Can You Die From Lack of Sleep?

You can die from a lack of sleep, mainly because not being well-rested increases your risk of accidents and injuries that can be life-threatening. For example, getting less than seven hours of sleep over a 24-hour period puts you at higher risk of not only being in a car accident, but being the cause of one.

Prolonged and recurrent sleep deprivation has serious additional health consequences that are associated with an increased risk of death, such as an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

This article goes over the risk of death from not getting enough sleep and how you can fix your sleep habits to benefit your health.

How Long Can You Survive Without Sleep?

Researchers do not know exactly how long humans can survive without sleep, but the longest record was 264 hours—just over 10 days—which was achieved during a scientific sleep experiment.

Still, you can start to feel the effects of sleep deprivation after not getting enough sleep for just one night.

Your Body Without Sleep: Day by Day

The effects of not getting enough sleep can be felt right away. After a few days of not sleeping, severe symptoms can develop—including hallucinations and psychosis.

The stages of sleep deprivation don’t take long to progress, usually playing out over just a few days.

24 Hours Without Sleep

The day after a poor night’s sleep you might start having symptoms like:

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Sadness
• Trouble concentrating
• Slow physical and mental reaction time
• Jitteriness

48 Hours Without Sleep

Usually, getting enough restful sleep for the next one or two nights will help you feel better. 

However, if you continue to not get enough rest, the symptoms of sleep deprivation will get worse. 

After a couple of days in a row without enough sleep, you probably won’t die—but you will have trouble staying awake. You may fall asleep no matter what you are doing, though that sleep is not going to be as restful as your body needs.

At this stage of sleep deprivation, you may have a hard time focusing or doing your usual tasks. When you are awake, you’ll probably feel extremely tired and even physically weak. 

3 or More Nights Without Sleep

Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to death, but it’s very rare. 

At this severe stage of sleep deprivation, a person may have full-blown symptoms of sleep deprivation psychosis, such as seeing and hearing things that are not there. You may also feel paranoid and anxious, or have delusional thinking.

Extremely uncommon disorders such as fatal familial insomnia or sporadic fatal insomnia can cause a person to die from a lack of sleep. These conditions make it physically impossible for a person to get enough sleep.

How a Lack of Sleep Threatens Your Health

Sleep is a chance for your body to clear toxins and repair itself to maintain healthy functioning. The longer you do not get enough sleep, the more your body, mind, and mood are impacted.

The effects of a lack of sleep are widespread, ranging from slow response times that put you at risk for accidents to an increased risk of heart disease and obesity.

Accidents

Many of the bus, train, airplane, and car accidents that are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) involve people who are sleep deprived.

Falling asleep behind the wheel is a major cause, but the inattentiveness and loss of concentration that can occur with sleep loss can also be dangerous.

Sleeping less than seven hours at night increases the risk of driving accidents. Getting poor sleep quality or feeling very sleepy during the day also increases your risk. Driving at night is also more likely to result in accidents in sleep-deprived people.

Injuries and Work Accidents

Work accidents and injuries are more likely to occur overnight. Shift work is a major risk factor for the dangerous effects of sleep deprivation. 

Shift workers often sleep fewer hours than they need, and the sleep is often not lined up with their natural circadian rhythm.

Some major work-associated disasters have partly been blamed on sleep deprivation. A few well-known examples are the grounding of the Exxon Valdez and the resulting oil spill in Alaska, as well as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Cardiovascular Disease

Insufficient sleep may increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks. Research has shown that you are two to three times more likely to have a heart attack if you sleep less than five hours per night.

In addition, your blood levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, increase when you don't get enough sleep. The underlying inflammatory process behind this can damage the lining of the blood and lead to hardening and narrowing of the vessels (atherosclerosis), strokes, and heart attacks.

Diabetes

Sleep deprivation disrupts your body's metabolism and can change your blood glucose (sugar) levels. Over time, this can increase the risk of diabetes or make existing diabetes worse.

The negative effect of sleep deprivation on blood sugar control is thought to be linked to changes in the function of the cells in the pancreas that regulate glucose metabolism.

Obesity

Obesity contributes to the risk of early death because it can lead to health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, and cancer. 

Studies have shown an association between sleep deprivation and an increased risk of obesity.

Mental Health

Over time, inadequate sleep can take a toll on your mood and can even lead to emotional instability or depression. This can make it harder to cope with health problems or make them worse, especially if they lead to coping behaviors that don’t support wellness.

Mental health conditions can also increase your risk for chronic diseases like heart disease, as well as other serious mental health conditions including suicide.

The connection between sleep and mood goes in the other direction, too. For example, anxiety is a major contributor to insomnia.

How to Recover From Sleep Deprivation and Get More Sleep

If you are not getting enough sleep, your body will eventually make you sleep. How long it takes you to fall asleep (sleep latency) is affected by how much your body needs to sleep.

Normally, it only takes one or two days to recover from the short-term problems caused by acute sleep deprivation. Some of the problems that can arise from long-term sleep deprivation, such as heart disease, might not get better and could need long-term medical management.

You may want to talk to your provider about prescription sleep medication or using over-the-counter (OTC) sleep remedies, especially if you are trying to recover from sleep deprivation. However, using these treatments is not usually a long-term solution for sleep problems.

Looking forward, there are many things that you can do to get better sleep:

Determine Why You're Not Getting Enough Sleep

Everyone needs a different amount of sleep to function at their best. The amount of sleep adults need is also different from how much sleep babies and kids need.

For most adults, the average amount of sleep needed to feel rested is seven to nine hours a night. Most of the time, sleep deprivation happens because of poor or diminished sleep rather than a complete lack of sleep.

You may not get enough restorative sleep if you have:

• Disrupted sleep: Common sleep disorders like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome cause disrupted sleep.
• Sleep restriction: Sleep restriction happens if you don't have time to sleep (e.g., due to your job), have insomnia, or can't sleep due to problems like physical pain.

If you don’t know what’s causing you to get poor sleep, see a healthcare provider. Medical and psychological condition, such as pain, sleep apnea, and depression, will benefit from treatment and expert guidance.

Evaluate Your Habits

Many people have habits that keep them awake at night. For example, staying up late on social media, taking too many daytime naps, and using substances can negatively affect your sleep.

Regulating your schedule and limiting certain activities can help. 

Set the Stage for Good Sleep

You may find that making certain activities part of your routine can improve your sleep.

For example, making your bedroom a sleep-conducive environment, getting natural light or using light therapy, and being physically active can improve your sleep.

Find More Balance

Work and family responsibilities are other common causes of sleep deprivation. Consider seeing a therapist to work on balancing the things you need to do more effectively so you can make sleep a priority. 

Adjust Sleep Patterns

Research has led to important safety regulations when it comes to work-related sleep deprivation, especially for people like long-haul truck drivers. For shift workers, sleep patterns should be adjusted so that sleep and wake times are consistent.

Summary

You aren’t likely to die after missing a night or two of quality sleep, but the effects of sleep deprivation can still be serious and may increase your risk of dying over time.

A lack of sleep can lead to potentially fatal accidents or injuries. Chronic sleep deprivation can contribute to an early death by increasing your risk of chronic health conditions. 

A lack of sleep is a problem you should take seriously. If you aren't getting enough sleep, talk to your healthcare provider about what you can do to fix it.