Staying awake as long as one can

There is a very good article in the Scientific American site:

http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=0000F879-8E01-1CD1-B4A8809EC588EEDF

The easy experimental answer to this question is 264 hours (about 11 days). In 1965, Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old high school student, set this apparent world-record for a science fair.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_%28sleep_deprived%29

Several other normal research subjects have remained awake for eight to 10 days in carefully monitored experiments.

Here is the same question in http://ask.yahoo.com/20060920.html

The average person can hold awake about 12-16 hours.  If I am correct, you were wondering what the average a person can stay awake without sleep, not what is the record for no sleep. 

I think it totally depends on adrenaline... if you are trying to stay alive, you'd be shocked how long you could go without sleeping.  In the holocaust, for example, there were people who knew that if they allowed themselves to fall asleep, it would be forever, so they stayed awake, for long periods of time.  It totally depends on the person and the situation.

Well i think that an average person can stay awake 2 days straight. With the right materials.

Hi,

im gonna beat it

I would be careful evermade.The guy who set the record and stayed up 11 days suffered permanent brain damage.I hear David Blaine is gonna try to break the record.Personally I stay up 36 hours at a time when I'm on-call but we're allowed to sleep for about 10-30 minutes at a time if we're not that busy.It's not something I recommend to anyone who doesn't have to do it.

I stayed up for 3 days strait, worked 8 hours each day, and ate only 1 vitamin with a glass of instant breakfast each day.  It was easy but I got sick the day after I woke up from my first nights sleep.