Insomnia length of 264 hours what was the end of the experiment the student, who did not sleep for 11 days
At the end of 1963 in America on the radio twist The Beach Boys, the United States is gradually drawn into the war in Vietnam, high school students relax on the Christmas holidays, and two teenagers are planning an experiment that will attract the attention of the whole country.
The experiment ended on 8 January 1964: 17-year-old Randy Gardner stayed awake for 11 days and 25 minutes. Bruce McAllister, one of two high school students — the authors of the experiment, said that this project came up because of a simple need to conduct any scientific experiment. Inherent in adolescence creativity and fearlessness Bruce and Randy decided to break the record of wakefulness, which at that time put a DJ from Honolulu. He was awake 260 hours.
To find out who will be the Guinea pig, the guys threw a coin. And, luckily for Bruce, this fate fell to Randy.
Teenagers realized that they needed a third man, and asked for help from a friend Joe Marciano. And later they were joined by a professional researcher of sleep by William Dement of Stanford University.
Dement, now a Professor, and in 1964 he took his first steps in the still new field of sleep. He read about the experiment students in the newspaper in San Diego and decided to help them, to the delight of parents Randy.
McAllister argued that in their experiment, chemical substances are not affected.
By the time when the Dement arrived in San Diego, the experiment has already lasted for several days, and Randy was optimistic. However, the farther the experiment went, the more was revealed unexpected results. Randy was periodically tested for the ability to taste and smell, to distinguish between sounds and after a while I started to notice the deviation. McAllister recalled that Randy started to say, "don't make me smell, can't stand the smell". Surprisingly, the skills of the game of basketball he has improved, although this could be attributed to the fact that he spent a lot of time on the court, not to sleep.
As the experiment continued, the press attention it was gaining momentum. At one point the experiment was the third in importance in the American press after the Kennedy assassination and the arrival of The Beatles. However, according to McAllister, often to the experiment were treated as pranks students. But the participants were serious. In the end, after 264 hours without sleep, the record was broken, and the experiment ended. But instead of giving Randy a good night's sleep, he was taken to the naval hospital to examine brain function.
"And then he got up and went to school. It was amazing," added Dement.
The results of the study from the hospital was sent to the Arizona science center. It was concluded that the brain of Randy constantly sinking into sleep and out of it. Some parts of the brain were sleeping, others were awake.
Many people have tried to beat this record, but the Guinness Book of records refused to record these attempts, believing that it can be dangerous to health.
11 days without sleep, it seemed, had no effect on the health of Randy. Although later he said that he suffered from insomnia for several years. Immediately after the experiment, the students held a press conference. The guy who hasn't slept for 11 days, was able to philosophize on the subject of experience.
Keywords: Insomnia | Record | Sleep | School | Experiment