Photo: Wenn

Michael Jackson may have set the record for the longest period without sleep, an expert has told jurors at the star’s wrongful death trial.

Dr Charles Czeisler, from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, testified that Jackson may have been the first person to go 60 days without proper sleep.

The singer’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, is said to have administered a sedative called Propofol as a means of inducing sleep for two months. The drug induces a coma-like state in patients rather than allowing them to engage in natural sleep.

Czeisler explained that Jackson’s symptoms, such as forgetting words to his songs and being unable to complete simple dances moves, were ‘consistent’ with a person suffering from total sleep deprivation over a chronic period.

Czeisler even went as far as to say that if the singer had not been killed by an overdose of the drug he’d have died from lack of sleep.

By using the drug Jackson was denied REM (rapid eye movement) sleep as his natural sleep cycles were disrupted while he was made to feel as if he’d had a night’s sleep.

“It would be like eating some sort of cellulose pellets instead of dinner,” CNN reports Czeisler as saying.

“Your stomach would be full and you would not be hungry, but it would be zero calories and not fulfill any of your nutrition needs.”

Jackson seemed incoherent when he announced his This Is It tour

This is the latest development in the ongoing trial into Jackson’s death, in which Jackson’s family are suing AEG concerts for $26billion.

The family claim the concert promoters are responsible for the singer’s death for negligently hiring Conrad Murray, who has already been jailed for his role in Jackson’s death.

AEG CEO Randy Philipps bizarrely testified recently that Lionel Ritchie’s wife Brenda had been in touch with Jackson’s ghost and that he’d said he’d accidentally killed himself and that Murray wasn’t responsible.

Below: Michael Jackson trial - the sentencing of Conrad Murray in pictures