Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep


As songbirds awaken the early risers at dawn on the farm, one resident is already up; in fact, he never slept – not once in the past 33 years.

You’d think going without sleep for that long may have its drawbacks, but not for the man in central Quang Nam province who has never been ill after decades of insomnia.

His inability to sleep has not only made him famous, but also represents a “miraculous” phenomenon worthy of scientific study.

Sixty-four-year-old Thai Ngoc, known as Hai Ngoc, said he could not sleep at night after getting a fever in 1973, and has counted infinite numbers of sheep during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights.

“I don’t know whether the insomnia has impacted my health or not. But I’m still healthy and can farm normally like others,” Ngoc said.

Proving his health, the elderly resident of Que Trung commune, Que Son district said he can carry two 50kg bags of fertilizer down 4km of road to return home every day.

His wife said, “My husband used to sleep well, but these days, even liquor cannot put him down.”

She said when Ngoc went to Da Nang for a medical examination, doctors gave him a clean bill of health, except a minor decline in liver function.

Ngoc currently lives on his 5ha farm at the foot of a mountain busy with farming and taking care of pigs and chickens all day. His six children live at their house in Que Trung.

“I have tried sleeping pills and Vietnamese traditional medicine but nothing helps, even to sleep for a few minutes,” he said.

Creature of the night

Ngoc often does extra farm work or guards his farm at night to prevent theft, saying he used three months of sleepless nights to dig two large ponds to raise fish.

Neighbor Vu said Ngoc volunteered to help beat a drum during the night and guard the house for the relatives of the dead during funeral ceremonies so that they could take a nap.

Vu also said when the commune was planting sugar cane, several people also asked Ngoc to awaken them at midnight to go to work, since he was up anyway.

On Ngoc’s prolonged insomnia, Phan Ngoc Ha, director of the Hoa Khanh Mental Hospital in Danang said sleep disorders often cause anorexia, lethargy, and irritability.

But, in special cases, some people can handle it and still live and work normally, although this was a very small ratio among insomniacs, Ha added.

Reported by Vu Phuong Thao – Translated by Thu Thuy

I think the translater was high at the time.

There is no way you can go that long without any sleep...

I can go for.....

And I thought my 96 hours awake was record breaking.  


- BG

I'm dead after about 48.

Holy shite

Most of the "man never sleeps" types from Ripleys were found to take frequent cat naps.

Well.  Hopefully some one will be along with more details... but this is the jist of the story.

The US military did a study on sleep deprivation and the human body.  They found that death can occur around the 7 day mark.

BUT!!!!

They isolated the ONE chemical the body makes when it sleeps... that it does NOT make while awake.  This chemical was synthesized and injected into test subjects..... who could then stay awake for weeks.

A possibility exists that this man's fever changed the way his body produces chemicals.

Have a good one.

Quoted: Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep <Snip> during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights. <Snip>

There have been numerous cases of individuals who swore they didn't sleep and when their claims were examined it was found they were falling asleep for short periods and they didn't know it (not while driving, it would appear  ).

Seriously: you go without sleep for long enough you start to hallucinate, then your body starts to self-destruct.  Lack of sleep will kill a person eventually.  Interestingly, studies in sleep clinics have shown that dreaming is just as important as sleep.   Subjects who were constantly awakened during REM sleep eventually began to display psychotic symptoms, that is, they began to go crazy.

We have to sleep.  We have to dream.

Quoted: <Snip> They isolated the ONE chemical the body makes when it sleeps... that it does NOT make while awake.  This chemical was synthesized and injected into test subjects..... who could then stay awake for weeks. <Snip>

Wow.  I'd like to get some info on that.  Sounds interesting.

ETA: Oh, and to answer the original question, I went almost five days without sleep one time.  I'm virtually certain I didn't even doze off during that time.  Not an experience I want to repeat.

