Randy Gardner sleep deprivation experiment

{{hatnote|For other people with the same name, see Randy Gardner (disambiguation)}}

{{infobox person

| name = Randy Gardner

| birth_date = {{bya|1946}}

| occupation = Record holder

| known = Longest time without sleep

}}

Randy Gardner (born {{circa|1946}}) is an American man from San Diego, California, who once held the record for the longest amount of time a human has gone without sleep. Between December 1963 and January 1964, the then 17-year-old Gardner stayed awake for 11 days and 24 minutes (264.4 hours), breaking the previous record of 260 hours held by Tom Rounds.{{cite journal |last=Coren |first=Stanley |date=1 March 2000 |title=Sleep Deprivation, Psychosis and Mental Efficiency |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/sleep-deprivation-psychosis-and-mental-efficiency |journal=Psychiatric Times |volume=15 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105060127/https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/sleep-deprivation-psychosis-and-mental-efficiency |archive-date=2024-01-05 |access-date=2024-04-12}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180118-the-boy-who-stayed-awake-for-11-days|title=The boy who stayed awake for 11 days|first=Sarah|last=Keating|website=www.bbc.com|date=18 January 2018 }} Gardner's record was then broken multiple times until 1997, when Guinness World Records ceased accepting new attempts for safety reasons.{{cite web | url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/1/whats-the-limit-to-how-long-a-human-can-stay-awake-733188 | title=What's the limit to how long a human can stay awake? And why we don't monitor the record }} At that point, the record was held by Robert McDonald at 18 days and 21 hours (453 hours and 40 minutes).

Gardner's record attempt was attended by Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William C. Dement, while his health was monitored by Lt. Cmdr. John J. Ross. A log was kept by two of Gardner's classmates from Point Loma High School, Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano Jr.{{cite magazine|author=Phil McHahan|editor=George P. Hunt|title=No Sleep for 11 Days|magazine=LIFE|volume=56|issue=7|year=1964|pages=71–72}} Accounts of Gardner's sleep deprivation experience and medical response became widely known among the sleep research community.[http://www.articlebrain.com/Article/Eleven-Days-Awake/412 Eleven days awake], Extract from "Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments," by Alex Boese. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129232357/http://www.articlebrain.com/Article/Eleven-Days-Awake/412 |date=November 29, 2007 }}Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments, Alex Boese, {{ISBN|0-15-603135-3}}, Harvest Books, 5 Nov 2007Neurological Findings After Prolonged Sleep Deprivation, Ross J. (1965), Archives of Neurology 12:399-403.

Health effects

It has been claimed that Gardner's experiment demonstrated that extreme sleep deprivation has little effect, other than the mood changes associated with tiredness,[http://www.benbest.com/health/sleep.html#health The Nature of Sleep and its Impact on Health], Ben Best, life-extensionist homepage, undated article primarily due to a report by researcher William C. Dement, who stated that on the tenth day of the experiment, Gardner had been, among other things, able to beat Dement at pinball. However, contrary to this, Lieutenant Commander John J. Ross, who monitored his health, reported serious cognitive and behavioral changes. These included moodiness, problems with concentration and short-term memory, paranoia, and hallucinations. On the eleventh day, when he was asked to subtract seven repeatedly, starting with 100, he stopped at 65. When asked why he had stopped, he replied that he had forgotten what he was doing.

On his final day, Gardner presided over a press conference where he appeared to be in excellent health. "I wanted to prove that bad things didn't happen if you went without sleep," said Gardner. "I thought, 'I can break that record and I don't think it would be a negative experience.{{' "}}[http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/sleeping_in.php Sleeping In], David Goldenberg, Jelq Magazine, 31 May 2006

Recovery

Gardner's sleep recovery was observed by sleep researchers who noted changes in sleep structure during post-deprivation recovery.Psychiatric and EEG observations on a case of prolonged (264 hours) wakefulness, G. Gulevich et al., Arch Gen Psychiatry, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 29-35, 1 July 1966{{cite journal|url=http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/32/2/189.pdf|title=Sleep Patterns Following 205 Hours of Sleep Deprivation|author=Anthony Kales|display-authors=et al|journal=Psychosomatic Medicine|volume=32|issue=2|date=March–April 1970}} After completing his record, Gardner slept for 14 hours and 46 minutes, awoke naturally around 8:40 p.m., and stayed awake until about 7:30 p.m. the next day, when he slept an additional ten and a half hours. Gardner appeared to have fully recovered from his loss of sleep, with follow-up sleep recordings taken one, six, and ten weeks after the fact, showing no significant differences.{{citation needed| date = May 2025 }}

However, in 2017, Gardner reported that he started experiencing serious insomnia around 2007, decades after his sleep experiment, and believed his participation in the 1960s sleep study was to blame.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbur.org/npr/562305141/eleven-days-without-sleep-the-haunting-effects-of-a-record-breaking-stunt|title=Eleven Days Without Sleep: The Haunting Effects Of A Record-Breaking Stunt|website=www.wbur.org|date=6 November 2017 }}

Subsequent record information

According to news reports, Gardner's record has been broken as described below for comparison. Gardner's case still stands out, however, because it has been so extensively documented. It is difficult to determine the accuracy of a sleep deprivation period unless the participant is carefully observed to detect short microsleeps, which the participant might not even notice. Also, records for voluntary sleep deprivation are no longer kept by Guinness World Records for fear that participants will suffer ill effects.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6689999.stm |title=Man claims new sleepless record|website=BBC|date=25 May 2007}}

Some sources report that Gardner's record was broken a month later by Toimi Silvo, in Hamina, Finland, who stayed awake for {{frac|11|1|2}} days, or 276 hours from February 5–15, 1964.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/may/26/iansample.uknews4|title=11 days awake - but is it record?|date=May 26, 2007|website=The Guardian}} The Guinness World Records record was set by Maureen Weston, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, on May 2, 1977, after presumably staying awake for 449 hours during a rocking-chair marathon.{{Cite book |last1=McWhirter |first1=Norris |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofwo1978mcwh/page/52/mode/2up |title=Guinness book of world records, 1978 |last2=McWhirter |first2=Alan Ross |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1978 |isbn=9780553112559 |location=New York |pages=52 |language=English}} Because of the policy against maintaining this record, recent editions of Guinness do not provide any information about sleep deprivation.Guinness World Records 2004, Guinness World Records Ltd, 2003; no reference to sleep deprivation or wakefulness is found in the index.

More recently, on May 25, 2007, Tony Wright was reported to have exceeded Randy Gardner's feat in the apparent belief that Gardner's record had not been beaten. He used 24-hour video for documentation.

References

External links

[https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/sleep-deprivation-psychosis-and-mental-efficiency Sleep Deprivation, Psychosis and Mental Efficiency] - article from Psychiatric Times noting Gardner and Tripp cases
[http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060216 Is Sleep Essential?], An examination of available evidence of whether sleep is a biological necessity.
[https://www.npr.org/2018/09/20/650114225/radio-replay-eyes-wide-open]->PBS website [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000420217567]->Apple podcast [https://www.wbur.org/npr/562305141/eleven-days-without-sleep-the-haunting-effects-of-a-record-breaking-stunt]->transcript of PBS Hidden Brain Podcast with Randy Gardner (54 minutes)

Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from San Diego

Category:Sleeplessness and sleep deprivation

Category:Experiments

Category:World record holders

Category:Self-harm