I would recommend that you have a baby. Boy, I have had some spells of 72- hour stretches with my kids...make that a colicky baby. You'll be hallucinating in no time!

LOL!

Jai

Other than all that's already been said the only thing i can suggest is shear willpower, just keep moving for 72 hours. However the aim of staying awake is to achieve an altered state of consciousness. There is another way of doing this that perhaps you've not tried; technically it's called an isolation tank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank

The ancestor to this in magic, that is, how to separate the soul from the body; the person is completely bound from head to foot with just leaving the nose and mouth so as to be able to breathe, then the person is suspended to swing freely in the air

ffff

There is a much softer variant of this that i have actually experienced myself though at the time it was unintentional. It happened spontaneously when i was in prison, i had damaged both my feet so i couldn't walk for a while. I actually stayed in my cell alone for 6 weeks on end, after a while it was like a meditation, eventually i was feeling as if the walls of my cell were the limit of my physical body, my body felt huge "looking inside myself" was like roaming around an immense cathedral, it felt like there was unlimited space within. Afterwards it took about 2 weeks to get back to my normal size, at one point i really thought i would stay like that for good.

update; thursday 28th march 2013

This method is derived from the experience i had from a "two day stay free from work" lol, in a police prison cell, and believe me, it works.

Create an empty room, blind off the windows so that no light can get in, and make it as uncomfortable as possible, no carpets, if possible just bare concrete, no heating, no food, no water, an absolutely empty room, dark and cold. The only thing in the room is a bucket that you use as a toilet, and of course, no toilet paper. Just to add that finishing touch, on the other side of the door put a loud badly tuned radio that whistles and gives out harsh human voices and crackling noises etc. ... i think you get the picture.

Now go in the room and stay there as long as you can, i feel sure you'll experience something unexpected

ffff

have fun :)

update; well it was really me in the dark closed room, i'm now opening the door and going through it towards the light :)

update 29th march 2013

i now have ethereal wings

staying awake, or being aware is something that you can practice and do each second of your life.What are altered state of counscience? Are they not period where you are more aware and transcend your self imposse limit? Some part of you need rest so thinking to achive something not physical by abusing your physical is not something that will reward you in a positive way. But the key to both of those question(how to reach altered state of counscience and how to stay awake for long period) as the same answer be aware.The lenght or the quantity is not the problem the problem is the quality.Obe,astral projection,lucid dream are achived by being aware,even when the body sleep.so work on your awareness each day by meditating,when the two becomes one (water and spirit) if the body sleep the spirit will stay aware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbBmpaDBizA

Jesus meditated for 40 days in the desert. he meditated on the mountain. How many time did he tell is disciple that they could not even make the effort to stay awake or keep watch?

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.

http://bible.cc/matthew/26-40.htm

They should have stay in the beguinning,and they would not have tasted death.

Many are great teacher and they do not know this.

So let there be light,Be the light that you can be,experience and enjoy.

I failed to accomplish the simplest objective of 'reading the damn question'. This resulted in my typing a bunch of information that is completely off point for the intention of the asker. I'm just gunna leave this here because some of it may have value in other applications, but for the purpose asked my answer should have actually been short and sweet: Find another method. This question has been brought up before, nothing good comes from it.

EDIT 2: Want to guarantee that you can stay awake? Get some trail mix, I like Mountain variety because M&M's are nommy, but for your purpose the 'energy' variety will probably be more suitable. Get a high nutrition drink that features carbs, protein, and a whole bunch of vitamin B's. A good example of this would be the Odwalla-esque 'Green Machine' drinks. If you want to go the whole 9 yards then go to a nutrition store or Walmart, get a Super B Complex that features as many different ingredients you can find. Top this off with a mountain of Caffeine, in my opinion this is most ideally filled (due to personal tastes) with a water-additive blend called 'Energy Tea'. Make sure you're drinking water too (do not forget you need sodium to absorb the water, otherwise it will literally just go straight through you). Electrolyte-ey repleneshment drinks like Gatorade are effective here.

