- Tommy Graves suffered a manic episode and psychosis after eight days without sleep in 2021
- He was hospitalised for four weeks and treated with medication and therapy to restore sleep
- Graves experienced delusions, believing hospital staff were actors in a Truman Show-like plot
In a cautionary tale about extreme sleep deprivation, London-based Tommy Graves has shared how a fundraiser livestream in 2021 led to a manic episode and psychosis. Graves, who was 27 at the time, described losing his sense of reality and feeling entirely detached from the world after going eight days without sleep. The ordeal ended with a four-week stay in a mental health hospital, where medical staff used a combination of medication and therapy to stabilise him and restore his sleep cycle.
"I just got really excited about it and worked tirelessly on it. The more I worked on it, the more stressed I became, the more ideas came into my head, and the harder I found it to sleep," Graves, now 32, was quoted as saying by Metro.
"I couldn't get to sleep at all as much as I tried, because my brain wouldn't switch off. As the days went on, the ideas got more and more extreme, elaborate, some people would say delusional."
Despite being brought to the hospital, Graves did not believe that the doctors and nurses were trying to help him. Instead, he was convinced that they were all actors starring in a Truman Show-like reality programme. The 1998 movie featuring Jim Carrey showed the life of a man who was unaware that his entire life was being captured on camera and broadcast to the world.
"By this point I didn't even know where I was. I thought I was in a television studio, like The Truman Show," said Graves.
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'I Would Get An Oscar'
Graves remembers being 'delusional' and having 'crazy' ideas -- thinking he could end racism and change the world. He said he sang, danced and did cartwheels in front of the camera, believing he was worthy enough to 'earn an Oscar' for his performance.
"One of the nurses told me I would get an Oscar if I carried on like this. Most people would have seen that as sarcasm but I thought I'd love to get an Oscar."
Four weeks after he was released from the mental health facility, doctors advised Graves in stern terms that he needed to learn how to sleep or he could risk losing his sense of reality again.
"What I experienced was a manic episode with psychosis caused by stress and sleep deprivation. I was in the highest level of care you can get. I never thought that could happen to me. That was enough to scare me into picking up a book and figuring out how to sleep well."
Graves took his lessons and began researching all he could about sleep before deciding to change careers and become a qualified sleep coach in 2025.
