Randy Gardner's 264 Hours Awake: Pinball, Paranoia and Late-Life Insomnia

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In December 1963 and January 1964 in San Diego, 17 year old Point Loma High student Randy Gardner set out to beat the 260 hour sleeplessness record of Tom Rounds of Honolulu, starting with classmates Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano Jr. keeping him awake. Stanford sleep researcher William Dement flew in, and Lieutenant Commander John J. Ross of the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit monitored his health. Their accounts split: Dement reported few ill effects and lost to Gardner at pinball on day 10, while Ross recorded mood swings, paranoia, hallucinations of street signs as people, and Gardner's belief that he was Chargers running back Paul Lowe.

On day 11 Gardner was asked to count down from 100 by sevens, stopped at 65 and forgot what he was doing. He finished at 11 days and 25 minutes, about 264.4 hours, told a press conference he wanted to show sleeplessness had no bad effects, then slept 14 hours and 46 minutes. Tests at one, six and ten weeks found no lasting change. Guinness later dropped the category, later claims are hard to verify because of microsleeps, and in 2017 Gardner said that since about 2007 he had suffered severe chronic insomnia he blamed on the 1963 stunt.

How procedural memory kept his pinball skills while prefrontal working memory failed the math test
Recovery through deeper slow wave sleep rather than hour for hour payback
Later claims from Toimi Silvo's 276 hours to a 449 hour rocking chair marathon
A 2024 livestreamed attempt that ended with welfare checks and an ambulance
Microsleeps, brief bursts of sleep with eyes open, and why EEG monitoring matters

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