Long term effects of all-nighters

[deft]

I looked into that last year and convinced myself I must have either
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
(Peak alertness, tiredness, etc is delayed until later in the night)

or

Non-24-hour sleep-wake Syndrome
(Peak alertness, tiredness, has a cycle longer than the typical 24 hours)

They kind of sound like cop-outs but who knows. Sounds like there's not really a solid way to diagnose them.

[Jefe]

For one you'll die faster (your body too ages faster). It has to do with your Circadian rhythm. Our bodies produce hormones due to the daylight entering through one's pupils; since you'll be disrupting it your body will not get appropriate amounts it needs to function properly. Eventually you'll fuck your body's homeostasis.

[Cephius]

You do realize that pulling all-nighters is a terrible study habit right? The body uses sleep to internalize things that are learned, almost any pysch student can tell you about REM sleep studies relating to short-term memory. I understand you're not staying up to study or anything, but if you stay up too late before a test it's doing you more harm than good.

I'm sure it's not good for your health, either. If you think you have some form of insomnia you should probably see a doctor.

[deft]

You do realize that pulling all-nighters is a terrible study habit right? The body uses sleep to internalize things that are learned, almost any pysch student can tell you about REM sleep studies relating to short-term memory. I understand you're not staying up to study or anything, but if you stay up too late before a test it's doing you more harm than good.

I have heard about this, but it's actually never negatively effected my test scores. I can't say I never do it to study; I actually stayed up last night to study for my test this morning. @.@ But yes, I should probably see a doctor.

[archibaldcrane]

But yes, I should probably see a doctor.

Or just sleep 8 hours a night.

Either way.

[Bardlet]

I had something similar, just always figured it was some variation of insomnia.

If you're really concerned about it, you should make a conscious effort to change your sleeping patterns. It's not as easy as just deciding to go lay in bed at xxx am/pm, though.

-Try not to eat anything after 6 PM. Digestion will actually affect how well you sleep (like, when people have nightmares after eating right before bed).

- Start your before bed routine earlier. If you typically do something like, brush your teeth, then read for 30 min before going to bed, then make an effort to do it like, 30 min earlier every few days. Humans are creatures of habit, and training yourself to do the things that ususally "put you to sleep" a bit earlier gradually will make it easier to adjust to.

- if you're staying up from gaming, try setting an alarm clock either on or near your computer at the time you'd like to start getting ready for bed. This was actually a hard thing for me to do, as like you I was fairly addicted to what I was playing. If you need to, set more than one, and have them nowhere near you where you can just reach over and turn them off. I found having an outside reminder of "hey it's 1 am, you need to get your ass into bed" was extremely helpful.

These are just suggestions of things that have worked for me. I was staying up until 6 am, going to bed, waking up at noon, then heading into work at 1 pm. I felt like I had no time for anything other than work, eat, game, sleep, repeat. Since then, I'm sleeping on average 8 hours a night. I go to bed between 1 and 2 am after a 3-4 hour gaming session, and I'll typically wake up sometime around 9-10 am. While I'm not a "morning person" by any means, the shift in my schedule has definitely improved my focus, my mood, and my overall temperament.

Oh one thing I didn't mention as well- I started taking a multi-vitamin every day. Don't know how much it helps, but it definitely can't hurt.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that I cut waaaay back on how much caffeine I was ingesting. After staying caffeine-free for about 2 weeks, I noticed a huge difference in the quality and length of my sleep. Now instead of having say, a coffee everyday/night, I'll have it every once in awhile as a treat (if I need something warm to drink, it's usually decaffeinated tea ftw for me).

[Woozie]

If you take multivitamins, and you have sleep issues, take them in the day time. Certain vitamins keep you more awake and alert (I think one of the B vitamins has that effect).

[OctavoGilgamesh]

Or just sleep 8 hours a night.

Either way.

Who the shit actually gets that much sleep a night on a regular basis?

