Students are typically amazed to hear about people who try to break records for sleep deprivation, including Peter Tripp in 1959 (8 days plus), Randy Gardner in 1964 (11 days plus) and Robert McDonald in 1980 (18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes). Gardner’s record was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records. However, Guiness no longer maintains this category due to health concerns.

Cornish writer/researcher Tony Wright set out to beat Gardner’s record (I’m not sure he knew about McDonald) in a very public way. Wright stayed at the Studio Bar in Penzance, under the careful surveillance of a webcam and television cameras. To stay awake, Wright played pool, wrote in his blog, and drank tea.

Wright has an interesting, albeit scientifically challenged, approach to sleep deprivation. He used a “Stone Age” diet of raw foods, which he claims allows him to switch from one side of the brain to the other. Okay, we know dolphins and whales can “sleep” with one hemisphere at a time (their breathing issues are somewhat different than our land-based ones), but people? Also, hasn’t Tony heard about the use of fire by some rather early human ancestors?

Nonetheless, I’m not going to try beating this record any time soon, because I don’t do well on less than 7 or 8 hours of sleep. I’ll take Wright’s word for it when he says he saw “giggling dancing pixies and elves” after 5 days of sleep deprivation.

We also do not recommend that you try this at home….Disruptions in sleep patterns are common among people with mood disorders, and perhaps may exacerbate existing mood disorders. There is also the issue of “fatal familial insomnia,” which true to its name is a fatal condition.


15 Comments

LaurenBabek · May 28, 2007 at 2:29 pm

After learning about sleep deprivation and its effects in class, I can’t even begin to comprehend why this man would set out to try and break Gardner’s record. And the “Stone Age” diet idea? That totally leaves me up in arms. Although irregular sleep patterns may interfere with mood disorders, I think Wright may have some other problem he is facing, ranging from either mental illnes or obession with self-deprication, to simply the need to meet a meaningless challenge that will only amount to fifteen minutes of fame. It’s a sad life.

lex · May 29, 2007 at 10:55 pm

Sounds like maybe the raw food was just a placebo so to speak. I doubt it actually did something within his biochemistry or anything of the sort, but further research will definitely be interesting to read. But hey, if it worked, good for him.

As for his motives, some people are just random. I have a couple friends who would do something rediculous with seemingly little to know rewards for it. He’s probably just a little different, thats all…

malathim · June 2, 2007 at 1:26 am

Wow, the stress people will put themselves through just for fame.

I was reading up on sleeping disorders and sleep hygiene and found out a lot of things I’ve been doing wrong. But in his case, some of the activities that were described were perfect for what was trying to be accomplished- staying awake.

ka_yu · June 3, 2007 at 1:49 am

I thought it was interesting how he was so sleep deprived that he wasn’t able to continue the blog.
I love his little stories of the Near Sleep Experiences. I can only imagine what he was thinking when he decided to take on this task and how painful those headaches musthave gotten. He didn’t seem all that prepared for what was going to happen during sleep deprivation.
Seeing how he was describing things from his blog, I’m guessing his whole plan to have one hemisphere sleep at a time didn’t work. It seems a bit ridiculous that he thought he would be able to.

alopez06 · June 4, 2007 at 11:47 am

Upon first hearing about the attempt of Wright to break the record I give him credit for trying to come up with some sort of dietary means of switching hemisphere use to stay awake, but maybe he would have been better off finding some sort of food that made him sick. Maybe because he believed in it, it helped him stay away longer, but the self torture of sleep deprivation with its psychological side effects may be enough to make us wonder if these people who try to break this record aren’t already a bit loopy and have an advantage that we people who love our sleep don’t have : )

noburns · June 4, 2007 at 9:26 pm

Anybody that tries to deprive themselves of sleep for anywhere near that amount of time has to be completely mental. However, his diet is intriguing. Do you think there is any way for our brains to mimic the sleep patterns of a dolphin brain? My guess is that we can never fully mimic the dophin brain. It seems too far fetched and more like science fiction than real neuroscience.

