What staying up all night does to your brain - Anna Rothschild — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07You’re just one Roman Empire history final away
2. 0:11from a relaxing spring break.
3. 0:15But you still have so much to study!
4. 0:17So you decide to follow in the footsteps of many students before you
5. 0:21and pull an all-nighter.
6. 0:27When you stay up all night,
7. 0:29you're fighting against your body's natural circadian rhythms.
8. 0:34These are the cyclical changes that virtually all living things experience
9. 0:38over the course of a 24-hour period— such as sleeping and waking—
10. 0:43and they’re heavily influenced by light.
11. 0:46But for the moment, you're alert and powering through
12. 0:50the rule of Julius Caesar.
13. 0:53As the sun sets, your eyes send signals about the dwindling light
14. 0:58to a part of your brain called suprachiasmatic nucleus.
15. 1:03This is basically your circadian rhythm’s clock.
16. 1:07It alerts your pineal gland to start producing melatonin.
17. 1:11That’s the hormone that helps prepare your body for sleep,
18. 1:14and levels start to rise about two hours before your normal bedtime.
19. 1:19At the same time, neurons in the hypothalamus and brain stem
20. 1:24release a compound called GABA.
21. 1:27This slows down activity in your brain and can have a calming effect.
22. 1:34You’re approaching your normal bedtime.
23. 1:36Since the brain needs to cool down before sleep,
24. 1:39your core body temperature starts to drop.
25. 1:44Huh, that map kind of looks like a face.
26. 1:48Uh-oh, your attention has started to drift.
27. 1:51Throughout the day, your brain has been releasing a waste product
28. 1:55called adenosine.
29. 1:57The more adenosine latching onto receptors in your brain,
30. 2:00the more tired and inattentive you become.
31. 2:03Time for a cup of coffee.
32. 2:05Caffeine blocks adenosine from binding to receptors,
33. 2:09which can give you a boost of energy.
34. 2:11However, it might also make you jittery and increase your anxiety.
35. 2:18You’re acing these flashcards!
36. 2:20Right now these dates and names are being stored
37. 2:22in an area of the brain called the hippocampus.
38. 2:26Normally when you go to sleep, memories like these are consolidated
39. 2:31and slotted into long-term storage in your brain’s neocortex.
40. 2:35So it’s a good thing you only need to remember this information
41. 2:39through tomorrow.
42. 2:44Microsleeps are unpredictable periods of sleep that last for only a few seconds
43. 2:49and are triggered by sleep deprivation.
44. 2:52You stretch in an attempt to stay awake.
45. 2:55But at this point your motor skills have also taken a hit.
46. 2:59Studies have found that people who have been awake for 19 hours
47. 3:02have similar coordination and reaction times as those who have been drinking.
48. 3:09As the sun rises, your pineal gland stops releasing melatonin.
49. 3:14You feel a “second wind” come on.
50. 3:17And despite everything, you leave for school in a really good mood.
51. 3:21Sleep deprivation can briefly induce euphoria.
52. 3:25It's caused a temporary boost in dopamine levels,
53. 3:28which can unfortunately also lead to poor choices.
54. 3:34The final starts off well.
55. 3:36It’s all multiple choice!
56. 3:37But then you get to the essay portion.
57. 3:41It’s thought that during sleep,
58. 3:43our brains process ideas and draw connections between new memories
59. 3:47and old ones.
60. 3:48So your sleepless brain might be able to regurgitate facts,
61. 3:53but you're finding it more difficult to find patterns or problem solve.
62. 3:58You stare at the blank page, defeated.
63. 4:03You head up to your room, anxious and irritable.
64. 4:06Your amygdala, the part of the brain involved with processing emotion,
65. 4:10is going haywire.
66. 4:12Your prefrontal cortex usually keeps your amygdala in check,
67. 4:15but it still isn't firing on all cylinders.
68. 4:18Your bed has never felt so sweet.
69. 4:23After one sleepless night, your body and brain bounce back pretty quickly.
70. 4:28Which is a good thing since we can’t always control how much sleep we get.
71. 4:32But going for long periods without a good night's sleep
72. 4:35or constantly changing your bedtime, can take its toll.
73. 4:39Regularly getting less than seven hours of sleep each night
74. 4:43is linked to all sorts of health issues,
75. 4:45from diabetes to stroke to chronic pain.
76. 4:49It also leaves you more vulnerable to developing mental health issues
77. 4:52like depression.
78. 4:54Your sleep schedule can even affect your grades.
79. 4:57Studies have shown that college students who keep regular sleep hours have,
80. 5:01on average, a higher GPA than students who don't.
81. 5:05So the next time you’re thinking of pulling an all-nighter,
82. 5:09remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day,
83. 5:12or for that matter, one night.