[zoobernut]

Who the shit actually gets that much sleep a night on a regular basis?

People who are done with school and have a regular job. I know as soon as I graduated from college and got a regular job I was sleeping 8ish hours a night, sometimes 7 maybe if a show was on that I wanted to watch.

Before that I always stayed up late.

[Kilhart]

Any sleep deprivation can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm, the side effect of which can vary in intensity and in symptoms.

Decent info on the CR on wiki, good starting point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

This. Searching for "all nighters" won't do anything for you. Read up on your circadian rhythm and you'll have a better idea of the long term effects. From what I know, the hormone imbalances can cause some pretty fucked up psychological effects. My sleep schedule was fucked up for a few years and eventually I became depressed for a few months. Dunno if it was because of that, but I fixed my sleep schedule and the depression went away.

[noblemountain]

Ever since I was little I have only slept 3 to 4 hours a night. I don't ever set alarms or anything like that, I just know I'll wake up in 3 hours and that's that. It really helped me function well in the Army and throughout Ranger training when we were getting little to no sleep. I am 29 now and have a "real" job (i work with elephants, so physical labor part of the day and lots of mental alertness). I workout every day as I also train for and fight mixed martial arts, so I'm in good shape. I have a very healthy diet and don't drink soda or coffee. I do drink green tea for lunch.

I have seen lots of doctors about it, as I was concerned for a long time, and they all say I'm perfectly healthy and that 3-4 hours is all my body needs to fully recover. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 17, which is a fairly early diagnosis, and underwent ECT. Since then I have not had any symptoms of it, nor have I slept more than 6 hours. Maybe something from the electro-convulsive triggered something in my brain...who knows. I have to go through lots of physical exams in preperation for fights, so I'm fairly confident with all the tests they run they would have found something by now. All that said...watch me have a massive heart attack tomorrow. lol

[Marihoki]

I looked into that last year and convinced myself I must have either
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
(Peak alertness, tiredness, etc is delayed until later in the night)

Wow that sounds a lot like what I do every day. For the last 6 - 7 years I have been doing this. During highschool I started having a really hard time getting to sleep before 1am even though I would only sleep for 2-4 hours every night (because I had to get up early), eventually I started taking naps during the day to compensate it.

For the last four years or so I've been sleeping at dawn, getting about 8 hours of sleep and waking up in the middle of the afternoon. I usually tend feel more focused and more productive from midnight to 8am. I start to miss sunlight though and I usually try to get on a normal sleeping schedule (which for me is 2am to 10am). However even that for me its horrible to obtain and maintain. It takes me 1-2 weeks to actually be able to do it. I have to stay up all night and pull all nighter's, use about 5 different alarm clocks, take melatonin, have people call me to wake me up.... and when I am able to keep a schedule I usually am only able to keep it for two weeks to a month at best before I go back to my screwed up sleep times.

[Rammses]

There is no conclusive evidence for practically anything related to lack of sleep affecting physical health. It's been linked to many things though, including some forms of cancer. To be safe, you should sleep long and regularly. On the other hand, if you feel fine with little or irregular sleep, you might be wasting time going out of your way to sleep...

If you're going to do it, do it for something more constructive than playing FPS and camping HNMs.

[Rammses]

Wow that sounds a lot like what I do every day. For the last 6 - 7 years I have been doing this. During highschool I started having a really hard time getting to sleep before 1am even though I would only sleep for 2-4 hours every night (because I had to get up early), eventually I started taking naps during the day to compensate it.

For the last four years or so I've been sleeping at dawn, getting about 8 hours of sleep and waking up in the middle of the afternoon. I usually tend feel more focused and more productive from midnight to 8am. I start to miss sunlight though and I usually try to get on a normal sleeping schedule (which for me is 2am to 10am). However even that for me its horrible to obtain and maintain. It takes me 1-2 weeks to actually be able to do it. I have to stay up all night and pull all nighter's, use about 5 different alarm clocks, take melatonin, have people call me to wake me up.... and when I am able to keep a schedule I usually am only able to keep it for two weeks to a month at best before I go back to my screwed up sleep times.

