Man Who Stayed Awake for 40 Days Looks Back With Open Eyes

(Nov. 2) -- What's the best part of not sleeping for 40 days?

According to Tyler Shields, a Los Angeles photographer who claims he set a world record by staying awake for 968 consecutive hours, it's the fact that no one will ever complain about being tired when they're around you.

"Nobody will be like, 'I'm exhausted,' " Shields told AOL News. "They just can't say that to me anymore."

Earlier this week, Shields says he completed his sleep-deprivation marathon, overcoming fevers, headaches, eye pain and even the loss of feeling in his legs to last more than a month without a wink of shut-eye.

Tyler Shields

Photographer Tyler Shields is one of those people who has a hard time falling asleep. He says he's set a new world record by staying awake for 40 straight days.

Though Guinness World Records officials say they won't recognize his stunt because it's so difficult to prove and so dangerous to try, Shields believes he more than doubled existing sleep-related records.

"It's important for people to do things and believe in things that may seem impossible," said the sleepless photographer, who often snaps photos of stars like Lindsay Lohan. "Just because someone tells you something is impossible, doesn't mean it's impossible."

Shields says he surrounded himself with a team of monitors who watched over him 24 hours per day throughout the stunt -- and he kept working, scheduling shoots and snapping photos on his final night.

"I wanted to challenge myself," he told AOL News. "A lot of people said it was impossible. A lot of people said I would never make it 40 days. Well, I did."

In fact, Shields says he made it 40 days and eight hours. Even though he had been awake for so long, falling asleep wasn't easy -- and neither was waking up.

"I slept six hours and when I woke up, it took me 15 minutes to put my pants on," he said. "I was stumbling around my room. Never have I experienced anything like that. One of my assistants said it was like the equivalent of being hung over. I don't drink, so I wouldn't know."

"It was terrible, I kind of wish I had stayed awake."

Tyler Shields

Does this look like a hallucination from a sleep-deprived mind? In a way, it is. Shields took this image of Izabella Miko, Garret Dillahunt and Ali Cobrin after staying awake for 40 straight days.

Shields says he felt groggy for an entire day, slept another night, and has noticed his health, balance and memory improving bit by bit since then.

Despite the physical burdens, Shields says he's happy he stayed awake for 40 straight days.

"Would I advise anyone to do it? No, I wouldn't. Would I do it again? No, I won't break my own record. But I think it's pretty awesome," he said.

For Shields, the real question is what he'll do next.

Before he made headlines for staying awake, the 28-year-old photographer gained notoriety by shooting a man with a gun in a stunt to promote a gallery opening.

"At the time, everyone was like, 'What are you going to do to top that?' " he said. "I feel like this tops that. Anybody can shoot a guy -- but not everyone can stay awake for so long."