21 Jul 2021

Sometimes my mates would rock up to school resembling zombies, cradling a coffee hoping that the caffeine resurrects them (and hides their camel's breath, seriously, brush your teeth ya nasty). Their fried brain wouldn't be able to function, unable to form simple sentences and they'd be a little snappier than usual. Yikes.

I always knew that they'd pulled an all-nighter study sesh, normally for an exam we had that day. I couldn't relate.

I prioritised sleep way over school and never once pulled an all-nighter. In my opinion, they're not so red hot. I mean, I totally get it. Sometimes, life is jumbled, chaotic and overwhelming and an all-nighter is literally your only op. Don't worry, suss out our article on how to survive an all-nighter here!

All I'm saying is, try to avoid them! Catching zzz's is pretty darn important for your physical and mental wellbeing. And sleep is gooood. But here's why all-nighters might not be super red hot for you...

1. No sleep = not happy 

Staying up all night isn't bangin' for you physically. Insufficient sleep can lower your body’s resistance to illness and infection. And obviously, your bod feels fatigued and unable to function.

All-nighters don't do any favours for your mental health either. You're more likely to be irritable and snappy, not to mention not too stoked with life.

Sleep makes us happpppppyyyyyy. So please, prioritise it.

2. Your mind goes to mush

Not only will you look like a zombie, you'll be acting like one too. Not so fun fact - Losing just one and a half hours of sleep in one night can make you up to 32% less alert the next day. Ahh!

So, if you're wanting to be switched on the next day, you're probably gonna find that pretty difficult. Paying attention and concentrating won't work for your sleep-deprived brain, dysfunctional brain. 

I mean, when I haven't had a good night's sleep, I'm a total space cadet. I'm dropping everything like a kook and saying dumb things. I have to ask people to repeat what they have said three times before it actually goes in... That is not the energy we want for an exam.

3. I'm learning like Dory would

You know how Dory has short-term memory loss... That will be you after an all-nighter.

While we sleep, the brain moves information from the hippocampus (the memory-creating portion of the brain) to the prefrontal cortex where long-term memories are stored. Not getting enough sleep makes it harder to retain information, meaning any studying done after skipping sleep will probably not stick.

Huh? Long story short, all-nighters activate short-term, not long-term memory. We only pull all-nighters when we've fallen behind and are trying to rapidly catch up on information or a project. But quickly trying to cram this info only uses short-term memory - and long-term memory is what we need to recall and retain most facts... 

So what can we do if all-nighters aren't the way to go??

Rip the bandaid off and get your studying over and done with beforehand. Learn to manage your time, have a list of priorities, keep a calendar with what you need to do... do a little bit of studying each day instead of trying to knock it out in one go.

Stop the procrastination and as Shia LaBeouf (and Nike) once said, JUST DO IT.

And like I said, sometimes this will be your last resort. All I'm sayin' is, don't make it a regular thing and make sleep a priority for your ✨physical and mental wellbeing✨.