hallucinations

[mememe123]

Hi there,

I am interested in hullicinating. I understand that sleep depriviation is a cause. i was wondering how long you must not sleep for to hallucinate?

Also, I understand when you hallucinate, you see/hear things... Are these things that you desire/fear? Or visions of your past/present/future?!

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by mememe123

I understand that sleep depriviation is a cause. i was wondering how long you must not sleep for to hallucinate?

This is a surprisingly complicated question.

Most people will begin to “feel weird” after a fairly short period without sleep – 20 hours or so – and may experience minor visual and auditory hallucinations.

Although waking periods as long as 250 hours are claimed, there’s strong evidence that, even with the aid of stimulants and more powerful drugs, no one has actually remained awake and alert for more than 30-40 hours.

I understand when you hallucinate, you see/hear things... Are these things that you desire/fear? Or visions of your past/present/future?!

Common visual hallucination include motion in the periphery of one’s vision (eg: the false perception of bugs darting under furnature), misrecognizing objects (eg: vaguely perceiving human faces in leaves of the grain of wood), and patterns where none are actually present (eg: “hieroglyphics” or “grids” on an unstained white wall). A common auditory hallucination is hearing one’s name called, either in a soundless setting, against background noise such as wind, or against a background of music or multiple voices.

When one has been awake for a long time, one is prone to suddenly falling asleep, then waking – “nodding off”. During these brief periods, one can experience “dreamlets” – very brief experiences of typical dream imagery. In practical terms, it can be difficult to distinguish these brief dream states from waking hallucinations.

Even without sleep depravation, brief hallucinations are not uncommon in psychologically normal people. Prolonged hallucinations, with or without sleep depravations, are unusual, and difficult to distinguish from abnormal thoughts, such as mystical ecstasy or paranoid delusion.

When self-experimenting with sleep depravation, take care to be in a safe setting. Because lack of sleep causes physiological stress, one should be careful to remain warm, well nourished and hydrated, and avoid unnecessary exposure to germs and viruses, or one can become ill.

[Fatstep]

Originally Posted by CraigD

Although waking periods as long as 250 hours are claimed, there’s strong evidence that, even with the aid of stimulants and more powerful drugs, no one has actually remained awake and alert for more than 30-40 hours.

Actually, when on an amphetamine, such as methamphetamine, people can stay alert and super-energetic for more than 5 days. I have stayed up over 48 hours when my great-grandfather was in the hospital and I never felt the need for sleep; I never went into a state like a zombie either.
I will try and find a study or something similar.
*** Also the USMC (Marines) is infamous for making new enlistees stay up over 2 days on a last "mission" to become a marine. No explaining is needed on if they were alert or not.
Edit: Here is a study that is testing sleep deprivation on drivers, the subjects went as much as 2 days without sleep.
Effects of Partial and Total Sleep Deprivation On Driving Performance

[mememe123]

Thank you for the replies I have found it very interesting.

I am still curious as to how long the human can stay awake for? Or does it depend on the situation?

Regarding my first posts... What do hallucinations mean.. your desires/fears? Or visions of your past/present/future?

[Fatstep]

Originally Posted by mememe123

Thank you for the replies I have found it very interesting.

I am still curious as to how long the human can stay awake for? Or does it depend on the situation?

Regarding my first posts... What do hallucinations mean.. your desires/fears? Or visions of your past/present/future?

This is not a sleep deprivated hallucination, but when I tried LSD (first and last time) I felt alive in a way. The tv characters seemed to pop out and talk to me in weird ways, you do not feel much pain, if any and sometimes you even feel like you can fly.
I have seen people jump off of roofs because they believed they had wings, and another punch a telephone pole and break his hand, not feeling it due to his "high"
It would more than likely be very hard to do a study on true hallucinations because the people being studied would not really participate in the way most studies are done.

I also know that you can die from sleep deprivation, so I suppose you can stay awake until you die?

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by mememe123

I am still curious as to how long the human can stay awake for? Or does it depend on the situation?

It absolutely depends on the situation, the person, the environment they are in, the food they ingest, the energy they expend, etc., ad infinitum...

Regarding my first posts... What do hallucinations mean.. your desires/fears? Or visions of your past/present/future?

A hallucination is all of those things. We interpret the world around us and the world within us via the electric firing and connections of our physiology. A hallucination, in my mind, is an experience in the present moment whereby interpretation of the stimuli around you is somehow phase shifted from your median/normal experience or consciousness.

It gets confusing, because so many of these terms lack adequate and consistent definition... consciouness, hallucination, past/present/future...

I can note, however, that if your perception of time is altered, it is likely a change is the usual processing of your memory systems and the temporal region of the cortex.

I think staying awake too long essentially causes your body to redirect it's resources to the more important aspects of existence, such as breathing and heartbeat, thus taking away energy normally directed to the higher functions and neo cortex areas responsible for things like lymbic inhabition and absraction...

Please understand, there are lots of guesses and personal interpretations above, but I wanted to share since you seemed to pose your question with a sincerity that fosters a desire within me to assist. You will, however, ultimately be coming to your own understanding of the topics, regardless what the rest of us share.


Cheers.

[mememe123]

I see. but any idea how long you need to starve from sleep to hallucianate?

[Fatstep]

Originally Posted by mememe123

I see. but any idea how long you need to starve from sleep to hallucianate?

I believe this pertains to your question.

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

It absolutely depends on the situation, the person, the environment they are in, the food they ingest, the energy they expend, etc., ad infinitum...

[Fatstep]

Although the longest a human has remained awake was eleven days rats that are continually deprived of sleep die within two to five weeks, generally due to their severely weakened immune system

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior

There is one of your answers.

Maybe this will give you an idea.

In many respects Gardner’s symptoms were similar to those experienced by a New York disk jockey, Peter Tripp, who endured a 200-hour sleepless marathon to raise money for the March of Dimes. During the course of his ordeal his thoughts became increasingly distorted and there were marked periods of irrationality. By the end of four days he could not successfully execute simple tests requiring focused attention. In addition, he began to have hallucinations and distorted visual perceptions. At one point Tripp became quite upset when he thought that the spots on a table were insects. He thought that there were spiders crawling around the booth and even once complained that they had spun cobwebs on his shoes.

Sleep Deprivation IS Torture « The Good Democrat

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by mememe123

I see. but any idea how long you need to starve from sleep to hallucianate?

Try not eating. When my blood sugar gets low, I hallucinate like a son of a bitch.

Your question is a bit like asking, "how much food is enough to satisfy a hunger." Well... it depends on just how hungry you are, what else you've been doing (running around and riding bikes, or sleeping or playing PS3), and what type of food you eat (rice cakes or bowls of pasta or steaks)...

No absolute answer on that question, friend, except that it's relative.