"Complete Madness" Australian Teen Live Streams '12-Day No Sleep Challenge'

YouTube Suspends Video Due to Guideline Violations

A teenage YouTuber in Australia was banned from uploading videos by YouTube after attempting a '12-day no-sleep challenge.' Medical experts criticized Norme's challenge as "complete madness."

According to reports from British media such as The Mirror on the 12th (local time), 19-year-old YouTuber Norme, who has 1.2 million subscribers, created a live broadcast titled "Breaking the World Record by Not Sleeping for 12 Days" and attempted to break the no-sleep record. The existing world record was set by American high school student Randy Gardner in 1964, who stayed awake for 11 days and 25 minutes (264 hours and 25 minutes). Since then, the Guinness World Records has stopped measuring records in this category since 1898 due to safety and ethical reasons.

A teenage YouTuber Norme who said he would not sleep for 12 days conducted a 'No Sleep Challenge' live broadcast. [Image source=YouTube broadcast capture]

After Norme started the no-sleep challenge live broadcast, many expressed concerns about his health. During the challenge, he was seen dozing off or unable to regain full consciousness for a long time even when friends tried to wake him, showing signs of reaching his limits. Some subscribers even reported him to the police, and an ambulance and police car arrived outside his house and waited, causing a commotion.

Eventually, YouTube blocked Norme's live broadcast on the 11th day of the challenge, citing "guideline violations." Norme's YouTube account remains active, but the live broadcast has completely disappeared from his channel. After the video was blocked by YouTube, Norme posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, "YouTube has stopped my no-sleep live broadcast," adding, "Only 12 hours left to reach my goal, and I’m in tears."

Medical experts issued strong criticism. Dr. Deborah Lee from the online pharmacy 'Doctor Force' told the media, "This is complete madness. It is the most miserable and painful way to die," warning, "The average lifespan of people with rare insomnia who cannot sleep is only 3 months to 3 years. Would a healthy person want to voluntarily endure similar pain as those people?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.