In 2007, 42-year-old Englishman Tony Wright from Penzance (UK) tried to set a wakefulness record - he did not sleep for 266 hours (more than 11 days in a row), from May 14 to 25. But Wright’s record was not included in the Guinness Book of Records: due to harm to health, this category had by that time been excluded from the collection by the organizers. The previous wakefulness record was officially registered by 17-year-old Randy Gardner from San Diego (California) back in 1963. He also did not sleep for 11 days in a row, but two hours less - 264 hours.
What happened to Randy while he was awake? According to him, at first he felt very tired and irritable. From the fifth day he developed syndromes that are typical of dementia. He then began to experience hallucinations and paranoia. He believed that the road sign was a person, and also believed that the radio station presenter wanted to kill him. Then Randy’s motor functions began to decline, finger tremors appeared, his speech became slurred, the student could not complete the simplest mathematical problems, and he simply forgot what the task actually was. Randy finally fell asleep, slept for 14 hours, stayed awake for another day, then fell asleep for another 8 hours, and the normal sleep cycle continued uninterrupted after that.
DO WITHOUT FOOD FOR 44 DAYS, WITHOUT WATER - 7 DAYS...
Famous illusionist David Blaine spent 44 days in a transparent plastic box hanging from the Tower of London in 2003 in London. He did not eat, but only drank water, without any added nutrients. During the stunt, Blaine lost almost a third of his weight, dropping from 96 to 70.5 kg. It took him five days to regain his strength under the supervision of doctors, for whom his stunt became a valuable medical experiment.
The theory was that death from starvation could occur when the body was deprived of fat, protein and carbohydrates, says Professor Jeremy Powell-Tuck, one of the UK's leading nutritionists. - But Blaine's experiment showed that this is not so. For the breakdown and absorption of fats in the human body, as a rule, there is not a sufficient amount of water-soluble vitamins, such as B1 and B2. Therefore, fats accumulate in excess. Moreover, in such excess that a person can die of hunger, but at the same time remain, figuratively speaking, “with fat.”
According to experts, with large excess fats a person can go without food for 70 days.
The longest period of human fasting was recorded in 1981. Irishman Kieran Doherty, who decided to set a record, lasted 73 days without food, but soon died.
If starving people receive water and vitamins, they can survive for almost a year without food.
This diet was fashionable 30 years ago, recalls Professor Powell-Tuck.
With vitamins, but without water, survival time decreases sharply - from several days to a week.
It depends on the rate of water loss, explains Michael Soka, a research scientist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts. - Without water, the blood volume in your body drops, and so does your blood pressure. The blood becomes thick and viscous, making it more difficult for the heart to pump it throughout the body, so the heart rate increases. Even in a cool environment, a person's life without water will not last more than a week.
David Blaine didn't breathe or eat, but he survived!
.jpg)
AND WITHOUT AIR - 17 MINUTES
If you have tried to hold your breath while inhaling or exhaling, you are probably convinced that you can do without air for two or three minutes at best. True, this time can be increased if, before holding your breath, you breathe deeply and often, especially with pure oxygen.
The same American magician David Blaine, who did not eat for 44 days, broke the world record for holding his breath in May 2008. The illusionist spent 17 minutes 4 seconds underwater without breathing. The previous record of 16 minutes 32 seconds was set earlier that year in Switzerland by Peter Kolat. New record holder Blaine admitted his heart beat was irregular at the end of the stunt. Therefore, he was unable to stay underwater for 23 minutes, as he had originally planned.
And if you believe the report of the English travel doctor Gorer Geoffrey, then some divers from the Wolf tribe in Senegal are able to stay under water for up to half an hour. They are even called water people.
REMEMBER 67,890 DIGITS
Remembering an 11-digit phone number is quite difficult for most of us. But 24-year-old Chinese graduate student Lu Chao, in almost a day - 24 hours and 4 minutes - accurately named the number pi from memory to the 67,890th decimal place. And with this achievement he entered the Guinness Book of Records.
Lü Chao recited all the digits of pi for 24 hours.
Scientist Thomas Landauer from Bell Laboratory (USA) measured the functional capacity of human memory. And he found out that the speed of memorization in a person under any circumstances and in any state is two bits per second. Over the course of a lifetime, a person is able to remember from one to two gigabytes of information (giga - 10 to the 9th power), which significantly exceeds the memory of a conventional computer.
