David Blaine braves brain damage to break world record for staying awake!!!

Some of his stunts have been death-defying, others just plain bizarre.

Yet David Blaine's latest is perhaps the most yawn-inducing - for him and his audience.

The American illusionist will attempt to stay awake for longer than anyone ever has before.

The latest "stunt" is set to happen in May of next year in New York's Central Park, according to U.S. reports.

David Blaine waves from inside his clear plastic box in October 2003, after spending 44 days without food inside the box suspended in the air near London's Tower Bridge

Blaine, 34, is yet to confirm the attempt but he did tell the New York Post that he had been in training.

He said: "I'm dropping 30 pounds. I do two hours every day on the treadmill. I'm on a raw diet that includes brown rice. No red meat. No animal products besides cooked fish.

"If I do this thing, which you claim I'm doing, I'll do it on my feet. Standing up."

There is much debate surrounding the current length of the sleep deprivation record - and the record holder.

The Guinness Book of Records does not now accept record attempts related to sleep deprivation due to the possible health risks.

Some believe the record is held by Toimi Soini from Finland who claimed to have kept awake for 11 days and 12 hours - or 276 hours - in February 1964.

He beat Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old California student who kept awake for 264 hours just a few days earlier.

Others claim the accepted current world record holder is 43-year-old Tony Wright from Penzance, Cornwall, who stayed awake for a little more than 11 days, or 264 and 15 minutes hours in May of this year.

Wright had stayed awake just enough to beat Gardner's record, apparently without realising the previous Soini record which was deleted from the Guinness Book amid concerns that it would cause others to beat it with dangerous consequences in 1989.

Blaine spoke of his understanding of the current state of the record: "It's been tried before. In 1959, Peter Tripp stayed awake eight days, but it resulted in permanent brain damage.

"In 1964, 17-year-old Randy Gardner did it for a high school science project. He lasted 11 1/2 days but recovered fully. No damage."

Blaine added: "A guy in London tried but fell short. Another did 19 hours but slept two hours each night, so that doesn't count. Also he was seated in a rocking chair."

He added: "After 36 hours of sleep deprivation it's like being drunk, 72 hours and paranoia sets in, Day Four the mind goes into hallucinations and you're dreaming while awake.

"The problem is there's no way to know how to offset brain damage or to train for this because there isn't sufficient research. I believe the first guy's mistake was not being in great physical condition. Also he used stimulants to keep awake, which I assume did him in."

Blaine continued: "Basically I'm a human guinea pig pushing the borders of human endurance, so I've spent the last year and a half figuring out this next step. Preparing for it.

"Prepare, study, train, learn and you face the fear. When I know something's coming I'm not afraid. If right now a giant spider suddenly landed on me, I'd be terrified. But if I knew one's about to land on me, I'd prepare for it. The way to train against fear is to prep against it."

New York-born Blaine has previously spent more than a month suspended in a transparent plastic box above the river Thames, and frozen in a case of ice in New York's Times Square, among other stunts.

source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk