# How on earth did I sleep for 20 hours? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094 "2009-01-20T04:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/21 "2009-01-21T06:03:35Z")
I don’t usually marathon-sleep unless I’m quite sick (in which case, it’s a good thing–I’m less miserable, and I recover more quickly). I only recall one episode like this from simple exhaustion. It was at the end of a 70+ hour stint with no sleep, finishing engineering projects at the end of a semester (oh, so many years ago now). I managed to walk upstairs to my apartment, went into my room, shut the door…and woke up on the floor more than 18 hours later. Apparently, as soon as I was in what my reptile brain considered my “lair”, I just shut down. I was a bit stiff, and needed to pee rather urgently, but my system was back on track. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/22 "2015-04-29T03:17:27Z")
What I do sometimes (most recently this weekend) is sleep for six or seven hours, get woken up before I’d prefer (ten hours is my usual allotment), stay up for five or six hours, then sleep for another 14 or 15 hours. So over 24 hours passes, during which I was awake for less than 25% of the time. But unlike most others who have posted, I had not been awake for an exceptionally long time, and I was not drunk or under the influence of other drugs except maybe a little bit of Claritin for seasonal allergies (which does make me a bit drowsy, but I compensate by drinking coffee). Nor am I ill or depressed or anything whatsoever, and I don’t feel groggy after waking–in fact, I notably feel fan-freakin’-tastic at the end of a marathon sleep like that. I remember this weekend when I woke up the second time, I actually had an uncanny feeling like it was rejuvenating me, keeping me younger longer. (On the other hand, it did also occur to me that I will _need_ that putative longevity to make up for all the hours of wakefulness I am missing out on.) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/23 "2015-04-29T08:26:35Z")
20 hours? That’s nothing. This thread slept for more than 6 years before waking up. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/24 "2015-04-29T11:16:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Seems like your body needed it. +1 I’ve had similar stuff happen, I try and mostly succeed in listening to my body - it just works better this way, but as you put it the ability to fight it does exist. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/25 "2015-04-29T12:56:20Z")
I did roughly 20 hours asleep once, after pulling a 36 hour all-nighter upgrading computer equipment. Never again, and I was as much a zombie when I woke up as this thread is… ---
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/26 "2015-04-29T13:53:59Z")
I once slept for 24 hours when I was sick. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/27 "2015-04-29T15:48:57Z")
I sleep longer when I am dehydrated. > **[Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Energy](https://www.webmd.com/women/features/10-energy-boosters)** > > Experts offer some fatigue-zapping tips that really work. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/28 "2015-04-29T16:02:23Z")
I got mono once. Slept for the better part of a month. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/29 "2015-04-29T18:57:35Z")
I need a nap. Bbl ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094/30 "2015-04-29T20:22:28Z")
Some nefarious robbery gang must have pumped knockout gas into your bedroom while you slept. That they then did not steal anything should not be taken as evidence against this theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-on-earth-did-i-sleep-for-20-hours/482094.md?page=1)