Experts have calculated: someone who decides to train their memory and starts memorizing numbers at age 20, spending 12 hours a day on it, will be able to remember about 8,760,000 numbers by their 70th birthday. That is, he will break Lü Chao’s record by more than 100 times.
WITHSTAND A MAXIMUM ACCELERATION OF 48 g
While riding a roller coaster, many of us begin to experience nausea, dizziness, and squeezing of the temples. And these are just “childish” overloads of up to 5g (g is the acceleration of free fall). What is g? All objects on our planet are attracted towards the center of the Earth with an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second. This means that in the first second the falling object gains a speed of 9.8 meters per second and then accelerates by the same amount each subsequent second. We experience this as gravity, which is why an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second is referred to as one unit of gravity, or 1 g.
The fastest man on the planet is John Stapp.
Perhaps the strongest accelerations we experience are when driving in cars. A normal car under emergency braking will cause you to experience about 1g of acceleration directed forward relative to you. Even a powerful car, in first gear and with the pedal to the floor, rarely reaches 0.7g acceleration. Overloads on special centrifuges for pilot training can reach up to 15 g. What can you say about a person who had to endure a load almost three times greater?
On June 1, 1951, US Air Force Colonel John Paul Stapp boarded a jet sled positioned at the top of a 2,000-foot (610-meter) track for acceleration and braking. After a few seconds, the rocket accelerator rushed him almost to the end of the path - to the point where the braking began. For a brief moment, Stapp was hit by an overload 48 times stronger than normal Earth gravity, or, in other words, 48g. Since then, the colonel, who played the role of a volunteer in the experiment he himself organized, has become known as “the fastest man on the planet.” He lived to old age and died in 1999 at the age of 89.
LIFT 457.5 KILOGRAMS FROM THE FLOOR
British weightlifter Andy Bolton deadlifted - on straight legs from floor to hip - 1010 pounds - 457.5 kilograms. American Zhenya Rychlyak squeezed out the same amount while lying on his back. The record for lifting the barbell overhead is 263.5 kilograms.
People like Bolton and Rychlyak are perhaps five or six times stronger than the average person, who can lift about 100 pounds overhead, says Dan Wathen, a fitness trainer at Youngstown State University in Ohio.
Andy Bolton doesn't need help lifting a barbell weighing almost half a ton.
The body has natural braking mechanisms designed to hold us back so we don't hurt ourselves by trying to lift a load that's too heavy. These mechanisms control the firing of a certain number of muscle fibers at any given time. Weightlifters have learned to suppress these mechanisms, which gives them the opportunity to use a larger proportion of potential muscles when lifting the barbell.
It seems that people have either already reached or are very close to the limit of their strength capabilities, says sports physician Todd Schroeder. - If you look at the statistics of world achievements, there is no growth. Even for those athletes who take anabolic steroids. And there are no reserves for further growth.
Prepared by: Sergey Koval
Illustration copyright iStock
In December 1963, two American high school students decided to investigate how long a person could stand without sleep. Their experiment helped scientists understand what's going on inside our tired brains.
America, late 1963... The Beach Boys are singing on the radio, the United States is slowly being drawn into the Vietnam War, schoolchildren are on Christmas break, and two teenagers are planning an experience that will captivate the attention of the entire nation.
The experiment ended on January 8, 1964: 17-year-old Randy Gardner managed to spend 11 days and 25 minutes without sleep.
Bruce McAllister, one of two high school students who came up with the idea, now says the project was born out of a need to do some scientific research.
When you're 17, creativity is in full swing, helped by the self-confidence that comes with that age. Bruce and his friend Randy decided that they would break the world record, which at that time belonged to a DJ from Honolulu (he spent 260 hours without sleep, that is, a little less than 11 days).
“We initially planned to study how sleep deprivation affected the body's psychic abilities,” explains McAllister. “When we realized that we could not do this, we decided to find out what effect sleep deprivation had on mental abilities and on performance on the basketball court . That's all we could come up with."
Illustration copyright iStock Image caption At the time, it was believed that sleep deprivation itself could lead to death.They flipped a coin to decide who would be the test subject, and to McAllister's relief, the honor went to his friend. But the naivety of the two friends did not stop there.
“We were idiots, two young idiots,” he says. “I also tried to stay awake to follow the progress of the experiment ... And after three sleepless nights, I suddenly found myself waking up against the wall on which I was trying to write my notes - right on the wall ".
Bruce and Randy realized that they needed a third, and invited another friend of theirs, Joe Marciano. And soon a professional, sleep researcher William Dement from Stanford University, got involved in the matter.
