How Long Can You Go Without Sleep Before Feeling the Effects?
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Getting the proper amount of good-quality sleep is crucial in maintaining your physical, mental, and emotional health. Even after just one night of no sleep, you can start to feel the effects. Symptoms like daytime sleepiness, anxiety, and irritability can begin after just 24 hours of no sleep.
Sometimes people go for longer than 24 hours without sleep. In fact, the longest documented amount of time that someone has gone without sleep is 11 days, or 264 hours. The longer you go without sleep, the more you will feel the effects—and the more serious effects you can develop.
At 24, 36, 48, and 72 hours without sleep, there are different potential effects on your health. Knowing signs that you are not getting enough sleep—and learning tips on how to get the sleep you need—is key.
Why Might Someone Not Sleep?
It's recommended adults 18-60 years old get seven or more hours of sleep per night. Adults 61-64 should get seven to nine hours, while people 65 or older should get seven or eight hours. However, about a third of adults don't get enough sleep each day.
Children need even more sleep but also typically don't get enough. Children aged 6-12 need nine to 12 hours of sleep each day while 13-18 year olds need eight to 10 hours. However, 60% of middle schoolers and 70% of high schoolers don't get enough sleep each day.
There are many reasons why someone may not get enough sleep—either temporarily or on a regular basis. You may not be able to sleep due to:
Anxiety
The need to meet deadlines at work or school
Work schedules
Disruptions in the environment, such as excessive noise
Use of electronics just before bedtime
A child's needs, especially in the newborn phase
Excessive caffeine intake
Use of certain drugs, such as stimulants
Certain health conditions, such as depression, chronic pain, or asthma
Sleep disorders, such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or restless legs syndrome (RLS)
Effects of Not Sleeping
The effects of not sleeping can begin to set in after a single night. In fact, staying awake for just 24 hours causes similar problems with cognitive functioning as having a blood alcohol content of 0.10%—which is over the legal limit for driving in the U.S.
As you continue to go without sleep, the effects can worsen. Here are the symptoms you may experience after 24, 36, 48, or 72 hours without sleep:
24 Hours Without Sleep
It’s not uncommon to go 24 hours without sleep, especially if you work in shifts, have a new baby at home, or have to pull an all-nighter to study. After 24 hours of sleep deprivation, you may notice the following symptoms:
Anxiety
Irritability
Daytime sleepiness
Trouble concentrating
Problems with cognition and thinking, such as short-term memory loss and brain fog
Lower performance at work or school
Increased problems with social cues
Behavioral issues, especially in children
Changes in visual perception, like the shape of an object appearing different than it is
Impaired judgment
36 Hours Without Sleep
After 36 hours without sleep, you may experience increased mood changes, alterations in brain function, and physical symptoms. You might also begin to hallucinate.
After going a day and a half without sleep, you may experience the following:
Increased sleepiness and fatigue
Double vision
Challenges with properly perceiving length of time
Confusion
Anger
Lack of motivation
Reduced concentration
Reduced ability to think creatively
Illusions (misidentifying common objects or sounds)
Simple visual hallucinations, such as thinking you see something growing from the floor
48 Hours Without Sleep
In addition to ongoing emotional, cognitive, physical, and mental health symptoms, people who go 48 hours or more without sleep may experience symptoms of depersonalization and derealization—which are problems with accurately perceiving yourself and reality.
Symptoms of sleep deprivation for two days include:
Depression
Hostility
Switches between feelings of apathy and euphoria
Auditory disturbances, such as not being able to recognize where a sound is coming from
Feelings of being outside of your body
Memory loss
Difficulty forming thoughts and sentences
72 Hours or More Without Sleep
It's now considered unethical to have people go for more than two days without sleep for research purposes. Because of that, research on the effects of no sleep for 72 hours tends to be older. But researchers had been able to determine that staying away for 72 hours could cause symptoms similar to those of acute psychosis, or a loss of touch with reality.
Three days of no sleep can have severe consequences, such as:
Complex visual hallucinations (seeing fully formed images)
Auditory hallucinations, such as thinking you hear a dog barking
Delusions (false beliefs), such as thinking someone has sent you on a secret mission or that someone is plotting against you
Short-Term vs. Chronic Sleep Loss
There's a difference between not sleeping for a night and repeatedly not getting enough sleep. In the short term, sleep loss may have milder effects. The longer you go over the 24-hour mark of having no sleep, the worse your symptoms get. The effects of not getting enough sleep for extended periods of time, or chronically, can have serious long-term effects.
Short-term sleep loss can have physical, behavioral, emotional, social, and practical consequences, including:
Increased chance of injuries, accidents, and reckless risk-taking
Increased chance of doing something out of character due to impaired judgment
Reduced performance at work or school
Problems with interpersonal relationships
Higher pain levels and higher sensitivity to pain
Mental health symptoms, such as stress, anxiety, and worsening effects of existing mental health conditions
Reduced immune functioning and greater susceptibility to viral illnesses and infections
Memory loss
Lowered overall quality of life
Meanwhile, chronic sleep deprivation can have long-term health complications. Over time, sleep disruptions can increase your risk of many different health conditions, such as:
Obesity
Diabetes
Depression
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Kidney disease
Certain cancers, such as colorectal cancer
How to Get More Sleep
To improve your sleep, consider practicing good sleep hygiene by taking the following steps:
Limiting caffeine intake
Avoiding drugs and alcohol
Not having big late-night meals
Avoiding late-afternoon naps
Keeping your bedroom dark, comfortable, and cool
Limiting screen time an hour or more before bedtime
Getting enough exercise during the day
Choosing the same waking time and bedtime each day
You can also make adjustments to what you use to sleep to make your sleep experience more comfortable, such as by using a weighted blanket or cooling sheets.
If you have a sleep disorder, addressing the condition can allow for you to get better sleep, as well.
When To See a Healthcare Provider
Going a night without sleep is likely fine. But if you're finding that falling and staying asleep is a continued problem, you might want to talk to a healthcare provider for advice or a potential diagnosis. Consider visiting a healthcare provider if you’re having:
Trouble falling or staying asleep
Frequent nighttime wakings
Other sleep disruptions, such as frequent nightmares
Confusion or brain fog because of daytime sleepiness
Difficulty completing day-to-day tasks due to fatigue
If you've gone more than a day without sleep and have started to feel the effects of no sleep, such as mood changes or hallucinations, it can take several days or even weeks for symptoms to completely improve. But it usually doesn't take that long—symptoms typically improve once you start getting enough sleep again. If any symptoms persist even after you've caught up on your sleep, you should consider seeing a healthcare provider.
A Quick Review
While you might be able to go a day or more without sleep, doing so is bad for your health. After just 24 hours with no sleep, you may experience effects like anxiety, irritability, and daytime sleepiness. The symptoms worsen the longer you go without sleep. After 36 hours, hallucinations might begin. After 48 hours, you can experience depression. After 72 hours, hallucinations can intensify and you can have delusions—two symptoms similar to psychosis.
Instead of testing how long you can go without sleep, avoid any of the potential negative effects by figuring out how you can get the amount of sleep you need each night. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule can benefit your physical, mental, and social health and avoid any of the short- or long-term consequences of not getting enough sleep.
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