Me? I can stay awake for hours. Then I go to sleep. Does this help?

hook me up to whatever they did to that guy!, i can work 2 full time jobs!

i can go without sleep for 87 hours!

shoot i can stay up for hours and houzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Quoted: And I thought my 96 hours awake was record breaking.   - BG

68-69  hours for me back in college (SAE Mini-Baja project)

Quoted: Well.  Hopefully some one will be along with more details... but this is the jist of the story. The US military did a study on sleep deprivation and the human body.  They found that death can occur around the 7 day mark. BUT!!!! They isolated the ONE chemical the body makes when it sleeps... that it does NOT make while awake.  This chemical was synthesized and injected into test subjects..... who could then stay awake for weeks. A possibility exists that this man's fever changed the way his body produces chemicals. Have a good one.

Any idea what the chemical actually does?

Quoted: Well.  Hopefully some one will be along with more details... but this is the jist of the story. The US military did a study on sleep deprivation and the human body.  They found that death can occur around the 7 day mark. BUT!!!! They isolated the ONE chemical the body makes when it sleeps... that it does NOT make while awake.  This chemical was synthesized and injected into test subjects..... who could then stay awake for weeks. A possibility exists that this man's fever changed the way his body produces chemicals. Have a good one.

WOW!!!!

Danpass.... Ar newb......

I am gonna try to explain what i saw.  Basically... after a period of time... the test subjects became... for lack of a better word... "retarded".  They lost the ability to critically think, & solve simple problems.  This was after days & days of deprivation.

The chemical they injected allowed them to function normally.

Another thing... was food intake.  You have to keep eating to keep your body going.  When you sleep your metabolism slows down, but without sleep... the body needs meals more frequently.

42 hours a bunch of times.

I do not believe the story.

70 hours is my max while in the Army, was pretty worthless after about 55-60.  Did 48's a lot coming off 12hr night shifts and having things to do during the day!  The story has to be bogus, or the guy was really Rick James, and cocaine really is a hell of a drug!  I do know a tweaker that says he was up for 8 straight days, and I really don't doubt him that much considering how stupid he is.

Quoted: Quoted: I start having little flash hallucinations and twitches after about 36-40 hours. hell i do that waking up in the morning

+1 after a full 8!

Quoted: i can go without sleep for 87 hours!

I can do 86.5

Danny

3 days and 3 nights, I turned into a zombie on the third night tho.

Also went weeks sleeping only one or two hours a night. working 10 hours a day and not wanted to "waste" my free time sleeping. Started falling asleep standing up and stuff , nearly fell asleep while walking so I try to get around 5-6 hours now .

Done 3-4 days on several occasions before and definitely started getting freaky after 48 hours or so.

The one thing that I did notice was that nodding off for a few minutes felt like sleeping all night
And feel almost refreshed.

Been at 48 hrs several times. It would take a couple 8+ hours of sleep for me to recover. Hate when that happens feel bad for a few days afterwards.

The longest I've went without sleep was about 75 hours.  

36 of those were at a fast-paced factory job.  

At about the 70 hour mark I started to get really bad headaches, slurred speech, and had trouble walking normally.  

I had to eat ALOT, and VERY OFTEN.  I think eating and drinking water and pop were the only things that kept me going.  Plus, I was very busy.  If I were just sitting at home doing nothing, I'd easily pass out after 36 hours.

Oh, what I could get done without having to sleep.  I use to drink a Sobe Adrinaline every night  while at work and I would only sleep about four to five hours through the day.   You have to love working nights.

With a good 12 hours sleep at night I can usually make it until about 2.  Is that bad?

Quoted: I'm dead after about 48.

+1

That's about the wall for me as well.

