Sleep v. food

My brother sent me an interesting article from the Harvard Business Review. If nothing else, the title will grab your attention: Sleep is more important than food. The author bases this on the way you feel after seven days without food v. seven days without sleep. It's not a very scientific argument, but he's a persuasive writer and makes many valid points in the rest of the article. It's almost guaranteed to make you feel sleep-deprived.

The article title reminded me of an instance many years ago, when 17 year-old Randy Gardner decided to stay awake for 264h (11 full days) without any substances - including caffeine. His mental and physical health were checked regularly during his stunt, and though he seemed physically OK his hallucinations were quite severe. Nevertheless, it remarkably took just a couple days of recovery to feel back at 100%.

Although we have yet to figure out the limits of human sleep deprivation, rats that are continuously sleep-deprived die after about two weeks. The exact cause of death, however, is still undetermined.