What Happens to Your Brain When You Pull an All-Nighter?

Sleep deprivation is killing you and your much-valued career!

A weekly all-nighter is a rite of passage for college students.

The rest of the office slogging population sometimes has no choice but to load up on latte and buckle up for a night of no wink.

We’re all aware of the rules – seven to eight hours of sleep for an adult and even more for teenagers – but advisable or not, all-nighters happen.

Unfortunately, not only does the next morning really really suck, a lot more happens to your body when you forego sleep. And none of it is pretty!

1. 24 Hours Of No Sleep Means You’re Basically Very Drunk!

When you haven’t slept a wink, your mind goes on the blink. There’s so much medical truth to this Beatles lyrics.

Scientists say the sleep-deprived mind is a lot like being wasted. A 2010 National Institutes of Health study found that no sleep makes the brain groggy, you’re more likely to slur, make hasty decisions which you’ll regret later, almost like an impaired ball of mush. Basically, an idiot. And if this idiot decides to get behind the wheels, it’s as dangerous as drunk driving.

Not one but several studies have found that driving tired is as risky as driving drunk. In fact, it is responsible for 17% of fatal road accidents in the US, the meticulous Mythbusters report.

Another study published in the journal Medical Daily, found that people who slept for six hours were four times more likely to become sick than people who slept for at least seven hours.

Seriously? My frequent cold might just be fixable. As someone who has a terrible immune system, this news is magic to my ears.

So, what are the other weird things sleep deprivation can do to your body?

2. Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity and Heart Problems

If you aren’t logging in eight hours of sleep because internet or darn-breaking parties come in the way, this should be your wake-up call.

A New York University study done in 2011 found that people who sleep lesser than seven hours a night have a four times higher chance of developing impaired fasting glucose levels, a condition which precedes type 2 diabetes in comparison to those who get at least eight quality hours of shut-eye.

It strains your body to overpump the stress hormone cortisol, which has a host of negative effects like wrecking the natural immunity, breaking out the skin, making you look older, lowering sperm count and making you fat.

The hormones, leptin and grehlin, regulate your appetite and the feeling of fullness in your body. Now with lack of sleep, the ratio of these hormones goes topsy-turvy. As a result, your body loses its ability to tell when you are full as well.

Your metabolism goes bonkers. Yes, when you’re underslept, your body stops metabolising food as efficiently as it can.

3. Your Circadian Rhythm Goes Down the Drain Making You Feel Like Garbage

Every tiny cell in your body has its own clock and sends signals to your brain which keeps them in top shape like a well-oiled machine. This internal clock determines meal times, sleep time, etc. When you don’t get quality zzzs, the circadian rhythm, or the body clock goes out for a wack – as a result you’re eating when you should be resting, you’re seeing light when you shouldn’t be, you’re acting totally out of sync.

4. Sex Drought

Sex is a lot of hard work for the brain. It has to be fully active to get stimulated. So if it’s between sleep or sex, sex or sleep – you’re probably not in the state to chooZZZ.

Also Read: How PM Modi Manages With 4 Hours of Sleep: Gene Revealed

5. Your Memory Gets Worse!

Right through college, I never slept the night before the exam. I was superstitious that my memory will fade if I let myself sleep. I thought I could concentrate better. But who isn’t an impaired ball of mush in college?

Truth is when you sleep, the brain repairs and refreshes itself. The hippocampus replays what you’ve learned while you were awake and stores it in the long-term memory. A good night’s sleep increases attentiveness, recalling and reasoning abilities.

Note to my younger self : THIS is why your grades were consistently on the lower side.

Fun Fact For All the Zombie New Mommies

Chronic sleep deprivation is far more dangerous than not occasionally sleeping for a night or two. Although both will make you go bonkers in the long term.

So first, napping.

Also Read: The Science of Dreams: Why Do We Dream?
Also Read: Insufficient Sleep Can Increase Susceptibility To The Common Cold, Affect Physical Health
Also Read: Driving Tired
Also Read: Consequences of sleep deprivation