I work overnight shifts (11pm-7am) and take caffeine pills to stay awake. When I get home, even if I take more caffeine I’m sometimes still too tired and fall asleep. Why does it eventually stop working? Is there some sort of chemical limit? Why can’t caffeine replace sleep for longer periods of time (like days on end)?
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When you sleep deep you get fluids from the spine to issue out into your brain and rinse it of waste particles. Never sleeping leads to a buildup of bad things and then after four days of no sleep your normal functioning is inhibited to such a degree that you can’t do anything in a satisfactory way; not work, not socialize, not perform hobbies.
There is also a non-zero chance that staying awake for more than 72 hours can kill you through a stroke, heart attack or aneurysm, but this depends on what you are doing for those 72 hours. If you’re lying in bed you likely won’t fall into shock, but if you are playing high-stress multiplayer games, fleeing from assailants, or something else incredibly taxing, you might punch your own ticket.
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