What got me thinking about this was that: "Supposedly, the world record for staying awake is 18 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes. The record holder is said to have suffered paranoia, hallucinations, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses." Do you know anyone whose performance declines rapidly without sleep?
The longest activation I've ever done was 14 days of 16 hours each. That left me another two hours for commuting time and a dinner meal. If I was lucky, I was getting five to six hours of sleep. When I did take two days off, I didn't realize how tired I was until the second day when I crashed. In the Army, I had many times when I was working on three hours sleep or no sleep in a 24- to 48-hour period. Adrenaline will take you so far, but you can get to the point of exhaustion.
I recall being on an 11-day patrol and the patrol leader became "combat ineffective." He became a blithering idiot who could not string a coherent sentence together -- all because of no sleep.
There was a time when I could easily go 72 hours with no sleep. Anymore, I think I'm maybe good for 48 hours.
Here's the bottom line to all of this: When you activate the EOC, one of the first things you need to do is quickly assess if you will be going more than 12 hours. If you are, you need to plan for a shift rotation and get people lined up to come in and relieve the staff, including you. The idea that you can "gut it out" and it will be over in a day is not a good planning assumption. The people you work with and the community you serve deserve better. Ask for help early and the transition between shifts will go smoother.
Until then, my doctor recommends getting eight hours of sleep a night. I try to get seven and last night I got five and a half hours. Do what I say, not as I do!
