Pulling an all-nighter may result in lower grades5 If skipping sleep results in decreased alertness, poor study habits, and illness, then poorer academic outcomes should come as no surprise. Pulling all-nighters may mean your child or grandchild is missing class to catch-up on sleep or falling asleep in lectures.
On top of the effects it has on learning and mental health, not getting enough sleep also affects students' physical health. Your child's internal clock is easily thrown off balance by poor sleeping habits—so even a single all-nighter can make it easy for your child to fall into a cycle of poor sleep.
All-nighters have extensive and potentially serious negative effects. Sleep is vital to the proper functioning of the body, and completely skipping a night of sleep can harm your thinking and cognition, your mood and emotions, and your physical well-being.
While pulling a late night once in a while isn't great for your health, repeated all-nighters could lead to permanent brain damage.
Pulling an all-nighter may impair a person's mood, increase their stress and anxiety levels, reduce physical and cognitive performance, and disturb their sleep health.
Sleeping between 90 and 110 minutes gives your body time to complete one full sleep cycle and can minimize grogginess when you wake. But any sleep is better than not at all — even if it's a 20-minute nap.
The answer to this question is an emphatic no. Most people will still be impaired from sleep deficiency even if they sleep for more than twice this amount.
“Sleep deprivation boosts activity in the part of the brain that is driven by the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is linked to the brain's reward center. Sleep deprivation-induced euphoria affects your mood in the short term and you might feel a giddy rush.
The longest recorded time without sleep is approximately 264 hours, or just over 11 consecutive days. Although it's unclear exactly how long humans can survive without sleep, it isn't long before the effects of sleep deprivation start to show. After only three or four nights without sleep, you can start to hallucinate.
If you can't sleep, don't try to, says Michael Perlis, PhD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at the University of Pennsylvania. “The problem with staying in bed for any appreciable amount of time is that this reinforces sleeplessness, physiologically and psychologically,” Perlis says.
It impairs your cognitive function
Sleep deprivation impacts your cognitive function by affecting your memory, ability to concentrate and your problem-solving skills. Put simply, you're not at your best after staying up all night, which means it's the worst time to take a test.
How long should I sleep after an all-nighter? Aim to go to bed about an hour earlier and sleep in up to an hour later the next day to start paying back debt without incurring too much circadian misalignment. Anything longer than that and you'll make it harder to get back to a normal sleep schedule.
The good news is that following a single night without any sleep, you'll only need to bank an extra two to three hours than normal to return most functions and your mood to normal. While short-term sleep loss can be made up relatively quickly, this is not the case with longer-term deprivation.
Everyone needs a good amount of sleep each night, but the teen years are an especially important time to be getting that rest. Your teenager might think they are almost an adult, but their brain isn't fully developed yet. Because of that, they may be more likely to take risks and make poor decisions.
Going to bed at midnight is much too late for a twelve year old. They need at least 9 and a half hours sleep a night. That means if she has to get up at 7am for school, she needs to be asleep -- lights off and asleep! -- at 9:30pm.
Other weird records
Previously, Peter Tripp held the first record at 201 hours and suffered from hallucinations for several days after. Between Peter and Randy, Honolulu DJ Tom Rounds made it to 260 hours. Randy tapped out at 264 hours, and slept for 14 hours straight after.
In October of 2017, Wyatt Shaw from Kentucky fell asleep for 11 days. He was just seven years old and doctors ran several tests with no conclusive explanations.
Going without enough sleep for a couple of days will leave most people slaphappy. If you're feeling a bit like you've hit your head—dizzy and lightheaded—you're slaphappy. This informal word is perfect for describing the state when you're so exhausted that you start giggling.
Your memory retention is best when you have had enough sleep, and sometimes an all-nighter might just not be worth it at all. If you do decide to pull one, take care to avoid driving the following day as your alertness will be greatly reduced.
We do not recommend sleeping for only one hour at night. Some research suggests that lost sleep can take years off your life and that you may not be able to catch up on the lost hours of rest. This is because consistent sleep deprivation can cause a myriad of chronic health issues in people over time.