In December 1963, a military family named the Gardners had just moved to San Diego, Calif.
The oldest son, 17-year-old Randy Gardner, was a self-proclaimed His family had moved every two years, and in every town they lived in, Gardner made sure to enter the science fair.
He was determined to make a splash in the 10th Annual Greater San Diego Science Fair.
When researching potential topics, , who .
So Gardner and his two friends, , set out to beat this record.
Randy Gardner spoke to .
When asked about his interest in breaking a sleep deprivation record, Gardner said, "I'm a very determined person, and when I get things under my craw, I can't let it go until there's some kind of a solution."
Of his scientific trio, : He would be the test subject who would deprive himself of sleep. His two friends would take turns monitoring his mental and physical reaction times as well as making sure Gardner didn't fall asleep.
The experiment began during their school's winter break on
Gardner said, he experienced nausea and had trouble remembering things.
, Gardner said:
"I was really nauseous. And this went on for just about the entire rest of the experiment. And it just kept going downhill. I mean, it was crazy where you couldn't remember things. It was almost like an early Alzheimer's thing brought on by lack of sleep."
But Gardner stayed awake.
The experiment gained the attention of local reporters, which, in Gardner's opinion, was good for the experiment "because that kept me awake," . "You know, you're dealing with these people and their cameras and their questions."
The news made its way to Stanford, Calif., where a young was so intrigued that he drove to San Diego to meet Gardner.
Along with a Dement helped monitor Gardner's health throughout the experiment. Dement also helped Gardner stay awake by playing basketball or games of pinball with Gardner.
When asked about his win percentage in pinball, Gardner said, "I did good. I think I beat him most of the time."
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"Physically, I didn't have any problems," Gardner said. "But the mental part is what went downhill. The longer I stayed awake, the more irritable I got."
On Jan. 8, 1964, Gardner reached the last day of the experiment. He had been awake for 11 days straight 鈥� 264 hours 鈥� .
, "I had a very short fuse on day 11. I remember snapping at reporters. They were asking me these questions over and over and over. And I was just 鈥� I was a brat."
After talking with reporters, Gardner was sent to a . There, doctors observed his brain waves through an electroencephalogram machine he was hooked up to. Medically, Gardner was .
So, at the naval hospital, Gardner slept for 14 hours. After he woke up, he said, he felt
Gardner, McAllister and Marciano won first place at the .
Although Gardner's record was , his experiment is one of the most well-documented cases of sleep deprivation. It supported later studies of "microsleeps." According to, microsleeps are "momentary lapses into sleep that last for just a few seconds."
Decades later, the field of sleep research had grown exponentially, including the .
The last Guinness world record for sleep deprivation was awarded in to Robert McDonald, who deprived himself of sleep for almost 19 days. In 1996, the GWR stopped tracking sleep deprivation, citing the "harmful" effects of sleeplessness.
In making this decision, Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, wrote:
"Sleep is just one of those key, absolute, fundamental parts of human nature 鈥� we need our sleep. And I think that's why this is a particularly fascinating record, because challenging the extremes of something that is so absolute is key to understanding who we are as a species."
, he mentioned that he developed insomnia as an adult. He said, "About 10 years ago, I stopped sleeping. I could not sleep. I would lay in bed for five, six hours, sleep maybe 15 minutes and wake up again. I was a 鈥� I was a basket case."
It's unclear what triggered his condition. But Randy Gardner says he sees it as some kind of for his science experiment 60 years ago.
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