20 years|access-date=5 October 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005214445/http://www.pravdareport.com/news/society/sex/15-01-2005/60995-0/|archive-date=5 October 2016|date=15 January 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7191766&page=4 | vauthors = Childs D |title=11 Baffling Medical Conditions |at=The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep |date=30 March 2009 |work=[[ABC News]] }}</ref> but none are scientifically verified.<ref>{{cite news |title=Matters of dispute – Sleepless in Ukraine |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=10 February 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/feb/10/features11.g2 |access-date=11 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304011755/http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/feb/10/features11.g2 |archive-date=4 March 2014  }}</ref> Claims of partial sleep deprivation are better documented. For example, Rhett Lamb of [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], was initially reported to not sleep at all but actually had a rare condition permitting him to sleep only one to two hours per day in the first three years of his life. He had a rare abnormality called an [[Arnold–Chiari malformation]], where [[brain tissue]] protrudes into the spinal canal and the skull puts pressure on the protruding part of the brain. The boy was operated on at [[All Children's Hospital]] in St. Petersburg in May 2008. Two days after surgery, he slept through the night.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/05/16/boy-3-sleeps-for-first-time-after-experimental-surgery.html|title=Boy, 3, Sleeps for First Time After Experimental Surgery|date=16 May 2008|publisher=FoxNews.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005204927/http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/05/16/boy-3-sleeps-for-first-time-after-experimental-surgery.html|archive-date=5 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=6711810&page=1 |title=Mystery of Sleepless Boy Solved: Boy Who Couldn't Sleep Undergoes Risky, Life-Changing Operation |work=[[ABC News]]| vauthors = Canning A |date=23 January 2009}}</ref>

French sleep expert [[Michel Jouvet]] and his team reported the case of a patient who was quasi-sleep-deprived for four months, as confirmed by repeated [[polygraph]]ic recordings showing less than 30 minutes (of [[NREM sleep|stage-1 sleep]]) per night, a condition they named "agrypnia". The 27-year-old man had [[Morvan's syndrome|Morvan's fibrillary chorea]], a rare disease that leads to involuntary movements, and in this particular case, extreme [[insomnia]]. The researchers found that treatment with [[5-HTP]] restored almost normal sleep stages. However, some months after this recovery, the patient died during a relapse that was unresponsive to 5-HTP. The cause of death was pulmonary edema. Despite the extreme insomnia, psychological investigation showed no sign of cognitive deficits, except for some [[hallucination]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fischer-Perroudon C, Mouret J, Jouvet M | title = [Case of agrypnia (4 months without sleep) in Morvan's disease. Favorable action of 5-hydroxytryptophan] | journal = Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology | volume = 36 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–18 | date = January 1974 | pmid = 4128428 | doi = 10.1016/0013-4694(74)90132-1 | url = http://sommeil.univ-lyon1.fr/articles/jouvet/ecn_74/print.php | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110130132421/http://sommeil.univ-lyon1.fr/articles/jouvet/ecn_74/print.php | archive-date = 30 January 2011 }}</ref>

[[Fatal insomnia]] is a neurodegenerative disease that eventually results in a complete inability to go past [[Sleep#NREM 1|stage 1 of NREM sleep]]. In addition to insomnia, patients may experience panic attacks, paranoia, phobias, hallucinations, rapid weight loss, and [[dementia]]. Death usually occurs between 7 and 36 months from onset.