Jakarta, ThedailyID — Staying up all night to study may seem like a smart way to gain extra hours before an exam. But according to a TED-Ed lesson by science journalist Anna Rothschild, losing a full night of sleep can affect how the brain stores memories, maintains attention and handles emotions.
Your body follows a circadian rhythm, a roughly 24-hour cycle that helps regulate sleep and wakefulness. As darkness approaches, the brain signals the pineal gland to produce melatonin, which helps prepare the body for sleep.
At the same time, adenosine builds up in the brain throughout the day. The more adenosine attaches to its receptors, the more tired and inattentive you become. Caffeine can temporarily block those receptors, but it can also cause jitteriness and anxiety.
Sleep also plays an important role in memory consolidation. During normal sleep, memories stored in the hippocampus can move into longer-term storage in the brain’s neocortex. Skipping sleep may therefore leave you able to recall facts while making it harder to recognize patterns or solve problems.
Sleep deprivation can also trigger microsleeps, brief and unpredictable periods of sleep lasting only seconds. Rothschild’s TED-Ed lesson notes that people who stay awake for 19 hours can show coordination and reaction times similar to people who have been drinking.
The effects can continue after the exam. Sleep loss can disrupt emotional control because the amygdala becomes more reactive while the prefrontal cortex does not regulate it as effectively.
One sleepless night may not cause lasting damage, and the body can recover relatively quickly. But regularly getting too little sleep or constantly changing your sleep schedule can take a toll on physical and mental health.
So, when the next exam arrives, staying up until sunrise may give you more study time, but it does not necessarily give your brain more power to use it.
Source: TED-Ed, Anna Rothschild, What Staying Up All Night Does to Your Brain, November 2024.
