Lehner, in his 99th hour without sleep, is staying awake with cigarettes and coffee.
Earlier this week I met with Ricky Lehner and Thomas Reges, two members of Occupy D.C. who—in protest of the National Park Service’s decision to begin enforcing its ban on camping in McPherson Square—decided they would forgo sleep, for as long as physically possible, to make the point that slumbering is a critical and expressive part of the income-inequality movement.
At 54 hours in, they were weary, but alert, propelled by constant snacking and trips to the coffee shop every few hours. Still, a medical expert briefed on Lehner and Reges’ endeavor was not encouraging.
“Distinctly unhealthy,” is what Dr. Helene Emsellem, a neurologist in Chevy Chase, Md. who specializes in sleep disorders, called the “sleep strike.” By forcing themselves to remain awake, the demonstrators were putting themselves at great risk for some pretty nasty effects. Any underlying possibilities for maladies including heart disease, bipolar disorder or manic-depressiveness, Emsellem said, could be—forgive the usage—awakened by such a long period without rest.
Picking up on Emsellem’s warnings, The Atlantic Wire contacted Lehner and asked him to complete unscientific Internet quizzes that tested risk factors for various mental disorders. Lehner showed no signs of schizophrenia or anxiety, but he did turn up a slight bit of bipolar disorder. Again, these were not scientific inquiries.
I decided to check back up on the sleep strikers earlier this afternoon. Lehner was sitting outside the Starbucks at 15th and K streets NW across from McPherson Square with Sam Jewler, the one-time hunger-striker who last year fasted for 11 days as a protest for D.C. statehood. Reges was nowhere to be found. He dozed off in a McPherson Square tent some time this morning, Lehner told me. A few other members of Occupy D.C. stayed up all night with them as a solidarity measure, but it’s really Lehner who’s carrying the torch for the sleeplessness right now.
Honestly, I did not expect him to be as lucid and talkative as he was. I approached Lehner’s table expecting to see someone more twitchy than he was the other day, maybe even a bit feral after more than four days without any shuteye. He was a little surprised, too.
“I was looking forward to hallucinating,” he said. There have been some noticeable effects, though. He mentioned feeling light-headed at times; his vision is also a bit more blurred than it was the other day. Lehner said he could see me clearly about two feet in front of him, but that it’s been difficult to read the text on his cellphone.
He nearly succumbed to his sopor last night at a meeting of anti-Wal-mart protesters. Apparently, discussions of tactics to deploy agains the world’s largest retailer are droll enough to put even the most visceral activist to sleep. Lehner, with bags under his eyes, also needed a minute to remember that he had also attended a legal session last night for the people arrested after Occupy D.C. raised a wooden barn one day in December.
Though his compatriot is down for the sheep-count, Lehner is keeping himself awake with a a constant flow of coffee, usually purchased from either Starbucks or the Cosi across the street. Gulping a 16-ounce grande drip, Lehner said he’s been averaging six or seven brews a day—more than three quarts of the black stuff. And it’s pretty much all been from Starbucks, the Cosi across the street or the McDonald’s at New York Avenue and 13th Street NW. No, the local economy is not really involved in keeping this portion of the anti-corporatist Occupy Wall Street movement alert.
Drawing from his other stimulant—a teal pack of American Spirit cigarettes—Lehner said he’s not planning on hitting the hay like Reges was forced to do. The record for going without sleep is 11 days, a mark set in 1964 by a California teenager under medical supervision. Lehner is doing this on the street and under tarps. Is he turning into the Adrian Parsons of the REM state? Parsons, who starved himself for 25 days, just got tired and emaciated. Lehner’s putting himself at risk of losing his mind, I reminded him. Just how much longer can he go?
“I’m planning on watching the Super Bowl,” he said.
That’s two more days away.