Same situation for me, down to every single letter and number pretty much. I need to have my mother call me to wake me up every single day, nothing else works...

Do you fall asleep easily in a well-lit room?

Edit: well shit, meant to edit that into my last post. so so so sorry for the double post.

[zoobernut]

I looked into that last year and convinced myself I must have either
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
(Peak alertness, tiredness, etc is delayed until later in the night)

This is exactly how I was through highschool and college. It didn't really have anything to do with studying or school even during breaks and on weekends I would have a very difficult time falling asleep but once I was asleep I would sleep soundly and I have trouble waking up. Even now working I have trained myself to go to bed earlier but I still have a tough time falling asleep.

[Draylo]

Hm I heard that you don't regain the hours you lost back but I don't really believe it. I used to pull all-nighters all the time and my logic was that if I slept later in the day for 8 hours still I got the sleep I needed but I have heard that is incorrect so who knows.

[Kilhart]

Hm I heard that you don't regain the hours you lost back but I don't really believe it. I used to pull all-nighters all the time and my logic was that if I slept later in the day for 8 hours still I got the sleep I needed but I have heard that is incorrect so who knows.

That's not really how it works. Studies have shown that the body is very good at revitalizing itself after even a few hours of sleep following long periods of activity. In other words, if you stay up for 3 days straight and then sleep for 3 hours, it'll be similar to having stayed up for 21 hours and then sleeping for 3 hours. At least, that's what I read.

The main risk of all-nighters, again, has to do with your circadian cycle; it doesn't have that much to do with how much sleep you actually get per day.

[thetruepandagod]

Lack of sleep causes your bones to become frail and your immune system to become shot, these aren't necessarily long term affects but they can lead to them, IE: broken bones or serious diseases that you normally would have been able to avoid. Nothing can become permanently ruined in your body by frequent all nighters, its not like eye sight where you lose it you can't get it back, the only thing that can have permanent long lasting affects is sleep deprivation 4+ days, that's when people who are prone to being bipolar etc start to become unhinged.

[deft]

Wow that sounds a lot like what I do every day. For the last 6 - 7 years I have been doing this. During highschool I started having a really hard time getting to sleep before 1am even though I would only sleep for 2-4 hours every night (because I had to get up early), eventually I started taking naps during the day to compensate it.

For the last four years or so I've been sleeping at dawn, getting about 8 hours of sleep and waking up in the middle of the afternoon. I usually tend feel more focused and more productive from midnight to 8am. I start to miss sunlight though and I usually try to get on a normal sleeping schedule (which for me is 2am to 10am). However even that for me its horrible to obtain and maintain. It takes me 1-2 weeks to actually be able to do it. I have to stay up all night and pull all nighter's, use about 5 different alarm clocks, take melatonin, have people call me to wake me up.... and when I am able to keep a schedule I usually am only able to keep it for two weeks to a month at best before I go back to my screwed up sleep times.

Yeah wow, this. I had a pretty good sleep schedule for a few months from June to November and it only took a few late nights to kick me back into this habit. The all-nighters come from me knowing I'll sleep until the afternoon if I go to bed which I can't afford with school/work.

[Deadgye]

Any sleep deprivation can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm, the side effect of which can vary in intensity and in symptoms.

Decent info on the CR on wiki, good starting point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

Hah. I can't remember every having a circadian rhythm. I've fallen asleep and woken up at every single hour of the day much more than a few times. I'll have random stints where I wake up at 7am and go to sleep at like 9pm for a few days, and then I start going to sleep at 8am and waking up at 6pm, and etc. During school, and due to the fact that I have to drive 45-60 minutes to school, I'll tend to have something that sort of mimics a circadian rhythm.. but once summer or winter break hits you get to see how really screwed up it is.