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You’re just one Roman Empire
history final away
from a relaxing spring break.
But you still have so much to study!
So you decide to follow in the footsteps
of many students before you
and pull an all-nighter.
When you stay up all night,
you're fighting against your body's
natural circadian rhythms.
These are the cyclical changes that
virtually all living things experience
over the course of a 24-hour period—
such as sleeping and waking—
and they’re heavily influenced by light.
But for the moment, you're alert
and powering through
the rule of Julius Caesar.
As the sun sets, your eyes send signals
about the dwindling light
to a part of your brain called
suprachiasmatic nucleus.
This is basically your circadian
rhythm’s clock.
It alerts your pineal gland
to start producing melatonin.
That’s the hormone that helps
prepare your body for sleep,
and levels start to rise about two hours
before your normal bedtime.
At the same time, neurons in the
hypothalamus and brain stem
release a compound called GABA.
This slows down activity in your brain
and can have a calming effect.
You’re approaching your normal bedtime.
Since the brain needs to cool down
before sleep,
your core body temperature
starts to drop.
Huh, that map kind of looks like a face.
Uh-oh, your attention has
started to drift.
Throughout the day, your brain has been
releasing a waste product
called adenosine.
The more adenosine latching
onto receptors in your brain,
the more tired and inattentive you become.
Time for a cup of coffee.
Caffeine blocks adenosine
from binding to receptors,
which can give you a boost of energy.
However, it might also make you jittery
and increase your anxiety.
You’re acing these flashcards!
Right now these dates and names
are being stored
in an area of the brain
called the hippocampus.
Normally when you go to sleep,
memories like these are consolidated
and slotted into long-term storage
in your brain’s neocortex.
So it’s a good thing you only need
to remember this information
through tomorrow.
Microsleeps are unpredictable periods
of sleep that last for only a few seconds
and are triggered by sleep deprivation.
You stretch in an attempt to stay awake.
But at this point your motor skills
have also taken a hit.
Studies have found that people
who have been awake for 19 hours
have similar coordination and reaction
times as those who have been drinking.
As the sun rises, your pineal gland
stops releasing melatonin.
You feel a “second wind” come on.
And despite everything, you leave
for school in a really good mood.
Sleep deprivation can briefly
induce euphoria.
It's caused a temporary boost
in dopamine levels,
which can unfortunately
also lead to poor choices.
The final starts off well.
It’s all multiple choice!
But then you get to the essay portion.
It’s thought that during sleep,
our brains process ideas and draw
connections between new memories
and old ones.
So your sleepless brain
might be able to regurgitate facts,
but you're finding it more difficult
to find patterns or problem solve.
You stare at the blank page, defeated.
You head up to your room,
anxious and irritable.
Your amygdala, the part of the brain
involved with processing emotion,
is going haywire.
Your prefrontal cortex usually keeps
your amygdala in check,
but it still isn't firing
on all cylinders.
Your bed has never felt so sweet.
After one sleepless night, your body
and brain bounce back pretty quickly.
Which is a good thing since we can’t
always control how much sleep we get.
But going for long periods without
a good night's sleep
or constantly changing your bedtime,
can take its toll.
Regularly getting less than seven hours
of sleep each night
is linked to all sorts of health issues,
from diabetes to stroke to chronic pain.
It also leaves you more vulnerable
to developing mental health issues
like depression.
Your sleep schedule
can even affect your grades.
Studies have shown that college students
who keep regular sleep hours have,
on average, a higher GPA than
students who don't.
So the next time you’re thinking
of pulling an all-nighter,
remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day,
or for that matter, one night.
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