Stay Up For Three Days Straight

While few people plan to spend three days without sleep, sometimes work piles up and you'll need to push through. The suspected world record is 264 hours (11 days), completed by a California high school student in 1964. While he occasionally hallucinated toward the end, he was able to come through without any adverse long term effects. You won't need to go that long, but with a little bit of preparation and a regular schedule, you'll be able to stay away and push through to the end.

Steps

Preparing for Your Time Awake

1. Extend your sleep slightly. You'll want to bank a little bit of sleep beforehand, so don't be afraid to go to bed a little earlier or sleep in a bit in the days leading up to your time up.
2. Avoid caffeine. You'll be taking in plenty of caffeine as the days go by. If you use too much in the days leading up to your time, you'll build up a tolerance. You'll need to get even more to feel the effects.
3. Find things for yourself to do. You probably already have a good reason for staying up three days, so that will help. In the meantime, look for other activities that can help fill the time. The more your brain is engaged with something, even something like reading or watching television, the more likely you will be able to stay awake.
4. Stock up on food and drink. Regular food and drink can help keep you going during the day. Look for healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, along with caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea. You don't want to be caught running out of coffee during your three days.
5. Tell some friends. Sometimes it can be helpful to have someone there to talk and work with you. Alternatively, people will know you are trying to stay up, and hopefully will stay away and let you work.

Staying Awake for Three Days

1. Eat breakfast first. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a reason, and eating a good one can get you off to a strong start on your quest to stay up for 3 days. Make sure your breakfast has healthy foods like protein, whole grains, and maybe some fruit. Sugary cereals and large amounts of caffeine will only lead to a quick crash.
   • Do your best to keep to a regular schedule, which includes breakfast in the morning for each of your three days. This will help keep you on track for unavoidable regular parts of your day like going to work or class. Staying on schedule like this can also make it easier to get back to a regular schedule after finishing.
2. Drink caffeine throughout the day. You don't want to be mainlining espressos, but having regular caffeine breaks spaced throughout the day can keep you awake and alert. The recommended amount of caffeine for a single day is 400 milligrams, and one cup of coffee usually contains around 100 milligrams, so plan accordingly.
   • Wait for your first cup when you first wake up. You will be naturally groggy for the first 20 to 30 minutes after waking up, but some movement or a quick shower should be enough to move past it. Wait for your first cup until the middle of the day, or early afternoon, when you'll probably experience your first slump.
   • You may need to ramp up your intake as you get into the second and third day. By the end, you could be at a dose every 2-3 hours (which will get you well over 400 milligrams per day pretty quickly). That's fine, but make sure your portions remain at 100-150 milligrams. This will prevent you from overdosing on the caffeine, and avoiding the crash by taking too much.
   • This only works if you have a fairly normal caffeine intake in your daily life. If you are already consuming a lot of caffeine, the effects will be diminished, which will make it harder for you to use it to stay awake.
3. Eat light meals. Heavy meals will make you sluggish, and more likely to nod off, or relax enough to fall asleep. Whole grains, lean protein, and vegetables will keep you awake and energetic for several hours. Just keep your portions small.
4. Move around. Exercising and motion will help keep your brain moving and awake. Even if you are trying to finish an assignment for class or work, taking short breaks (maybe 10 minutes) to get up and walk around will help keep you on track to stay up. If you're looking for something a little more intense than a short walk, some sit-ups or pushups at your desk should do the trick as well. This doesn't need to be a full workout, just some movement to get the blood going and your energy back up.
   • At first, you'll want to exercise when you start to feel tired. As the days go by, try forcing yourself to take 10 minute workout breaks every half hour.
5. Keep the lights on. Your body is well tuned to respond to light, so keeping the lights on and your setting bright is a good way to trick your body into thinking it is daytime and you should be awake.
   • Natural light is better, so keep curtains open during the day if you can, and maybe even go outside.
6. Be prepared for slumps. Your body will not function at full capacity all day long, and there will be moments where your body will relax and you will want to go to sleep. If you start to feel these coming on, be prepared to combat them quickly with caffeine, cold air, or a shower to jolt you out of it. The effect won't last forever, but it can help if you start to slip, and get you back into a good working groove.
   • Your body will probably give you periods of higher energy around mid-morning (about 10:00 am) and early evening (6:00-7:00 pm). Save your most important tasks for these times. That way, if you start to feel slumps in the rest of your time awake, you'll be more willing to take a break for a shower or to make more coffee.
7. Avoid doing activities that require heavy concentration. During your time awake, you will experience periods called microsleep. This basically involves you sleeping for several seconds at a time, best described as "zoning out." While you may be able to operate during that time, it can be very dangerous to do things like driving or operating machinery that could put you in physical harm. You can't really plan when this microsleep takes place, so avoid doing activities that are potentially dangerous if you are not paying full attention.

Recovering From Your Three Days

1. Get some recovery sleep. Once you made it all the way to the end of your three days, you'll want to get some of that back. While there will definitely be some side effects to your having been awake for so long, a couple of days of regular sleep will get you back to normal.
   • You can take a short (15-20 minute) nap or two during the day if you start to feel groggy. Just be careful not to let them last, or else you'll throw off your schedule.
2. Maintain your strategic caffeine schedule. Binging on caffeine to stay awake through the day will only set you up for a crash, and ruin your regular schedule.
3. Keep your day clear. While you may not be able to avoid doing other work, it's best to limit what is next. You'll be groggy, and not at your best, so you should try to avoid doing something important afterward.
4. Stick to your regular schedule. Depending on when your three days are over, try to push through to your normal sleep time. This will help get your body back into a regular rhythm.

Tips

• Drink plenty of water. If your body is slightly dehydrated, you can get tired more quickly.
• Remember that staying up too long is not healthy, so try to avoid doing so too often.
• Splash some cold water on you're face every 30 minutes or so. If you decide to take showers, keep the water fairly cold as well to keep your body cool.

Related Articles

• Get out of Bed when You Really Can't
• Get Through the Day on Less Than Four Hours of Sleep
• Feel Less Sluggish and Tired After an All Nighter or Little Sleep

Sources and Citations

See also

• Know the Difference Between Sleepiness and Fatigue
• Sleep Naked
• Fall Asleep Fast
• Stop Drooling in Your Sleep
• Keep Someone from Falling Asleep
• Not Be Tired
• Be Nocturnal
• Condition Your Body to Need Less Sleep
• Induce Sleep Paralysis
• Sleep While Sitting Up

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