Lieutenant Commander John J. Ross of the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit later published an account of this event, which became well known among sleep-deprivation researchers.The Guinness World Record stands at 449 hours (18 days, 17 hours), held by Maureen Weston, of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in April 1977, in a rocking-chair marathon.Claims of total sleep deprivation lasting years have been made several times, but none are scientifically verified. Claims of partial sleep deprivation are better documented. For example, Rhett Lamb of St. Petersburg, Florida was initially reported to not sleep at all, but actually had a rare condition permitting him to sleep only one to two hours per day in the first three years of his life. He had a rare abnormality called an Arnold–Chiari malformation where brain tissue protrudes into the spinal canal and the skull puts pressure on the protruding part of the brain. The boy was operated on at All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg in May 2008. Two days after surgery he slept through the night.French sleep expert Michel Jouvet and his team reported the case of a patient who was quasi-sleep-deprived for four months, as confirmed by repeated polygraphic recordings showing less than 30 minutes (of stage-1 sleep) per night, a condition they named "agrypnia". The 27-year-old man had Morvans fibrillary chorea, a rare disease that leads to involuntary movements, and in this particular case, extreme insomnia. The researchers found that treatment with 5-HTP restored almost normal sleep stages.
Sleep deprivation, whether total or not, can induce significant anxiety and longer sleep deprivations tend to result in increased level of anxiety.Sleep deprivation has also shown some positive effects on mood, and can be used to treat depression. Chronotype can affect how sleep deprivation influences mood. Those with morningness (advanced sleep period or "lark") preference become more depressed after sleep deprivation while those with eveningness (delayed sleep period or "owl") preference show an improvement in mood.Mood and mental states can affect sleep as well. Increased agitation and arousal from anxiety or stress can keep one more aroused, awake, and alert. Driving ability
The dangers of sleep deprivation are apparent on the road; the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) reports that one in every five serious motor vehicle injuries is related to driver fatigue, with 80,000 drivers falling asleep behind the wheel every day and 250,000 accidents every year related to sleep, though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests the figure for traffic accidents may be closer to 100,000. The AASM recommends pulling off the road and taking a 15- or 20-minute nap to alleviate drowsiness.According to a 2000 study published in the British Medical Journal, researchers in Australia and New Zealand reported that sleep deprivation can have some of the same hazardous effects as being drunk. People who drove after being awake for 17–19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent, which is the legal limit for drunk driving in most western European countries and Australia.