WIZZO

I got up at 7am Tues, went to bed at 2am Wed, and couldn't get to sleep (tax thoughts) just got on up at 3:30, went to the firestation at 7am, and never made it to bed for the entire 24 hour shift, we had 14 runs, with the last being a 2 story wharehouse fire at 1:30am Thur morning, I made it to bed at 10:30 am Thurs morning. So thats 51.5 hours straight, maybe not the longest I've ever been, but the longest in awhile, as I get older it really kicks my ass. I slept the whole day away Thur, and it was 76 and sunny, bad day to sleep through.

When I start beating people, then I'll take a nap.

GM

i have done 55-60hours a few times. i got retarded. constantly sipped water and snacked the whole time. i get giggly silly around the 50hr mark. problem is when i got to lay down to sleep i kept thinking of "1 more thing i need to do" and my mind was racing.

Quoted: Done 3-4 days on several occasions before and definitely started getting freaky after 48 hours or so. The one thing that I did notice was that nodding off for a few minutes felt like sleeping all night And feel almost refreshed.

+1

Especially 15min powernaps.  90min is good as well.  

Isnt there something about multiples of 3 (or something like that)?

I remember waking up after two hours and still being tired, whereas 90min I would wake up ok.

Quoted: I remember waking up after two hours and still being tired, whereas 90min I would wake up ok.

I've done that too.

Get a full nights sleep (6 or 7 hours) and wake up dead tired.

Stay out until 3 a.m. with friends, go to bed for 2 hours, wake up at 5 to go hunting and be wide awake.

Weird

WIZZO

Quoted: Well.  Hopefully some one will be along with more details... but this is the jist of the story. The US military did a study on sleep deprivation and the human body.  They found that death can occur around the 7 day mark. BUT!!!! They isolated the ONE chemical the body makes when it sleeps... that it does NOT make while awake.  This chemical was synthesized and injected into test subjects..... who could then stay awake for weeks. A possibility exists that this man's fever changed the way his body produces chemicals. Have a good one.

Unless that chemical was benzedrine, this story is all BS.

48 hours.  I get horrible audio halluncinations when I stay up that long, it is really bad.

I can do 48 with no loss of mental ability or coordination. I have done 60 but with poor results after 50-52. The worst part for me is trying to get some sleep. If I am up for more than 24 I can only sleep for 2-3 before I wake up and feel beat to shit. I have to wait another 10-12 before I can get any real rest.
Pat
0-1-25  

The Clowns will never get him.

30 hours plus is pretty regular for me.  I'm going on 23 hours as I type this.  109 hours straight is my longest.  When I did finally get to sleep after that it was 18 hours, up two, slept for 12 more.  

Quoted: The US military did a study on sleep deprivation and the human body.  They found that death can occur around the 7 day mark.

You kinda have to wonder exactly how they found that out....

I wish I had this disease, I'd would have made straight As in school and be a millionare by now.

I don't believe he hasn't slept at all.  I think, if there is any truth to the story at all (and there may not be) that he has taken catnaps on and off without realizing it.

Me personally, longest I've ever gone without sleep was around 70 hours and I was totally brain dead at the end of it, having auditory hallucinations etc...

We brought our newborn home Tuesday.  I'm about to find out how long I can go...

Quoted: Quoted: Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep <Snip> during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights. <Snip> There have been numerous cases of individuals who swore they didn't sleep and when their claims were examined it was found they were falling asleep for short periods and they didn't know it (not while driving, it would appear  ). Seriously: you go without sleep for long enough you start to hallucinate, then your body starts to self-destruct.  Lack of sleep will kill a person eventually.  Interestingly, studies in sleep clinics have shown that dreaming is just as important as sleep.   Subjects who were constantly awakened during REM sleep eventually began to display psychotic symptoms, that is, they began to go crazy. We have to sleep.  We have to dream.

I was working mids for the past 3 months, 1730-0600, ended up getting a few hrs sleep, and if I had to work 5+ days in a row I had a heck of a time sleeping.  I would doze for maybe 30 min and wake up, and then doze again.  Ended up a freakin' zombie after a few days!!!!  Bad times.