American teen did not sleep for 11 days and set a world record so dangerous Guinness had to ban it

In 1963, Randy Gardner, a teenager from California, was preparing for the 10th Annual Greater San Diego Science Fair when he stumbled upon something very unusual. While exploring research topics, he came across the curious case of Tom Rounds, a 23-year-old radio DJ from Hawaii, who went without sleeping for 260 hours. Intrigued, Gardner and his two friends — Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano — decided to break the previous records and study the effects of sleep deprivation on the human body, NPR reports. The experiment began on December 28 and lasted until January 8, 1964, after which Gardner slept for over 14 hours in a hospital bed. 

Randy Gardner's experiment

While Gardner, the 17-year-old self-proclaimed "science nerd," deprived himself of sleep, both his friends took turns monitoring his condition and making sure he didn't fall asleep. Only three days into the experiment, the test subject started feeling nauseous and even had difficulty remembering things. "It was almost like an early Alzheimer's thing brought on by lack of sleep," Gardner recalled.

Interestingly, he explained that although he didn't experience many issues physically, his mental health started deteriorating over time. In fact, as an adult, Gardner also developed insomnia — a sleep disorder marked by difficulty falling or staying asleep — and believes it was a "karmic payback" for his experiment.

Within days, the science experiment became so famous that local reporters started covering it. Ultimately, the news reached William C. Dement, a sleep researcher from Stanford, who drove to San Diego to meet Gardner. Notably, Dr. Dement, who monitored him the last three days, had previously worked with Peter Tripp, another popular radio DJ who had gone without sleep for 201 hours.

To help Gardner stay awake, Dr. Dement engaged him in multiple sports, but despite the sleep deprivation, he won every pinball match they played at the arcade. Apart from physical activities, Gardner kept himself awake with Coca-Cola, loud music, and frequent showers.

While Dr. Dement couldn't spot any significant physical or mental issues in the teenager, he knew the experiment had taken a toll on his health. Likewise, Dr. John Ross, who monitored Gardner before him, saw some very severe symptoms as a result of sleep deprivation. By the fourth day, he said that the teenager was hallucinating, experiencing delusions, and struggling with a short attention span, according to Guinness World Records.

The 17-year-old had stayed awake for 11 days and 24 minutes, which amounts to 264.4 hours. Notably, Gardner's record was broken within only two weeks by Jim Thomas, a 20-year-old who went without sleeping for over 266 hours, followed by Toimi Arttiurinpoika Silvo and Charles E. Christensen, among others.

Why did Guinness World Records stop monitoring the record?

There are very specific reasons the Guinness World Records stopped monitoring the record. First, of course, they were concerned about the harmful effects of depriving the human body of something as basic as sleep. Second, sleep researchers discovered something called microsleep, which refers to the temporary episodes of sleep lasting less than 30 seconds. Now, this made it impossible for researchers to confirm whether participants who were attempting to go without sleep were also able to avoid these momentary lapses.

"Even Dr. Dement later accepted that Randy Gardner — who was under constant medical supervision — probably experienced microsleeps," the officials shared. People suffering from fatal familial insomnia are another reason why they stopped monitoring it. Officials were worried that a person who genuinely has issues falling asleep would participate and accidentally break the record, not because of effort, but because of a rare genetic condition.

Meanwhile, reacting to Gardner's Guinness World Record, @enlightenmentseeker1689 commented, "11 days is insane! I've been awake for 3 days a few times before, and it felt like I had psychosis. Things would be distorted, and sound would be warped; my eyes would be twitching randomly. I can not comprehend what another day would be like, let alone 11 days total." @silvertain1978 shared, "I went 72 hours without sleep in the army; I was hallucinating things like my mate talking to me, and I thought he had a squirrel running up and down his arms — it was awful." Similarly, @robinsamson100 said, "We really don't understand that sleep at night is priceless. Sleep is one of the most underrated things."

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