At that time I was perhaps the only person on our planet conducting research in this area William Dement, scientist
Dement is now a professor, one of the world's leading experts, but in 1964 he was taking only the first steps in a new scientific field for humanity - sleep research.
He read about the experiment of two schoolchildren in the local San Diego newspaper and immediately decided to take part in it (which Randy Gardner's parents were incredibly happy about).
“At the time, I was probably the only person on the planet doing research in this area,” says Dement.
"Randy's parents were very worried that the experiment would harm him. Because at the time they didn't know what long-term sleep deprivation would lead to - possibly death."
Tony Wright is a Briton from the English county of Cornwall, at the time of his record he was 42 years old. In 2007, he decided to break the Guinness Book of Records record for continuous wakefulness, set in 1964 by American Randy Gardner. So, Randy managed to stay awake for 264 hours.
Tony Wright was very optimistic - after eleven long days and nights of wakefulness, he added a couple of hours to Gardner's record and stretched out on his bed with a sense of accomplishment.
Alas, representatives of the Guinness Book greatly disappointed him - it turns out that such experiments on the human body were considered harmful, and the famous Guinness Book refused to register them in the future. Thus, Tony Wright, who lay awake for 11 days and nights, alas, never received the coveted certificate.
However, Tony himself, as well as everyone who helped him, know that, although not recorded, he still set a record - 266 hours without sleep.
To fall asleep, Tony, who was under surveillance all this time, drank a lot of tea, played billiards, and also wrote on his Internet blog.
A diet of raw foods also helped him, and the most difficult thing for Tony was not the lack of sleep, but the need to stay in the same room all the time.
However, when the clock ticked the cherished 266 hours, he was still cheerful and looked quite happy.
And then Tony Wright learned two bad news at once - in addition to the refusal from the Guinness Book, he was quite annoyed by rumors about a certain person named Toimi Soini from Finland (Hamina, Finland), who had already broken the existing Guinness record once. So, the cheerful Finn managed to last 276 hours without sleep, which quite seriously, by as much as 10 hours, beats Tony’s own record.
Best of the day
The news about the Finnish record holder turned out to be almost a bigger blow for Tony than the inability to receive a certificate. The surprising thing was that this information was not particularly publicized anywhere, and, going to his record, Tony did not know at all about such a formidable rival from Finland.
Regardless, 266 hours without sleep is a powerful result. Tony said then that after 70 hours without sleep, his eyes simply refused to see, and he had to put on glasses to use the computer.
In general, it was not for nothing that the Guinness Book refused to register records for continuous wakefulness - no matter what the “sleepless” record holders say, such experiments are pretty bad for your health. Depression, dizziness, hallucinations, irritability, nausea and even memory loss are just some of the negative effects that lie in wait for record hunters.
In late 1963, The Beach Boys are playing on the radio in America, the United States is gradually being drawn into the Vietnam War, high school students are on Christmas break, and two teenagers are planning an experiment that will attract the attention of the whole country.
The experiment ended on January 8, 1964: 17-year-old Randy Gardner spent 11 days and 25 minutes without sleep. Bruce McAllister, one of the two high school students who created the experiment, said that this project was invented out of a simple need to conduct at least some kind of scientific experiment. With the creativity and fearlessness of adolescence, Bruce and Randy set out to break the wake record held by a Honolulu DJ at the time. He hasn't slept for 260 hours.
“We initially wanted to explore how insomnia affects paranormal abilities. Then we realized we couldn't do it, so we decided to find out how lack of sleep affects cognitive ability and performance on the basketball court,” McAllister said.
To find out who would be the guinea pig, the guys tossed a coin. And, fortunately for Bruce, this fate befell Randy.
“We were idiots. I stayed up too, keeping an eye on Randy. And after three sleepless nights, I woke up writing notes directly on the wall,” McAllister said.
The teenagers realized they needed a third person and asked friend Joe Marciano for help. And later they were joined by a professional sleep researcher William Dement from Stanford University.
“I was probably the only person on earth who was doing sleep research at that time,” said William Dement.
Now a professor, Dement was taking his first steps in the still new field of sleep in 1964. He read about the schoolchildren's experiment in a San Diego newspaper and decided to help them, to the delight of Randy's parents.
“Randy's parents were very concerned that the experiment might harm him. Because back then they didn’t know whether lack of sleep would lead to death.”
McAllister claimed that their experiment was not affected by the chemicals.
“Randy drank a little cola sometimes, but there was no talk of Dexedrine, Benzedrine or other psychostimulants.”
