What happens when your body stays awake for 19 hours or more at a stretch

Have you ever wondered what happens to your body when you operate without any sleep for days? We all have experienced sleepless nights and it can be due to illness, jetlag, erratic work schedules or because of new-borns. While these exceptions are acceptable, going sleepless too often can lead to some serious consequences. It can harm you physically, mentally as well as emotionally.

There are studies that claim when a person faces sleep deprivation, his/ her mind can actually ‘go-to-sleep’ on its own, despite the person being fully awake. This condition can lead to all kinds of havoc.

We tell you what happens when you experience sleep deprivation…

WHEN YOU STAY AWAKE FOR 24 HOURS: According to researchers, not sleeping for more than 24 hours can affect cognitive skills. It messes up with your mind’s ability to work efficiently. Staying awake for extended periods of time impacts your ability to focus and concentrate. A study also claimed that compromising on sleep has the same effect as having 0.10 per cent of alcohol in the blood.

Your memory works reasonably fine. Your complex attention, which is responsible for executive function, learning, memory and language also functions fine. But the condition of staying awake for 24 hours can impact hand-eye coordination and affect your decision-making process. It will keep you distracted and hamper your performance.

WHEN YOU STAY AWAKE FOR 36 HOURS: Longer you stress your mind and body, the worse will be your situation. And not sleeping for 36 hours could further deteriorate the condition. There was a study which showed that 36 hours of sleep deprivation puts pressure not only on the brain but also on the heart. It increases heart rate and fluctuates blood pressure.

Your cognitive skills worsen and you will face difficulties in recalling faces and ability to remember words also decreases. This also means that 36 hours of sleep deprivation makes all complex skills haywire and puts your health at a greater risk.

STAYING AWAKE FOR 48 HOURS: This puts your body and mind at higher stress level. Studies claim that not sleeping for 48 hours dramatically reduces your white blood cells. It could also raise the nitrogen levels in urine, which is a sign that indicates your body is dealing with higher stress levels. Your body loses its capacity to fight against infections and diseases, making you prone to different illnesses.

STAYING AWAKE FOR 72 HOURS: You are in total mess! Sleep deprivation for 72 hours can put your mental and motor responses at a higher risk and make them unstable. The ability to focus fluctuates, and you are neither fully awake nor asleep. A person who has not slept for 72 hours can face some weird experiences. They may visualize illusions, hallucinations, tremors, false memories, and muscle aches. Not sleeping for 72 hours can affect your concentration, perception, and other higher mental processes.