this is Randy Gardner and this is the Curious Case of the man who volunteered to go without sleep for the longest time seems like a very long time ago and I really for years and years just kind of hibernated I don't know why I wanted to talk agreed to talk to you I want to start off by saying please do not do this at home it's just not advisable Randy Gardner recruited two friends to help keep him awake Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano they attempted the record-breaking time to go Sleepless as their submission for the 10th Annual greater San Diego Science Fair about the fourth or fifth day I you know it was like are you kidding me this is hard by then it had gotten out to the newspapers and the wire service has picked it up and it was too late I couldn't back out so there I was stuck in this thing and I thought let's do it let's do the 11 days Dr DeMent later dubbed Dr sleep and the father of sleep science read about gardeners at decided to join him for the last three days in order to study his physical and mental well-being he drove the 17 year old around in a convertible with a radio at full volume and challenged him to games of pinball which cardinal won despite 10 days of sleeplessness we did everything we walked the beaches all hours we visited the county jail at three in the morning we drove around in a Ford convertible I mean you name it we did it it's particularly interesting record for me because I spent about six years not getting fairly regular sleep because I suffer from sleep apnea so I know very well with facts of not getting a good healthy eight hours of sleep every night it's terrifying Garden is the only stimulants were Coca-Cola loud music and hot and cold showers his two classmates who ensured that he didn't doze also administered a set of 20 tests every six hours to assess his mental state by the end of the experiment Gardner was experiencing mood swings memory loss slurred speech and hallucinations and pinball games aside he had trouble with his coordination however he finally surpassed the 260 hours of sleeplessness claimed in 1959 by Honolulu DJ Tom rounds afterwards Gardner slept for 14 hours and 46 minutes at the Naval Hospital in San Diego under observation by DeMint and his team who monitored his brain waves heart rate temperature muscle activity and blood pressure sleep is just one of those key absolute fundamental parts of human nature we need actually we are all living things need to rest and I think that's why this is a particularly fascinating record because challenging the extremes of something that's so absolute is Keith understanding who we are as a species I think that's why this record for the longest time to stay awake really does deserve its place and the Curious Case book do you have like a philosophy of life I have favorite sayings that I make up one of them is you never see it coming I've learned that much in 67 years I don't give what you think you're doing pal when it when something comes you never see it coming I wish I knew that stuff then that I know now is just relax it's it is a journey there is no destination [Music]