A photographer is claiming he set a world record by staying awake for more than 40 days.
Tyler Shields, 28, from Los Angeles says he didn’t get a wink of sleep for 968 consecutive hours.
He believes he more than doubled any previous sleepless bids, but the Guinness Book of Records won’t recognise his stunt, saying it's too hard to prove and too dangerous to attempt.
Forty winks: Photographer Tyler Shields, 28, claims he stayed awake for 968 consecutive hours but Guinness Book of Records won't recognise his stunt saying it's too hard to prove
During the wide-eyed marathon, Shields said he overcame fevers, headaches, eye pain and the loss of feeling in his legs.
Ironically, one of the toughest parts of the experiment was dropping off to sleep when he achieved his goal.
‘I slept six hours and when I woke up it took me 15 minutes to put my pants on,’ he told AOL News.
‘I was stumbling around my room. Never have I experienced anything like that. One of my assistants said it was like the equivalent to being hung over. I don’t drink, so I
wouldn’t know,’ he added.
‘It was terrible. I kind of wish I had stayed awake.’
But he said that at least none of his friends can moan to him about being tired.
‘Nobody will be like, ‘I’m exhausted. They just can’t say that to me anymore.’
He said he felt groggy for a whole day and slept through the next night and then gradually felt himself returning to normal as his balance and memory came slowly back.
‘It’s important for people to do things and believe in things that may seem impossible. Just because someone tells you something is impossible, doesn’t mean it’s impossible,’ he said.
A team of monitors watched over him 24 hours a day to make sure he didn’t nod off.
‘Would I advise anyone to do it?’ said the celebrity photographer. ‘No, I wouldn’t. But I think it’s pretty awesome,’ he added.
