WHAT IT FEELS LIKE...to Stay Awake for 11 Days

Esquire, August, 2004 by Randy Gardner, 58, day trader, who set the record for the longest documented case of sleep deprivation in 1964, at age 17

It was Christmas vacation, my senior year in high school in San Diego. I was kind of a geek, and I was determined to win the science fair, so this was my experiment. It was fun for the first few days. Then it got to be a real bummer.

The toughest time was always just before sunrise, right from the first day. That's when I'd get that scratchy, sand-in-your-eyes feeling, and every day it got a little worse. Even on day two, I had trouble focusing my eyes. But as soon as the sun came up, I'd feel better.

I got pretty moody and paranoid around day four. I was convinced everyone was talking about me, staring at me. And I was being watched very closely; my friends would monitor me all the time, even in the bathroom. At one point, I hallucinated that ...