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The record belongs to a man named Randy Gardner. Back in 1965, he went 11 days without catching a single wink. Was Randy enraptured by a "Leave It to Beaver" marathon on TV? Actually, no. He just really wanted to be in the Guinness Book of Records. Randy was a San Diego high-school student at the time of his record-breaking bout of sleep deprivation. A self-described "science fair geek," Randy felt he could beat the previous record of 8.5 days held by New York deejay Peter Tripp. And with
the help of two friends and Stanford researcher William Dement, Randy did exactly that. Even more impressive, Randy stayed awake without so much as a drop of coffee. You might expect anyone who's been up that long to be a complete mess, but according to those who observed him, Randy suffered "no paranoia or other negative mood changes." Additionally, his "mental, motor and sensory abilities" remained solid. On day 10, Randy even beat Dement at pinball and gave a press conference before passing out for 14 plus hours. This article from Gelf Magazine reports Gardner is now married and enjoying retirement. We can only presume he gets plenty of sleep.
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