Streamer Norme stayed awake for 11 days straight, breaking the record for the longest sleepless stream. An expert has now spoken out and given the all-clear.
What kind of stream was that? YouTube streamer Norme wanted to break a record. His goal was to stay awake for 264 hours and 24 minutes live on stream. That’s over 11 full days. However, his record attempt was not only physically demanding.
The streamer was banned on two platforms during his attempt, as Dexerto reports. First, YouTube showed him the red card, then the streamer switched to Kick, where he was also kicked out after some time.
The streamer ended his self-experiment on the Rumble platform. The platforms apparently did not approve of his dangerous behavior. During the stream, Norme collapsed several times and had to be kept awake by his friends.
Many viewers were worried about him. Now an expert has spoken out and explained how dangerous the action really was.
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“It won’t be too harmful”
How dangerous was the stream? Sleep physiologist Stephanie Romiszewski spoke about the exceptional situation in an interview with Dexerto. She is very familiar with such scenarios and holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) with distinction in psychology and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in behavioral sleep medicine (via sleepyheadclinic.co.uk).
“In fact, the most worrying side effect of actively trying not to sleep is the micro-sleep phases that make certain activities such as driving very dangerous. It is true that performance, the immune system and memory decline without the regular cleansing and recovery system that sleep provides.”
Such micro-sleep phases would always occur, even in the best-studied experiments in sleep laboratories.
“If you do this on a regular basis (trying to force yourself to stay awake until extreme hours, then ‘recovery sleep’, then again and again), it is likely to lead to bigger problems over time as your body loses the predictable and regular opportunity to cleanse/recover/rejuvenate,” she explains in the interview.
It is also bad for people who suffer from mental illnesses or physical diseases or who regularly take medication. Sleep deprivation would often make the symptoms even worse.
“It is likely that a one-time experiment (for an otherwise healthy person) will not be too harmful, other than a decline in cognitive performance and not feeling 100% comfortable. However, doing these types of experiments over and over again, regardless of your health status, will have long-term health effects, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (such as heart attack and stroke), obesity, and serious mental illness.”
What happened next for the streamer? The streamer managed the experiment and broke the record for the longest sleepless stream. The record for the longest sleepless period is probably held by Robert McDonald with 18 days and 21 hours (via Wikipedia).
However, one record was followed by another. The streamer wanted to achieve the longest sleep stream. These are streams in which the streamer is only sleeping and not awake. Norme was able to break this record as well with his “recovery sleep” of 38 hours, according to his own statements.
If the experiment remains a one-off, the streamer will probably not suffer any long-term consequences from the action. However, the experiment should probably not be copied, says the expert. Other streamers can also sleep for a long time, for example Knossi, who was almost eliminated from 7 vs. Wild because of his long sleep: 7 vs. Wild Season 3: Because Knossi overslept, his whole team was almost eliminated