Guinness World Records stopped recognizing record because it was too dangerous
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The challenge that was dropped by Guinness World Records for being too DANGEROUS
Imagine staying awake for 453 hours and 40 minutes – almost 19 days – without sleeping a wink.
This is exactly what Robert McDonald did in 1986, when he broke the record for the longest time to stay awake – a feat so dangerous it led Guinness World Records to abandon the challenge altogether.
However, on their website, they revealed that no one has beaten McDonald’s record since then, urging people to avoid the challenge because of “the inherent dangers associated with sleep deprivation.”
In 1963, two teenage boys came up with the dangerous idea of trying to break the world record for longest time spent awake for their school science project, according to Unilad.
In 1963, two teenage boys, Randy Gardner (pictured) and Bruce McAllister, came up with the idea of trying to break the world record for longest time spent awake for their school science project.
The schoolboys wanted to test how the brain would react if they were completely sleep deprived
At the time, the record was held by a Honolulu DJ who stayed awake for nearly 11 days.
The schoolboys, Randy Gardner and Bruce McAllister, wanted to test how the brain would react if they were completely sleep deprived.
It was a project they would regret for the rest of their lives, with Mr McAllister telling the BBC in 2018: ‘We were idiots, you know young idiots.’
The boys flipped a coin and it was Mr. Gardner who took on the dangerous challenge of staying awake as long as possible.
Mr. McAllister explained, “I stayed up with him to keep an eye on him… and after three nights of sleeplessness I woke myself up against the wall writing notes on the wall itself.”
The boys flipped a coin and it was Gardner (right) who took on the dangerous challenge of staying awake as long as possible. Pictured: Gardner with Dr. William Dement
As a result of the experiment, Gardner apparently experienced moodiness, short-term memory loss, and difficulty concentrating, as well as paranoia and hallucinations.
Brain scans later found that Gardener’s brain was “cat napping all the time…parts of it would be asleep, parts of it would be awake”
After enlisting Stanford University sleep researcher William Dement, Mr. Gardner did indeed beat the record at the time.
As a result of the experiment, Gardner apparently experienced moodiness, short-term memory loss, and difficulty concentrating, as well as paranoia and hallucinations.
Meanwhile, brain scans later found that Gardener’s brain was “napping all the time…parts of it would be asleep, parts of it would be awake.”
Years later, in 2007, a Corish father of three went 11 days straight without sleeping, hoping to break the banned record.
Tony Wright’s 266-hour sleepless marathon failed to break the record, but it did provide fascinating insights into how sleepless sleep changes the body and mental state.
Looking back on the experience in an interview, he claimed that staying awake “long enough” starves the “rational mind,” meaning the “batteries are basically running out.”
Mr Wright admitted that you get tired of it and ‘don’t feel very well’, but the ‘rational mind’s ability to stay in charge ‘also starts to break down’.
He said, “That’s where you begin to glimpse access to the other side of the brain, the other self.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. Most people can remember partying or working hard.”