Well let's see... I stayed up for almost 72 hours a couple of times at school - two nights and the better part of three days - getting ready for crits. Dumbest thing I did was probably using the tablesaw on the morning of the third day because I discovered that I'd come late to the supply of display tables so I had to fabricate my own in under 30 minutes.
As for real life, I've done a couple of long shifts. I once worked security for the Fiesta bowl following a New Years Eve party in downtown Phoenix. That "work day" came out to around 55 hours.
I've also done a 70-hour stint of CAD work prior to presenting a project to a client. Went from nothing to full schematic design in that time period with a couple other people helping me on and off (meaning they got to go home for the nights).
Of course I've never done what one of my professors told me he and his buddies used to do - stay up all night getting ready for crits, then after crits go donate blood, then head to the pub for a pint before crashing for two days.
(Oh and for anyone wanting to see what people look like under these conditions, watch "Hands on a Hardbody". It's a documentary about a competition where people have to keep their hand on a Nissan Hardbody truck for the longest.)