By the time Dement arrived in San Diego, the experiment had already lasted several days, and Randy was optimistic. However, the further the experiment went, the more unexpected results emerged. Randy was periodically tested for his ability to taste and smell and distinguish sounds, and after some time he began to notice abnormalities. McAllister recalled that Randy began to say, “Don’t make me smell this, I can’t stand the smell.” Surprisingly, his basketball skills improved, although this could be attributed to the fact that he spent a lot of time on the court to avoid sleep.
“He was in good physical shape. We made him play basketball or took him bowling. If he had closed his eyes, he would have fallen asleep immediately,” Dement said.
As the experiment continued, media attention to it gained momentum. At one point, the experiment became the third most important in the American press - after the assassination of Kennedy and the arrival of The Beatles. True, according to McAllister, most often the experiment was treated as a prank among schoolchildren. But the participants themselves were serious. Eventually, after 264 hours without sleep, the record was broken and the experiment ended. But instead of letting Randy get a good night's sleep, he was taken to a naval hospital to study his brain function.
“He slept for 14 hours, which is not surprising, and woke up because he wanted to go to the toilet. During the first night, his REM sleep lasted a very long time. Then it gradually began to decrease and became normal,” McAllister said.
“And then he got up and went to school. It was amazing,” Dement added.
The results of the study from the hospital were sent to an Arizona research center. It was concluded that Randy's brain was constantly drifting in and out of sleep. Some parts of the brain were asleep, others were awake.
“He was far from the first person who did not sleep more than one night. Apparently, the human brain, in the process of evolution, has learned to cope with this by giving certain areas a rest. This explains why nothing bad happened to him,” McAllister said.
Many people tried to break this record, but the Guinness Book of Records refused to register these attempts, believing that it could be dangerous to health.
11 days without sleep seemed to have no effect on Randy’s well-being. Although he later said that he suffered from insomnia for several years. Immediately after the experiment, the schoolchildren held a press conference. The guy, who had not slept for 11 days, managed to philosophize on the topic of experience.
“This is a victory of the spirit over the body,” he said.
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with
Many of us often wonder what will happen to a person if we don’t sleep at all, or at least for some relatively long time. Study, work, household chores - all this can take away sleep or make you think about how to sleep less in order to get everything done. But there is an experiment that was conducted in 1963–1964 that can answer all the questions.
website talks about how the experiment took place and how a person felt who had not slept for almost two weeks.
Randy Gardner - a 17-year-old student who became the very person who spent no sleep 11 days and 24 minutes(December 28, 1963 – January 8, 1964). However, Randy did not use any stimulants to help him stay awake.
Day 1
Gardner woke up at 6 am and was absolutely ready for the upcoming experiment.
Day 2
Already in this short period of time, the lack of sleep began to make itself felt: Randy became hard to focus on things. On this day, touching objects, he tried to understand what it was with just one touch.
The most difficult part of the experiment was can't sleep at night. To prevent this from happening, Randy Gardner was helped by his school friends and Dr. Dement. To keep him awake, they all went on short car trips together, went to a donut shop, listened to music, played basketball and paintball. When Randy went to the toilet, everyone who was near him at that moment talked to him through the door to make sure that he did not fall asleep. The only thing the entire group didn't do to keep Gardner awake was I didn't use drugs or even caffeine.
Day 3
Approaching day 3 of being awake, Randy became moody and lost the opportunity to repeat the simplest tongue twister.
Day 4
On the 4th day of the experiment at Gardner hallucinations started. It seemed to him that he was a different person - Paul Lowe, an American football player. At the same time, the football player was distinguished by his parameters (height 1.83 m and weight 91 kg) and was also African-American, while Randy at that time was an ordinary 17-year-old white guy weighing 59 kg.
Last week of experiment
The more days Randy spent without sleep, the more often he experienced dizziness and hallucinations. One day he saw the wall dissolve and turn into a forest path. Also continued to appear speech disorders. Lack of sleep meant that Gardner could not even remember what he had said just a minute ago. His parents were concerned about this condition, so they insisted on medical examination in a military hospital. Survey did not reveal any physical abnormalities.
Randy Gardner after the experiment
At 2 a.m. on January 8, 1964, it was installed new record on that moment. After 4 hours of celebration and answering calls from reporters, Randy Gardner was taken to the naval hospital, where, after a neurological examination, he fell into a deep sleep. He woke up 14 hours and 40 minutes later, feeling cheerful and restored.
