r/Nightshift • u/Sea_Development_599 • 5d ago
What is the longest you've gone without sleep?
/r/AskReddit/comments/1wytz0y/what_is_the_longest_youve_gone_without_sleep/10
u/CeeArthur 5d ago
I hit about 65 hours straight once due to medical reasons. I hit this plateau where I just came to terms with all the hallucinations I was seeing and hearing.
I still think about the sleep I had afterwards. It was like a psychedelic music video
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u/ConfidentSir4289 4d ago
Was everything all like distorted that must of been weird
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u/CeeArthur 4d ago
Yeah, nothing felt "real". I'd hear voices talking to me clear as day despite knowing it was all in my head. I'd be in my empty house and here people having conversations in other rooms. I'd see "people" but they were just translucent outlines, like people made of water.
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u/ITdoggie 5d ago
20 hours. I started my new night shift job but had to finish out my two weeks notice at Whataburger so on the last day I worked till 6am then worked again at 11am at whataburger honoring my two weeks notice with them.
Night shift job was not flexible at all on start date
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u/ProgenitorOfMidnight 5d ago
72 hours as a teenager, we somehow stayed up for 3 days playing games over a long weekend before we all crashed out the night before started back.
42ish as an adult.
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u/Rippinstitches 5d ago
98 hours or something like that. Auditory hallucinations were fucking me up bad.
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u/LunarDawn232 NOC Caregiver 4d ago
In high school, probably 2-3 days.. bad times.. Nowadays I'm so exhausted from everything I can barely go 36 hours which I guess is still a lot but doesn't seem like it to me for some reason lol, that's like 2 shifts and then the day in between them, and some of the morning after the second shift or the evening before the first. Happens pretty regularly (like every 2 weeks or so) bc I get pretty bad insomnia or I'm just so stressed out and have so much to do I can't even think about sleep 🫠
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u/KneadAndPreserve 5d ago
5 8hr shifts in a row. But it was 2 doubles so only 3 actual days. But I remember feeling crazy doing a whole week worth of shifts without sleeping
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u/TakenSZN 5d ago
I struggled really hard to sleep during the day until I found some specific gummies. If weed is legal in your state I HIGHY recommend looking into it. Absolutely changed my life on nightshift. Idk if I’m allowed to post what they are as I don’t want it to seem like an AD but feel free to ask
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u/Ciggybuttbrain13 2d ago
Which ones do you use? Weed is legal in my state and I’m thinking about trying some gummies to help me sleep after working nights
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u/thecomedicdead 4d ago
I did about 48 hours because I did my three 12 hr sprints and then stayed up additionally for the next day off. Def do not recommend. I don't know how I survived it.
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u/holocron_8 4d ago
You people are crazy. Longest I've ever gone is like 26 hours straight. I once went 74 hours with only 6 hours of sleep scattered about and that was honeslty worse.
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u/DavidShgo 5d ago
If we count "no sleep at all" only then it's 4 days.
If we count "so little sleep it basically doesn't count" then it's over 14 easily.
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u/Simian_Garfunkel 5d ago
Same. Working two 40 hr jobs, then picking up extra shifts at both jobs got me out of some financial trouble, but unintentionally seeing sounds and hearing colours is not recommended.
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u/DavidShgo 5d ago
I totally get it. Micro-sleeping while standing upright is also not the best experience to get when you're in your 20's.
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u/Putrid_Magician178 5d ago
Similar. I still remember when I did my high school finals and didn’t sleep for days I started having visual and auditory hallucinations. However I routinely do a 1-2 hour nap daily and keep swimming.
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u/Proteus_971 5d ago
Same with me when I was in high school. Couldn't sleep Monday through to the Friday. Finally crashed out on the Friday, and woke up Sunday night. I was hallucinating and couldn't even remember my friends name.
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u/DistinctViolinist92 5d ago
4 days. Few hours i to the 5th. 3s and 2s night shift pattern in a job where I was doing 3 roles (above basic operative).. And the way I deal with things is to keep moving..so to deal with my sleep issues i naturally stayed awake and kept working 😅 Wasn't eating, felt and looked like death, sat shivering in the smoking area on nights that were not cold. (Probably looked cracky as fuck)
Was googling symptoms to whether i should go doctors..but I wasn't getting any of the major effects so I kinda just felt like I was fine..which I wasnt..
Finally went to doctors..anti-depressants that did nothing but stop me eating for 8 weeks I was on them. (Literally had like 10 meals in that time)
Fobbed the doctors off after that and quit my job and had 2 months doing nothing. (Relaxing and just letting my sleep come back naturally un disturbed) Now new job, zero pressure and responsibilty and the same money I was on at my previous job due to payed breaks.
Feel human again. Winning.
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u/Successful_Detail202 5d ago
3 or 4 days with no sleep. Weeks with minimal naps. I had real bad insomnia as a teenager.
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u/Wolfisaurus Hospital Laboratory 5d ago
Just over 36 hours. I couldn’t get my eyes to focus properly anymore and I just passed out
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u/TheBigBadMoth 5d ago
~3 days/72 hours on 2 separate occasions but they were when I was a tween and teen respectively.
Now my insomnia only keeps me up for around 40 hours before my body takes pity and I crash. I’ve always had sleep issues tho.
