Many had to stay awake for a whole day, or even more. The reasons can be different, whether it is preparing for an exam, an awakened baby, urgent work, or a desire to relax and have fun. But the lack of sleep is certainly reflected in health and entails certain consequences.
One day
If you do not sleep for one day, then you should not expect severe damage to health. Such a failure of the regime threatens with drowsiness the next day and a feeling of fatigue. Lack of vivacity will certainly affect the appearance: gray face, red eyes and the formation of bags under them, chills are also possible.
In this case, you can try to ward off sleep and cheer up a little thanks to a cup of coffee, but nevertheless, by the middle of the next day, you will want to sleep again, and there is also a possibility of involuntarily dozing off, even while at work, at the university or on public transport. Attempts to do business will be ineffective, as distraction, inattention, and complications with concentration appear.
Two days
After two days without sleep, the state of the body worsens. At this stage, a person is not only distracted, not concentrated and drowsy, but in addition is prone to a decrease in intellectual abilities, impaired coordination of movements and a depletion of vocabulary.
Internal organs also suffer, with the main blow falling on the digestive system. A person may feel the urge to nausea and heartburn. In this case, the appetite only increases, there is a desire to eat something fatty or salty.
Immunity is weakened, which increases the risk of infection several times.
As for the desire to sleep, it disappears. This lack of sleep forces the body to release hormones that are responsible for wakefulness. In such a situation, a person is deprived of the opportunity to fall asleep, which leads to insomnia.
Three days
After three days of wakefulness, the general condition of the body remains practically the same as after two days of sleep deprivation. However, all the complications experienced are exacerbated. Thus, an increase in coordination impairment, progressive speech simplification, and visual impairment can be observed. The exhausted nervous system will cause the appearance of a nervous tic.
The difficulties that have arisen in the digestive system will remain, and the appetite will not only decrease, but will disappear altogether. The person will continue to be beaten by chills, from which neither blankets nor a hot bath will save.
Four to five days
When four to five days have passed without sleep, memory lapses begin to appear, the brain will periodically shut down. A person can catch himself thinking that he has forgotten where he was going, not notice that he missed his stop, and, in principle, not understand how he ended up where he is.
It is quite possible the appearance of hallucinations, both visual and auditory. A person is periodically overtaken by panic attacks, accompanied by attacks of fear, rapid pulse and cold sweat. Hand tremors appear.
The condition of the internal organs worsens: their functions are disrupted, the heart begins to prick, and the general immunity weakens even more. The negative consequences also affect the person’s appearance – he looks ten or even more years older.
A week or more
If the number of days without sleep has reached a whole week, then the person’s condition becomes critical. Strong realistic hallucinations begin to haunt him, paranoia appears, speech turns into incoherent slurred delirium. Signs of developing Alzheimer’s disease are sometimes recorded.
When insomnia lasts more than seven days, there is a risk of death. But much is decided by the individual characteristics of people, thanks to which there are those who have crossed the weekly line without sleep and survived.