GUPTA: And we're back with SGMD. You know, we're losing an hour of sleep this weekend, which has us all of us here thinking more and more about sleep, and specifically, the lack of it. So, our medical mystery of the week: how long can you go without sleep? It's fascinating topic -- one that's been studied for a very long time. You know, there's really not a magic number out there, but studies have shown you can go about 60 to 20 hours without sleep and be relatively fine. Once you start hitting between 36 and 48 hours, that's when you start to feel the serious effects of sleep deprivation. You're going to begin to show some changes in your cognitive function, for example. You have trouble paying attention. Your emotions will become extreme. You have problems with short term memory. You're definitely going to be mentally slower and you're going to make more mistakes. You know, I actually put myself to the test. I was in this simulator over here. NASA allowed me to be in there. It's a true 747 simulator and about more than a day without sleep to sort of put myself to the test. You know, the way that I felt was pretty remarkable. Just two days and I'm forcing myself to go without sleep that normally shuts your body down. You have these unpredictable lapses of sleep; you won't notice you just close your eyes. You also have lapses in performance, which is what they're trying to test here. And your brain can go to sleep seemingly with your eyes open. Sleeplessness can be extremely dangerous, as you might imagine, leading to auto accidents. It's also been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, loss of productivity and weight gain. Bottom line, everyone needs sleep. Don't push the limits. Having a lack of sleep can simply alone be dangerous to your health. Now, if you missed any part of today's show, be sure to check out my podcast on CNN.com/podcasting. And remember, this is the place for the answers to all of your questions. Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. More news on CNN starts right now.
How Long Can You Go Without Sleep?