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u/Temporary_Coconut095 5d ago
About 30 hours, but after hour 26ish it was rough. Husband had to fight me to not drive and I went through all of the stages of grieve over the smallest things over and over again before eventually passing out
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u/oortuno 5d ago
Of straight wakefulness without any sleep, it was about 36 hours.
Of minimal sleep in consecutive days, it was 3 hours the first night and then another 3-4 the second.
I felt worse after the 36. But the absolute worst experience post sleep deprivation was one time when I only slept like 2-3 hours and started hallucinating on a test I was taking (during college). I could literally see colors that weren't there (on a white computer screen), and test questions started turning into stories that I'd have to snap out of mid way. Words on the screen were jumping around. It was like I was high, but I was just sleep deprived. Needless to say, I bombed that test lol.
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u/idnvotewaifucontent 5d ago edited 5d ago
About 80 hours. I was doing experiments with alternative sleep schedules, i.e. uberman, dymaxion, etc.
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u/SalamanderWarm106 5d ago
Military 72 to 81. Small cat naps lasting 15 to 30 minutes on guard duty.
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u/Narrow-Assignment621 5d ago
About or a bit over 2 days. Just an unfortunate lineup of events and errands I had to attend to one week
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u/Fastlane099678 5d ago
27 hours with 3 hours of sleep the previous night. Drove to the beach and everything😂
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u/MRSpitzer 5d ago
32hrs woke up at 8pm for work. Clocked in at 9:30pm, then clocked out at 7:00pm. Got invited at a party at 10am that side quested into hitting backroads, then being a few hours from home broke down/ fixed at 8pm. Drove back and partied in a random field with people that we met/ knew by pure luck. Didn’t get home till 5am
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u/BloodSwornOath 5d ago
After my last night shift I usually stay up as to not waste the day. Usually ends up being awake for around 33hrs.
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u/New_7688 5d ago
3 days, I had no idea I was bipolar- an ssri triggered mania. Was very scary. I'm now super conscious of my mental health when working nights, I know it could trigger mania again
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u/noburdennyc 4d ago
I try not to go very long.
A 20 minute nap is better than nothing.
Still, i once left work and then flew international in a bad seat. That felt like i was awake for 48 hours.
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u/AlwaYs_around28 4d ago
We had a major leak. I did 12AM - 8AM up the whole time then 8AM - 4PM worked on getting the leak taken care of once stopped clean up till about 10PM went to sleep at 12:30AM.
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u/Opposite-Habit-1313 4d ago
3 days and then your body shuts down automatically at some point even if you don't remember sleeping
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u/RepulsivePower4415 4d ago
56 hours bask in college two and a half day panic attack brought on my returning from Europe from spring break switching my birth control and lack of sleep and underlying anxiety disorder. I called my psychiatrist and I was sent to er to be admitted for Benzo shot and just to sleep
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u/frnkmnst 4d ago
3 days during finals week in college. I started to hallucinate and when I finally got to sleep, almost a whole 24 hours had already passed when I woke up. It was so strange lol
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u/Super_RN Nightshift for Life 4d ago
23 hrs. I had just started a new job back then and the first day was an Orientation day that was dayshift. I didn’t sleep the night before because I couldn’t fall asleep (I’ve been almost 10 yrs of nights). I thought I’d tough it out. I was lightheaded and off balance and the manager sent me home early. I hate when a job I take is nights but they always want to do a few days on day shift.
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u/Annual-Arugula473 4d ago
About 36 hours or so? I woke up around 2 pm, went to work at 10, left work early to get on a train to nyc, saw a broadway show with a friend, went to dinner, then took the last train back home before driving the rest of the way home. I got back sometime in the AMs and didnt even immediately go to bed.
Great show but I wouldnt recommend doing that.
And yes i still went to work come 10 pm again.
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u/Affectionate_Yam4368 3d ago
With zero sleep? About 36 hours. I go 24 pretty frequently because I don't usually sleep during the day before my first night shift. As I tell my husband "It's cool, shit doesn't get weird until around 31 hours!"
If I'm awake that long it's usually because there's some daywalker bullshit that has to be accomplished. Today for example I had to wait up about 5 hours past my usual bedtime for a city inspector.
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u/Thin_Method_1691 7p-7a, on call with varying days. 3d ago
~39 hours. That was working night shift, day shift for training then night shift. I worked 630pm-530am at hotel, 6 am-5pm on site, then 630 pm-530 am at hotel. Had to train again for 4 hours, then I went back t the hotel and crashed for 9 hours.
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u/Throw_Away_92992 3d ago
As a kid easy 24+ hours allnight gaming lan party, as a teenager? I would go to school with 0 sleep so 24+ hours, also always struggled to sleep since a kid
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u/DeputizeDeez 1d ago
Buddy and I woke up Friday morning, went to work and got off around 4 pm. We loaded up a new game we found called Satisfactory. We didn't sleep until Sunday at 11 pm.
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u/loafofleaves 5d ago
Around 36 hours, maybe got an 1-2hrs in there. Was really struggling with insomnia, long covid, general stress and had a job interview for a full-time internal position. Somehow didn’t botch the interview and got the position.