Y: Today on A Moment of Science we check in with Don, who is going for the world      record for staying awake. We're going into day six, and I have to say, Don, you look      terrible.

D: What? Huh? Oh hi, Yael. When did you get here?

Y: Anyway. The world record for staying awake is around eleven days, and people      have been known to stay awake between eight and ten days in carefully monitored      experiments. As you might expect, however, the longer they stayed awake, the      harder it was for them to concentrate and engage in higher mental processes. Don!      Wake up!

D: Huh? Yael! When did you get here?

Y: So one question scientists grapple with when studying sleep is exactly how to define      what it means to be awake. As Don is illustrating, a long time without sleep can result      in hallucinations and the loss of cognitive and motor functions. This is because our      brains grab sleep automatically when we get tired enough.

D: Yael! I'm being abducted by aliens!

Y: Don's hallucinations are actually bits of dreaming and are part of brief episodes of      sleeping known as microsleep. Microsleep, by the way, is one of the major      unrecognized causes of auto accidents. However, if we don't count these, there are      no recorded cases of people dying due to sleep deprivation itself, and ultimately      scientists don't know exactly how long humans can stay awake and how that affects      the body.

D: What a shiny spaceship! And all those bright...ZZZZZ

Y: Luckily for Don, humans who have gone long periods without sleep will recover      eventually once they make up those hours.

D: ZZZZZZ

Y: Better luck next time, Don.  

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