Can you die if you don’t sleep enough?

Sarah Brewer, on March 5th, 2008 at 8:03 am Said:

This is a question that scientists have been thinking about for a long time and we don’t have a definitive answer yet! We do know however that we really need sleep – without it our brain’s ability to function is severely impaired. When we’ve not have enough sleep we feel tired & groggy, find it hard to concentrate, forget things etc.

If people are deprived of sleep for longer periods of time the part of your brain that controls memory, language & planning almost completely shuts down.

I don’t think you could die from trying to stay awake for a long time as sooner or later your body will take over and you will just not be able to stay conscious (by the way the world record for the longest time awake is 11 days and by the end the guy was hallucinating and going a bit crazy so I wouldn’t recommend trying it!)

However, studies have shown that long term sleep deprivation puts a strain on the heart, putting you at much higher risk of dying from cardiac disease. Also, as you’d be less able to concentrate you’d be at much higher risk of falling down stairs or getting run over so I guess you could say that you might die if you don’t sleep enough!
aimuel fairchild, on July 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 pm Said:

I’ve been up for 2 days and i haven’t felt or seen anything.
please answer because i dont want die !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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