"Two weeks. But you have to keep dancing." -- M*A*S*H
A Kiwi made headlines around the world this December when she ran 311 miles (486 K) in just over 86 hours -- continuously. Which means she didn't sleep for more than 3 days. Kim Allen did the major marathon in order to raise money for New Zealand Spinal Trust. She raised over $7000 (although her goal was $8000 -- that and completing the marathon.) Although this seems to be a world record, the run was not officially observed by Guinness World Records, so it will probably never be an "official" world record.
Decades ago, the trend was for marathon dancing contests, which you would have to do without sleep. Why did they do it? To win chunks of cash. And because the contests were there. Fortunately, they have since lost favor.
However, there is a trend in extreme sports called ultramarathons. These are like Kim Allen's run, where you run an incredibly daunting stretch of road for multiple days. These runs are usually for charity. Another runner who recently completed an ultramarathon is Adam Scully-Power, who ran 163 miles to raise money for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy. He not only lost two days of sleep, but also 50 pounds.
The most famous ultra marathon runner is Californian Dean Karnazes, who apparently can run for days without sleep in all kinds of weather. he says lack of sleep is the biggest problem he faces. He has even "sleep ran" and hallucinated while running.
This is the big danger of going without sleep for days. You will hallucinate. You also mess up your health. Lack of regular sleep not only makes you hallucinate, you also:
- will be more prone to accidents
- impairs your judgment
- increases your risk of contracting disease
- can interfere with your body's normal metabolism, so you might wind up gaining weight
- can make you temporarily impotent.
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