Observations placeholder
Gardner, Randy
Identifier
001038
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Randy Gardner beat the world record for sleep deprivation at the age of 17. Gardner was a high school student from California, and stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days) as part of a school science project on sleep patterns. Furthermore he used no stimulants
There were clear indications from the start that he was having problems with concentration and memory. On the 11th day, he was asked to subtract seven repeatedly, starting from 100. He stopped when he got to 65... and said he had forgotten what he was doing.
He also experienced hallucinations. After four days, for example, he had a waking dream in which he was a famous American football player winning the Rose Bowl. He also mistook a street sign for a person.
Being young and in excellent health Randy suffered far less than Peter Tripp – see 001038. After his marathon, Gardner slept for nearly 15 hours and returned to a normal sleeping pattern within days. And there were no reports of any long term personality changes.