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[Markus]

Despite this occurring almost 6 months ago, I hadn't thought about the implications until today.

I went four days without eating, concurrent with about ten days of only getting one hour of sleep each day. My concern here is not what I did-it was a one-time happening which I've since corrected. My concern is how it did NOT impact me negatively. At all. I was actually quite hyper for most of the period. There was no "pain" in my stomach from being hungry-not that being in a middle class family should mean I know what poverty and lack of food at all is like. Water intake was normal for me-three to four liters a day, sometimes more.

I've not made conscious contact with illegal substances, nor have I ever had an alcoholic drink. I my normal vitamins and medicines distributed to me through my father, a Doctor specialized in internal medicine and with twenty-some years of experience. I didn't see anything unusual. I'm just confused HOW I kept going under those conditions. I'll admit my poor experience in this matter.




-Thank you for your time and concern-

[Zrk2]

You'll be fine.

[Sir Finkus]

Weird, I had a similar occurrence a few weeks ago where I realized I hadn't had anything to eat for 5 days or something.  Similar feelings of energy too. 

I seem to be fine.

[Neonivek]

The human body is an impressive machine with a lot of mechanisms for lack of sleep, food, and even water to a certain extent.

Our ability to survive on very little subsistance if we need to is one of our greatest assets as a species as well as our ability to eat just about anything.

What kept you going is that the human body stores nutriance and energy for later use. So even though you had not eaten for five days your body still had some food left over so to speak. Your high energy I don't know exactly about but it makes perfect sense if you think of it on an animal level, you havn't eaten and your only way to get more food is to have the energy to do so, it is likely that the body forgos certain receptors to allow the gathering of food.

In fact Insomnia is often a case of a survival mechanism gone wrong.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Indeed. You went into survival mode, nothing more.

Now mind you, that isn't particularly advisable since survival mode is by definition a crashing, unsustainable state that will eventually lead to some kind of breakdown, but if you didn't reach that there's no problem.

[Alastar]

Food is optional for a surprisingly long time - 2-3 weeks of fasting is usually ok if you have an average physique and aren't exerting yourself too much. It's quite common to feel better than usual after the first few days.
You can go without drink for quite long too, but that's generally not recommended.

10 days of very little sleep would be a bigger problem for me, this supposedly varies a lot from person to person. I've become irritable and slightly disoriented from less.

[Loud Whispers]

Sleep deprivation causes a sharp increase in metabolism which burns through food wherever the body can find it, be it in fat stores, food or muscle mass. I wouldn't recommend it, as the increase in energy is very taxing for your body and even worse for your brain/judgement. Which would also explain why you didn't feel worse for the wear... Despite the damage being done. You can live off one off things, but yeah it's advisable to not do this often. Or even occasionally.

[Reudh]

Speaking from knowledge (not experience):

That's definitely your survival mechanism kicking in to keep you going.

First, your body will begin taking fat and burning it out of the adipose tissue to provide energy. It won't burn 100% of your stored fat, because this would be too dangerous.
At the same time, it will begin releasing Glucagon, which is a hormone that signals the liver to release glycogen and undergo glycogenolysis.
Glucagon is the reverse of insulin; it's aimed at increasing blood sugar.

Glycogen is split in the liver to release glucose, which is then also released into your bloodstream.

Once you get low on glucose and fat, this is where it begins to get dangerous.
Your muscles begin to stop using glucose to power themselves and switch to already-built-up lactic acid crystals, a less efficient energy method. Your brain, which uses huge amounts of glucose, will begin to shut down, until it begins to also use lactic acid as energy sources. (This was just recently discovered.)
At this stage, your brain will be functioning very suboptimally; you'll be roughly at the level of a person who is extremely drunk.



Loud Whispers is right : sleep deprivation ramps up your metabolism very, very high. Among other functions, sleep is used as a downtime to burn energy sources and digest new nutrients; without it, your body works on existing stored energy to keep it functioning at the same level.

The human body is an impressive machine with a lot of mechanisms for lack of sleep, food, and even water to a certain extent.

Our ability to survive on very little subsistance if we need to is one of our greatest assets as a species as well as our ability to eat just about anything.

What kept you going is that the human body stores nutriance and energy for later use. So even though you had not eaten for five days your body still had some food left over so to speak. Your high energy I don't know exactly about but it makes perfect sense if you think of it on an animal level, you havn't eaten and your only way to get more food is to have the energy to do so, it is likely that the body forgos certain receptors to allow the gathering of food.

In fact Insomnia is often a case of a survival mechanism gone wrong.

The first 24 hours or so would be your body continuing to digest food already in your stomach and intestines. The rest, it's working off existing stores. Fat will last the longest, but it runs out quickly.

By not sleeping and not eating, you compound your energy use; your metabolism elevates to keep you functioning while sleep deprived, and your body will hence be burning your stored and stomach-stored energy much faster than normal.

While you're young, it's safe; but I would not do it unless absolutely necessary, and the only time I'd deem it necessary is in a time of extreme stress (fighting for your life, eg.)