Transcription
Translator: Hani Eldalees
You are just one Roman Empire, a historical emperor away from a comfortable spring break. But you still have a lot to study! So you decided to follow in the footsteps of many students before you and pull an all-nighter. When you stay awake all night, you're fighting against your body's natural daily rhythms. These are the cyclical changes that almost all living things experience over a 24-hour period—like sleeping and waking, and they're heavily influenced by light. But for now, you're awake and powering through the reign of Julius Caesar. As the sun sets, your eyes send signals about the dwindling light to a part of your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This is basically your body's master clock, your circadian clock. It alerts your pineal gland to start producing melatonin. This is the hormone that helps prepare your body for sleep, and levels start to rise about two hours before your natural bedtime. At the same time, neurons in your hypothalamus and brainstem release a compound called GABA. This slows down activity in your brain and can have a calming effect. Your natural bedtime has approached. Because the brain needs to cool down before sleep, your core body temperature starts to drop. Huh, that map looks kind of like a face. Oh, your attention has been caught. You've started to drift. All day, your brain has been releasing a waste product called adenosine. The more adenosine binds to 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 can also make you jittery and increase your anxiety. You're crushing these flashcards! For now, these dates and names are being stored in a region of your brain called the hippocampus. Usually, when you go to sleep, memories like these are consolidated and put into long-term storage in your brain's neocortex. So it's a good thing you only need to remember this information until tomorrow. Sleep deprivation is unpredictable periods of sleep that last only a few seconds and are triggered by sleep deprivation. You stretch, trying to stay awake. But at this point, your motor skills have also taken a hit. Studies have found that people who have stayed awake for 19 hours have similar coordination and reaction times as those who have been drinking. As the sun rises, your pineal gland becomes active and stops secreting melatonin. You feel a "second wind" coming. All in all, you leave for school in a really good mood. Sleep deprivation can lead to brief side effects of euphoria. It's caused a temporary boost in dopamine levels, which can unfortunately also lead to poor choices. The final exam started off well. All these multiple choice! But then you get to the essay portion. It's thought that during sleep, our brains process thoughts and draw connections between new and old memories. So your sleepless brain might be able to recall facts, but you find it more difficult to find patterns or solve problems. You stare at the blank page, defeated. You head to your room, anxious and irritable. The amygdala, a part of the brain involved in processing emotion, has gone into overdrive. Your prefrontal cortex usually keeps your amygdala in check, but it's still not firing on all cylinders. Your bed has never felt so nice. After one night of no sleep, your body and brain return to normal surprisingly quickly. Which is good, because 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 sleep schedule, can take its toll. Getting less than seven hours of sleep regularly each night is linked to all sorts of health problems, from diabetes to stroke to chronic pain. It also puts you at higher risk for developing mental health problems like depression. Your sleep schedule can even affect your grades. Studies have shown that college students who maintain regular sleep hours have, on average, higher GPAs than students who don't. So next time you think about pulling an all-nighter, remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, or at least, not in one night.