if people can’t go 3 days without sleep, how can Navy SEAL trainees do an entire Hell Week of strenuous physical activity with only 4 hours of sleep?
In: Biology
People can go 3 days without sleep. The verified record is over 11 days, and it would probably be longer but anyone ethical doesn’t deal in records like that because it essentially encourages people to harm themselves.
The worst part isn’t so much the physical – that you can push through (EDIT: for five days, if you’re otherwise fit and healthy – eventually sleep deprivation will kill you and might kill you a lot sooner than you’re not fit and healthy) – it’s the mental. Hallucinations, that kind of things. Hell week is training to be able to deal with that in the field. If you’re in enemy territory, rest might not be an option.
No sleep vs an hour a day of naps is also a huge difference. Like, massive. It gives your brain a chance to do some self-care. It’s still brutal, but I can tell you from personal experience 48 hours without any sleep is hell on earth heading towards insanity while 48 hours with an hour’s rest in the middle is just rough.
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