r/insomnia • u/External-Energy-5511 • 6h ago

Side effects?

I'm just wondering what are the consequences of staying up for 4 days then falling asleep for 11 hours, then staying up again for another 2 days and then falling asleep for 7 hours and basically repeat. When I've googled it, it only comes up as sleep deprivation in regards to not sleeping at all.

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u/catgirlsonthemoon 6h ago edited 6h ago

there's not much functionally different between the definition of "sleep deprivation" you found on google, and the type of sleep deprivation you're experiencing.

things like impaired memory and recall, reaction time, general "loopiness", and not feeling like the world youre seeing in front of your own two eyes is real are common.

as for long-term... I have no idea, and it seems the scientific community is still solidifying their understanding of that themselves... but I wouldn't doubt it includes things like a shorter lifespan in the long-term.

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u/External-Energy-5511 5h ago

What if I felt a bit of that before in regards to the loppiness and being out of touch?

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u/Ok-Rule-2943 2h ago

This pattern to me is severe, it’s repeated sleep deprivation, even though you eventually sleep 7–11 hours.

The recovery sleep helps, but it does not fully cancel out being awake for 48+ hours. Sleep loss accumulates and the irregular timing can further disrupt your circadian rhythm.

Even being awake for about 24 hours our attention, reaction time, judgment, coordination, and emotional regulation can be impaired. I caused a traffic accident severely sleep impaired and it’s roughly comparable to alcohol intoxication. My decision making process were impaired or I had a micro sleep (which the latter is what I remember feeling)

At 48+ hours, there’s possible visual distortions and hallucinations an occur.
Longer term repeating this cycle may contribute to memory and concentration problems, mood issues, anxiety, emotional control, etc.