transcript: Ahhh... Sleep! You can never have enough of it, it seems... In fact, sometimes it literally feels like you aren't getting enough, but what if you stopped sleeping all together? Strangely, science understands relatively little about why we sleep or how it evolved in the first place. After all, laying unconscious and dormant for hours on end while predators lurk hardly seems advantageous or smart. But, we have discovered a few correlations. For example, adults who sleep between 6 to 8 hours a night tend to live longer. Excess of sleep, however can lead to medical problems including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Similarly, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to aspects of cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and even brain damage. But what if you stopped sleeping right now? Well, after your first sleepless night your mesolimbic system becomes stimulated and dopamine runs rampant. And this may actually trigger some extra energy, motivation, positivity, and even sex drive. Sounds appealing, but its a slippery slope. Your brain slowly begins to shut off the regions responsible for planning and evaluating decisions, leading to more impulsive behavior. Once exhaustion sets in, you'll find yourself with slower reaction times & reduced perceptual and cognitive functions. After a day or two of no sleep, the body loses its ability to properly metabolize glucose and the immune system stops working as well. In some cases, 3 days of no sleep has lead to hallucinations. Care about how you look? Studies have shown that direct correlation between sleep deprivation and a person's perceived beauty, that is to say, sleep-deprived individuals appeared less healthy and less attractive than when they were well-rested. The longest scientifically documented case of being awake was 264 hours or 11 days. And while they did develop problems with concentration, perception and irritability, the surprising truth is that they suffered no serious long term health effects. In fact, no individuals under these documented conditions experienced medical, physiological, neurological or psychiatric problems. But there are limited studies, and this doesn't mean permanent damage couldn't be inflicted with more time. Sleep deprivation experiments on rats for example, generally lead to death after about 2 weeks. But, scientists aren't totally sure if there dying from the lack of sleep or from the stress of constantly being woken up. Perhaps you should look at fatal familial insomnia for an answer. A rare genetic disease of the brain which causes progressively worsening insomnia or sleeplessness leading to hallucinations, dementia and ultimately, death. This disease is only affected around 100 people in the world, but their average survival span was around 18 months. Over time, the lack of sleep becomes worse and the body's organs begin to shut down. So, while a lack of sleep won't necessarily kill you quickly, continual sleep deprivation will have a negative effect on your body. Sleep tight, but not too much! Got a burning question you want answered? Ask it in the comments or in Facebook and Twitter, and if you can't get enough science in your life, check out the ScienceAlert Facebook page, which is one of the best out there to keep you up to date and entertained with the latest news and breakthroughs. And subscribe to AsapSCIENCE for more weekly science videos!
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