What happens if I stay awake for 24 hours?
Neurocognitive abilities deteriorate considerably. These are actually used to process the information that reaches our brain. If we haven’t slept for 24 hours, our long-term memory deteriorates and our attention span becomes shorter. We perform tasks more carelessly and less thoroughly than when we are well rested. This has led to a large comprehensive study for which researchers have compiled many small studies on sleep deprivation.
What happens if I stay awake for 48 hours?
After 48 hours of sleep deprivation, the body has lost about 50% of its performance. It switches to stress, which is now also reflected in the physical symptoms: heart rate and increased blood pressure. The sympathetic nervous system – part of the autonomic nervous system – is responsible for this. The autonomic nervous system controls processes in us that we cannot influence voluntarily, such as breathing, digestion and heartbeat.