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The college kid experience is an unfortunate tale of caffeine, all-nighters, and 3am trips to McDonalds. While all of this is typically advised against, it is nonetheless a shared time. However, this is closely followed by another shared experience: burnout. This is the feeling of mental and physical exhaustion from overworking or being stressed. While it is not recognized as a medical condition, it is considered a factor influencing health status that applies specifically in the occupational context according to the World Health Organization 9. At this time, it is typical for a college student – or anyone in this state – to collapse in bed and get some well-deserved rest. But what would happen if this didn’t occur? What if sleep never came?��

Well, it is first important to understand the correlational aspects of sleep. For one, adults who sleep for 6-8 hours tend to live longer. However, sleeping too much is associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes, while sleeping too little is associated with cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and brain damage6. Sleep is very important for enhancing organ specific molecular functions, reducing cellular metabolic stress in the brain and peripheral tissues, and organizing memory functions2. Additionally, “beauty sleep” is more than just a term, because sleep deprivation can impact your physical appearance just as much as your mental state. Evidence has suggested that sleep deprived people often appear less healthy, less attractive, and more tired compared to when they are well rested4, These features are most often noticed around the eyes, mouth, and skin8.��

So, what happens after the first all-nighter? For one, the mesolimbic pathway (the neural circuit that controls pleasure and reward) is affected. This pathway is strongly stimulated by dopamine, which can momentarily increase motivation, positivity, and sex drive, but can also boost addiction and impulsive behavior in areas of the brain responsible for planning and evaluating decisions. This shuts that area down and increases risky behavior 5.��

“But what about my exam tomorrow? I have to study hard for it.” Well, memory consolidation occurs during deep sleep, and repeated all-nighters can weaken the coupling between structures important for episodic memory, which can make it harder to recall specific information7. In one segment on ABC News, they had a participant stay awake for 50 hours straight. They witnessed decreases in coordination and energy, as well as an increase in disorientation and an inability to perform simple tasks1. Beyond the two-day period, the body begins to have trouble with basic functions in the body, including metabolism of glucose, decreased immune functions, and an increase in hallucinations6.

�� While there isn’t a ton of research on the effects of sleep deprivation, the literature that does exist seems to all support the conclusion that sleep is pretty important. The risks associated with sleep deprivation only get worse the more consistently the behavior is repeated. There are many videos scattered across YouTube about this topic, including some about a man named Randy Gardner. Gardner set the world record for the longest time without sleep in January 1964 at 264.4 hours, and during his experiment, his health was monitored by a researcher from Stanford. Interestingly, the Guinness World Records ceased new attempts for the record, due to safety concerns following Robert McDonald, who stayed awake for 453 hours and 40 minutes2. This decision was probably for the best, as there is no need to encourage college kids to take their bad habits to a world record level.

References

1ABC News. (2015, November 30). What Happens to Your Body on Little Sleep? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAlTLMuf_oo

2Anafi, R. C., Pellegrino, R., Shockley, K. R., Romer, M., Tufik, S., & Pack, A. I. (2013). Sleep is not just for the brain: transcriptional responses to sleep in peripheral tissues. BMC genomics, 14, 362. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-14-362

3Atwal, S. (2023). What’s the limit to how long a human can stay awake? And why we don’t monitor the record. Retrieved from the-limit-to-how-long-a-human-can-stay-awake-733188

4Axelsson, J., Sundelin, T., Ingre, M., Van Someren, E. J., Olsson, A., & Lekander, M. (2010). Beauty sleep: experimental study on the perceived health and attractiveness of sleep deprived people. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 341, c6614. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c6614

5Cox, D. (2014). What happens to your body if you study all night? The Guardian. deprivation

6Grandner, M. A., Sands-Lincoln, M. R., Pak, V. M., & Garland, S. N. (2013). Sleep duration, cardiovascular disease, and proinflammatory biomarkers. Nature and science of sleep, 5, 93–107.https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S31063

7Insider Tech. (2017, December 26). What Happens To Your Body And Brain If You Don’t Get Sleep / The Human Body [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-8b99rGpkM

8Sundelin, T., Lekander, M., Kecklund, G., Van Someren, E. J., Olsson, A., & Axelsson, J.

(2013). Cues of fatigue: effects of sleep deprivation on facial appearance. Sleep, 36(9), 1355– 1360. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964

9WHO. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: Internation classification of diseases. World Health Organization. occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases