I’m not entirely sure, but it took place over a week long military exercise. We setup SHORAD missile defenses at night too act as OPFOR for the Air Force, and then moved positions during the day. It was my first long distance extended training mission as an NCO so I was making sure I did everything I was instructed to do. Stay in constant radio contact, scan the skies, id targets, shoot move and communicate. My gunner started hallucinating by the 3rd or maybe 4th day. I don’t have any memories of sleeping that entire week, but I assume I must have been dozing off constantly. We rarely saw anyone else that week and just spent the days wandering the desert alone in some sort hazy dreamlike state. I should have made sure we slept more. It was a good lesson…“Hey Srgt., did you just see a Puerto Rican woman with a red balloon? Wait, did you just say yes!?”

About two days.

I woke up, went to school (around 7am). My mom and grandma were in vacation, so I was left with my dad. My “job” was to feed the cats at my grandma’s place. Took a different bus so I could get to her. Fed the cats, and waited for my dad to come get me.

And waited. And waited. And waited.

He never came. I stayed up all night thinking he’d come back. My friend made a post on social media (I wanna say Xanga?), so I knew she was awake and I called and asked if her dad could come get me and drop me off at home.

Once home I brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, and was back on the bus. Came back and he was home, telling me there was a massive traffic jam that kept him locked in the road all night. He asked why I didn’t just stay home.

There was no traffic jam.

Something approaching 48 hours, during college, to finish some assignments. It never works.

I can’t sleep on planes. Or trains. Or buses. Or really anywhere there’s stuff going by, people all around me, and not enough space to lay flat.

This makes international travel problematic. The last time I went to Europe I was up for about 27 hours straight, from the time I woke up in my house to the time I went to sleep in the hotel.

30 hours. Electrical substation upgrades. Back in the '80’s, when I was young.

After this recent election I didn’t sleep for 5 days. Just seemed like one really long day that eventually seemed like one really long dream. My sleep schedule is still messed up but I am sleeping again. Unfortunately I’m not waking up from this nightmare.

8 days.

I was in my early 20’s and invincible and spent a week one summer bouncing about between clubs, house parties and outdoor raves, and taking a metric fuck ton of party drugs and psychedelics.

The week started with some really good exctasy at a nightclub (like REALLY good, the whole smoking area was basically a giant cuddle puddle in the photos), and then there was a lot of speed and drone/mkat at the various after parties.

We had rooftop ‘picnics’ (blankets, cushions, and drugs) watching stars and sunrises and having lots of beautiful, silly, fun moments at several different houses, and more picnics were had in the following days in gardens and one place had a pool.

There were outfit changes and showers at various points of amphetamine induced efficiency too. I lost my favourite tshirt (Cult, Love album) somewhere and we were all swapping/sharing clothes at one point for photos. (It probably found a good home where ever it ended up though and it’s part of party karma for all the various clothes I lost and acquired that year)

Mid week, someone came round selling DMT and I’m pretty sure I induced some kind of REM state by smoking a piece (see below if you want to know what that was like). I did a bunch of ketamine too after it wore off, so that probably also really helped, what with the semi-lucid visuals that induces.

On the 8th day, (I was the last original survivor of the core group, most had dropped off earlier in the week and come back though) I was feeling relatively fine all things considered, but admittedly by this point I had a music and various song lyrics looping in my head near continuously and in a more intense way than I normally do.

Then I thoughtlessly took a tab of acid at a night club we were at (wrong environment completely for me to take acid), and very quickly stopped having fun.

I remember feeling the lsd in my jaw and then feeling very paradoxically sober and overwhelmed (go autism, go) as everything was now too loud and people, and flashing lights and humidity.

I borrowed a friend’s keys and took the night bus back to their place as it was closest, and I remember really struggling to get the key to work in the lock of their house door. It had a pull push motion required to get the latches to flip while turning and I could not figure it out. Probably only took a few minutes but it felt like forever.

Eventually I think muscle memory kicked in and I got it. I woke up like 10 hours later as my friends were getting back from another club, for another afterparty at their house, and I went home.

That was a very fun year for me, and that week of awake is legendary, even if I do say so myself.

DMT, for anyone wondering what it’s like, was absolutely fucking incredible.

You get this like little clear sheet of resin that you have to smoke in a weed pipe, covered with and on a bed of ash, so as not to burn it.

Inhale deeply, hold it in for as long as you can, and then lie flat back and close your eyes to exhale.

The visual fractals upon the exhale are intense, eyes open or closed, you are floating in the matrix with them. It’s sorta like what you see when you push on your eyelids, but more fluid and sacred feeling, and your whole body feels like it is floating. It feels like this trippy visual part lasts hours too, but in reality it’s less than a minute.

You also get this beautiful feeling of pure oneness with everything and safety, and this grounded inner calm that lasts for weeks afterwards.

Nearly 80 hours. This was around 12 years ago, I had a full time job and was on a volunteer fire department. I would get off work and immediately get toned out for a fire or back to back medical calls until my shift the next day. It took copious amounts of caffeine to keep going, and eventually I just crashed out from exhaustion. 0/10 don’t recommend.

About 36 hours. Borded on the plane for Mauritius (afternoon) , after 12 hours of flight, landed there, was told I need a visa to get in. Borded on exactly the same plane , flew 12 hours back. 2/10 wouldn’t recommend. Still gets 2 points for psychodelic effects of tiredness

I was in labor for 40 hours, so probably that. Then at the end of it I had a baby that didn’t sleep either.

Not very long. About one and a half nights. Went to a rave where I stayed up all night and day then went straight to a metal festival next night. Tried to drive after to go back to my far away home but couldn’t drive safely because my eyes couldn’t see the road very well. I was exhausted and had to nap for a few hours mid trip.

As a teenager I stayed up for 36 hours playing warcraft3 online.

In university I once spent 48 hours finishing a project. Afterwards I remember trying to count coins to get milk. After 4 or 5 unsuccessful counts my girlfriend at the time went and got milk while I slept for nearly 20 hours.

Three days. I just wasn’t tired. The extra free time was great but I was getting worried.

Years before that I was awake for 36 hours. This didn’t end well, which is why the more recent episode was starting to worry me. I was coasting down a hill on a bicycle and fell asleep. I nodded off just long enough to lose my balance. 3 stitches in my head ( I still have the bump as a reminder ), left knee swollen like a football, lots of roadrash.

I’m very glad I didn’t have a drivers’ license at the time as this could have been much worse.

Probably 36 hours, I worked alternating 12h shifts in an irregular schedule, I had worked a night shift, and before I left, my teamleader pulled me aside for a talk about my performance not being good enough.

That made it impossible to sleep and I spent my time cleaning my apartment until I got back to work in the evening again.

At the end of my second shift I took a few calls from Australia and as I am doing my best to support them I can feel myself starting to fall asleep in the middle of speaking.

I don’t recommend staying awake for 36h straight.

Oh, and teamleader?

Don’t have these talks when the person is between two night shifts, the bright days already make it harder to sleep!