LindsayMeyer · June 5, 2007 at 11:22 am

I completely do not understand why anyone on earth would do this to themselves!! I can’t stand if I get any less than eight hours! With what we’ve been studying about sleep and how much the brain needs it, this just doesn’t make any sense to me. I think it’s very good that the Guinness Book of World Records banned this category so that no one else would have the desire (necessarily) to attempt this ludicrous act. It’s as bad as trying to see how long you can go without eating, or drinking water, or anything else that doesn’t make any sense to me! Hopefully no one out there is just doing this for fun now, and not even to get the record, because it’s only going to damage them!!

AMonique · June 5, 2007 at 7:36 pm

I can not imagine staying awake for that long, literally, I can not imagine that. On Grad night for my high school, we got to Disney land @ around 9:00 at night and we left the next morning @ like 5:00 or 6:00. The whole ride there and back I could not sleep. When we got back from Disney land it was probably just before 12:00 because all I remeber is having enough time to go home, change, and go straight to work. I was feeling so horrible at work( I was a receptionist at the time). I can remember slightly falling in and out of sleep and then my head snapping back and my eyes rolling. Looking back at the pictures from Disneyland at about 4:00 in the morning, I looked horrible, by face was all droopy and I looked horrible. Well getting to the point of my story, I was only sleep deprived for that short amount of time and was cranky and uncontrolably tired, so I can not even begin to imagine how those crazy men were feeling who where sleep deprived so long.

danieceloomis · June 5, 2007 at 8:56 pm

I think people who deprive themselves of sleep are insane. This is true because depriving yourself of sleep does make you insane! I find myself not able to fully function if i get less than 7 hours of sleep. What I find interesting though is that if I were to get 3 hours of sleep it’s easier for me to wake up than if somebody were to try to wake me up in my 7th or 8th hour of sleep. This could be due to slow wave sleep cycles versus REM sleep. I also wonder if any studies have been done on what if any permanent effects extreme sleep deprivation may cause such as in this case. I would be interested in following Tony Wright’s sleep patterns in the future and seeing if any of his SWS or REM was affected by this ludicrous experiment.

binelson · June 6, 2007 at 1:07 am

The fatal familial insomnia seems like a horrible way to die. I can’t even imagine. I read an article about an Italian family that had over 29 affected by the disorder over six generations. According to the article, it starts out with increasingly worsening insomnia until one point the person can’t sleep at all and eventually dies. Near the end, many people become mute. What is it about not sleeping/ having this disease that causes death? Is it your brain or body responding to the lack of sleep? Is it the disease itself that kills?

Luisa · June 8, 2007 at 9:16 am

Thank You for teaching us about the importance of sleep. As a college students, it’s hard to get good sleep. But since you talk in lecture about the benefits of sleep I try to sleep 7 hours. Thank You.

fionaphillips · June 8, 2007 at 11:24 am

The people who set these records seem insane. The benefits of a good night sleep are obvious. For people who consistently lack sufficient sleep, what are the long term effects? Possibly a shortened life? The results couldn’t be good years down the road.

Laura Freberg · June 10, 2007 at 11:24 am

Wow. This article sure generated a lot of responses. I guess all my nagging about how students should get enough sleep is sinking in? 🙂

Sleepless in Cornwall « EMONOME · May 29, 2007 at 6:29 am

[…] Sleepless in Cornwall 29 05 2007 Read about Tony Wright’s attempt to break the sleep deprivation record at Laura’s Blog. Wright maintained a diary since he started on this ‘quest’ on May 14, 2007. Read it here. […]

Laura’s Psychology Blog » What can sleep deprivation do? · February 19, 2008 at 6:19 pm

[…] My students are accustomed to my nagging them about the importance of getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night, something few do. At the same time, it only seems fair to tell them that our records for sleep deprivation are astonishing. Last May, we covered the saga of Tony Wright’s 266 hours of sleep deprivation (more than 11 days) that were chronicled on the BBC. […]

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