Sleep Deprivation - How It Feels To Live Without Sleep

Hearing the word sleep deprivation really freaks people out because sleep is considered an important part of healthy living. But I want to test my adherence to sleepless nights for a continuous of 36 hours.

Sleep is an important asset of our body, without sleep our central processing unit "Brain" faces technical issues. These issues affects its memory power, speed and its capacity to hold data. In order to correct these technical issues, turn off the sleepless cycle and give it a rest of 7 to 8 hours.

Sleep deprivation is no fun intended. I am carrying out this experiment under my own risks. I am

highlighting this because sometimes sleep deprivation of 48 hours or more can lead to health risks such as:

• Hallucinations
• Anger
• Fatigue
• Pain in body
• Headache
• Lack of enthusiasm 

What Brought This Weird Idea?

Like everyday, I was hanging out with my friend and abruptly we started talking on sleep. We had different opinions. My friend thought, sleep deprivation is very common and students especially living a hostel life usually don't doze off for two or more days. I thought may be he is right, its just a waste of time. Usually if we have people around and engage in activities we can skip sleep without knowing it. But, suddenly I thought, to make it tough, I will consolidate myself to limited activities and limited area. And that's what I did. I didn't go anywhere and stick myself to a area about half a mile.

Why Am I Doing It?

I want to analyze and find out what really happens after a good amount of sleep deprivation. I have read a lot of articles on the same but physically experiencing it will surly give me something to analyze about sleep deprivation effects on my body and mind. 

The 36 Hours Phase

To start with, below is the first picture I took at 10:21 PM to notice changes in the face expressions. I will be uploading one picture, every hour after 10 PM.

I am alone, so its all selfie :D The photos are original with no edits, so if I scare you in anyway, well get scared :)

The first one, I think I am looking the usual way. Just a little tired because I just cleaned my room after a few days. It's a tough exercise, trust me :D

Activities So Far -

1. To start with, I cleaned the room as I think having a clean room and bed with clean bed-sheet is a desire to sleep more and confronting it will make my mind strong enough to resists to my usual habit of sleeping.

2. I am listening to songs which is my all-time favorite hobby. I think music holds an important aspect in changing one's mood. Let's see how far it affects my mood during this sleepless phase.

About the current weather - Its getting cold. There is a constant flow of cold winds. I am great fan of such a weather condition. Thank you God for this.

The Second Hour

This is my very first Youtube video. I am a little nervous as I have never done this before. You can notice changes in my voice and my expressions if any during this 36 hours of sleepless night through these videos.

I may not be entertaining but you can always leave your comments, I'll try to improvise.

The second hour seems to be okay. Just had to wear the jacket as its getting cold.

Facial expression - Better than previous.

Mood - Pleasant, not tired now.

Eyes - They are little sleepy as compared to the first.

Behavioral Change - I am having some trouble setting the video alignment, but somehow I managed to fix it so that it fits in the blog. Nothing much of a change, just normal.

Mind is clear having no extreme or vivid thoughts.

The Third Hour

This is the second video. So far I haven't taken any kind of caffeinated product and I'll try to avoid them as much as possible.

Well as the hours are going by, I am feeling better. This may be third hour, but I have been awake since morning so I am surprised that I am not that much sleepy as I used to be at this time of the day.

Eyes - A bit sleepy but better than second hour.

Mood - Okay.

Listening to It feel like home to me by Chantal Kreviazuk. You can listen to the song by clicking on it. 

Behavioral Change - None.

Thoughts - Many random thoughts have started to come up. Guess mind is getting upset about this event :D

 

 

The Fourth Hour 

The fourth hour has started and I feel little warm. This is the first sign of entering the sleepless night phase. If you have also undergone sleepless nights and observed anything special, do share it here. 

So far I am not experiencing any kind of changes neither physical nor mentally.

Eyes- Pupils are getting smaller :D

Behavioral Change - Getting irritated a little, losing patience with Youtube upload time.

Thoughts - More random thoughts are getting in the head. 

Music - Heartless By Kanye West

 

 

 

  

Fifth Hour 

I am feeling a little hungry and sleepy too. Now, its time to engage in something so that I do not fall asleep or let my negative thoughts take over me. I think I'll make Upma, a south Indian dish. Very easy to make and light to eat. I am not an expert but I make it good enough to eat :D

Well you can see that I have to keep my eyes focused because I am feeling sleepy at this moment.

Eyes - Sleepy again.

Mood - Mixed

Behavioral Change - Hungry, no desire for caffeinated drinks yet.

Thoughts - Complex and too many.

Music - Tamanche Pe Disco

 

 

  

Sixth Hour

Feeling a lot sleepy right now.

 

Constant thoughts are revolving in the head. Just finished making upma, hopefully it tastes good.

Mood - Tired & Sleepy

Behavioral Changes - Feeling an urge to go to bed. Hungry.

Eyes - Sleepy and quiet blinking.

Health Effect - The cold I had, has increased a little bit.

Weather - Freaking cold outside.

Song - Rabba from Fukrey.

Well looks like I am now an expert in making upma. This is the second time that it tasted very yummy and delicious. I think having a sleepless night improves your cooking skills :D. I wish someone would have joined me in this event, eating alone feels boring.