Glad to see the aversion to substances I observed before has alleviated somewhat. That being said, on this category? Really? Oh well. Progress is progress. ^_^

[EDIT: To add another point of view regarding Caffeine 'not being strong enough' (said nobody, ever ^_^y) the only time you will find it insufficient is when your body is forced into shutdown mode due to either dehydration or malnutrition. As a general rule, stimulants are a combination of diuretics and appetite suppressants. This means it requires discipline to make sure you are taking appropriate care of your body, because they shut off your normal indicators informing you that you need to refuel.]

Before I actually answer your question, I'm going to throw in the mandatory and appropriate: Do not stay up for 72 hours straight. If you have an unsolvable need in your life to be active for large portions of multiple days in a row, TRY TO AT LEAST GET 1.5-4 HRS OF SLEEP! If you are concerned that you will not wake up after going to sleep, drink a double dose of Caffeine immediately before sleeping and eat some carbs. Not even a full meal needed, but if you don't have something on your stomach you will remain tired due to malnutrition and the exercise becomes pointless.

If you actually end up staying up for longer than a day without resting you are going to risk encountering numerous unpleasant side effects, and you need to be prepared before you engage in such activities. Your mind can play tricks on you; things that seem coherent and sensical can often not be to a rested and/or sober mind; your mind can 'jump to conclusions' before being given appropriate supporting evidence, such as seeing things in shadows or thinking that a person you see is someone you know, etc. Be aware and cautious of not only your surroundings, but your senses as well. Even the 'warning flag' you get that tells you when your thoughts / senses are betraying you might not be a guaranteed reliability anymore. BE. CAREFUL.

It is strongly advisable that you take the simple & safe route, which is buying the inexpensive drink additives that feature caffeine. My personal favorite would be 'Energy Tea', which is sprayed into water a-la Mio or whatever those drink additives are called. Though unlike Mio, this features a nice kick in the pants like Coffee.

Also glad to hear you don't want to bother with any of the other methods of staying up that long, but in case anyone else reads and gets any bright ideas, I will save you some trouble:

Any stimulants will largely serve the same basic purpose, with only the tertiary effects being variable. This is true for the whole spectrum from caffeine, to prescription amphetamines (such as Adderall, or the preferable option Vyvanse which helps limit recreational indulgence, assuming that isn't what you're looking for), up to methamphetamine (which in effect is no different than its pill cousins, and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply drinking the cool-aid, and the only difference is that the methyl portion is a potentiator which increases the effects, but does not change them). The issue with amphetamines (Adderall) and methylamphetamines (meth) is that they introduce the need for a 'balancing act' where you try to get the effect you want without overdoing it.

This is how people with friends in all walks of life will become very educated on the issues they can cause and the risks they can incur. ;)

What does all this mean? If you're looking to stay up for a long time, don't introduce yourself to any stims that you don't need to. Caffeine does the job, and even gives you most of the same negative effects too! (They just manifest in slightly different ways, but the overall impact is extremely similar.) If anyone reading this ever decides that substances stronger than Caffeine are necessary for them, I strongly encourage trying to go the Vyvanse route because it is a 'pro-drug' that is inert when initially consumed, and is designed with the intent of plateauing at a therapeutic range.

It's about 2:oo am here in my country and I am still reading this site. I am new here and I think I already read here for the past 10 hours with small breaks only. Now my body is getting tired but my curiosity is far from over. I want to read more but after this comment I will definitely go to bed. A sign that my mind surrenders to the demand of my body.

Maybe if you can sustain this. Just read and read and read here and tell us if you made it to 72 hours. Don't give up to the call of your body, just follow your inquisitive mind. I don't know if I make sense to you, but maybe you can treat this answer as an alternative if none of the other works for you.

Caffeine only works to a point and then loses effectiveness and eventually fatigue wins out. Anyone who has ever been to college and had an exam the next morning can attest to that. Massage and deep breathing can invigorate you for awhile. It doesn't even have to be a full body massage....you can massage your own arms and legs, shoulders, neck, etc. Then do some deep breathing. This works for me when I need to keep going for some reason. I can stay up a couple of days this way.

I think I saw David Blain do this trick. He stood on top of a building without moving. That may have been 72 hours.

You could do like him and announce on television. You would be famous, you would be on international television.

There used to be a show called, "That's Incredible!" This feat of human endurance, "will over body" would be filmed every moment making sure you can't sleep. Amazing!

Read, "The human D-cell report" by Mike Kiminski and BANABU. This is an energy boosting technique.