 

 

 

 

 

Seventh Hour

This hour is getting difficult as my eyes are tired, my leg are also showing signs of restless leg. The swings in mood are visible. I am listening to same song over and over again.

 

I think its well said that its difficult to stop sleep around 4 to 7 AM schedule.

Eyes - Sleeeeepy

Mood - Mixed

Behavioral Changes - Physical symptoms of not sleeping in usual time visible.

Pain - No

Emotions - Conflicting

Song - Kuriyan Ya Maape

 

 

Eighth Hour 

The feeling right now is not so good. I'd rather have a cup of tea.

I should have a cup of tea now.

Mood -Mixed...mostly sleepy.

Memory - Still good....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ninth And Tenth Hour 

After a long time, I witnessed one fine morning. I am usually not a morning person but the fresh air in the morning really works. The best thing is you don't have to face the traffic which rules the road everyday from 6 am till midnight.

I am glad that I have completed one night without a nap. At around 5:30 AM I was about to fall on the table but suddenly I pulled my strength and had a glass of water and carried on the journey.

Brain always tricks to give up hope, but so far I have managed not to.
The pictures below are taken this morning when I was out. I may not have the best look at this time as my eyes are popping out LOL..

Just to clear, it's the eleventh (11th) hour going on for the event but I am awake from almost 24 hours now. Yesterday, I woke up at around 7ish.

Mood - Pleasant

Behavioral Changes -No anxiety and restlessness, feeling better as the sun appeared.

The restless leg I had has gone away as I took a stroll outside. Having a cup of tea made the mood. Also, seeing the morning light has signaled the melatonin to stop its secretion. If you know, melatonin is a chemical reaction responsible for the activation of sleep in our body.

So far the journey seems absolutely fine. I hope to answer my own questions which I have in mind after the complete of 36 hour sleepless phase.

I am glad to have taken this step as it'll help me to understand the mechanism of sleep and its effect on brain.

Sleepless nights are like a drug or marijuana, which gives a feeling of being high. So if you are a drug or Ganja addict, experience this, may be it can help alleviate your tendency to depend on such a drug.

Right now the song played is Summertime Sadness.

I will release the next set of video at the night time because that's the difficult phase to get through.

I am getting bored so I uploaded another video :P Today's agenda is to drink a lot of water and other fluids to maintain proper oxygen levels in the body. 

 

Well its 20 hours now from the event and more than 29 hours from the actual time I was awake. I have analyzed 4 different changes from sleep deprivation during these 29 hours, these are:

1. Effect on diet
2. Effect on vision
3. Effect on hearing
4. Effect on attentiveness level 

I find these analysis great, as it gives me a picture what can go wrong, if I don't take enough sleep. These are simple observations and I think is applicable to most people when they are sleep deprived.

16 hours are left to complete and the main struggle starts after midnight, I hope I can make it and analyze more changes and bring it up to you to provide practical knowledge of sleep deprivation.

This is the first time I am making videos, so pardon my quality of language and video quality. I am not emphasizing to bring a splendid video but trying to be original. I hope you'll appreciate it.

Last but not the least, what I should have for dinner tonight? :D Let's see how sleep deprivation helps in this decision making.

 

24 Hours Completed

I am feeling tired and sleepy but I am hopeful that I'll complete the 36 hours of sleep deprivation.

If you have questions, please ask by sharing your comment.

The 25th Hour

Thoughts - Countless

Eyes - Wide Open

Emotions - Mixed

There are many thoughts flowing in the head. I am feeling emotional as well enjoying the time.

I thought it's going to be easy but to deceive one's sleep mechanism is tough.

Still I am cool and not having any kind of arrogant attitude which usually is a symptom of sleep deprivation.

1:22 AM - I am undergoing a tough time right now, I am feeling way too emotional and has started thinking about past events. They are just flashing right in front of my eyes. Also, one incident just happen, which I expected to be good this time did not improve. With sleep debt, every thought is turning into negative ideas. This is what I need to learn to stop attaching emotions with events. When I am awake for almost 26 hours right now, I wanted things to change. But its seem that sleep deprivation does not change the emotions with situations. So another aspect of sleep deprivation learned here.

29th Hour

Some personal experiences that I am encountering at the last stages of sleep deprivation experiment.

                              

 

I hope this stage clears away soon. The views expressed here are totally based on my self experience, do not misinterpret them in anyway.

30th Hour

My eyes are all ready to close :-D This is the most difficult phase to be awake.

Even closing my eyes for few seconds will send me into sleep mode, so trying my best to stay awake.

My thoughts are disapperaing, I think my brain has shifted its thought towards sleep.

Few more hours to go, I am quiet excited about this.

Few more hours to go.

Feeling quiet sleepy and tired.

The final words I have summarized in the video. This was my first experiment ever so if I made any kind of mistakes, please pardon me.

Take care all and have a good one.

After Sleep Deprivation And 8 Hours Of Sleep

After 36 hours of sleep debt, in fact it was about 44 hours of sleep deprivation, I had a sleep of 8 hours and feel more relaxed.

Do share your comments.