An all-nighter is defined as a single night of total sleep deprivation. That is, 0 hours of sleep. It's a fairly common practice for students, particularly in college. One 2008 study found that 60% of college students reported having pulled an all-nighter at least once since beginning college.
What is an All-Nighter? Pulling an all-nighter means engaging in an activity during sleep time that makes you catch little or no sleep for up to 24 hours. So if you're usually asleep from 10 pm to 6 am, you'll remain awake during an all-nighter throughout this time frame.
Tip: Instead of trying to bank sleep the night before, aim for 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep in a cool, calm environment.
For a healthy person, there is unlikely to be long-term health consequences from a single all-nighter. “I think about sleep deprivation as a physiological earthquake,” Simon says. “If it's a relatively rare event… the body can recover after a couple of days."
After an all-nighter, try to give your body enough time to recover by following sleep hygiene practices such as staying active, having a nighttime routine, having light meals for dinner, and following a consistent sleep-wake time. It's important to not withhold sleep the next night after your all-nighter.
So while an all-nighter might seem like a good idea, it doesn't pay off. You'll have a tougher time forming and retaining memories -- in other words, the information you're cramming, when you're sleep deprived.
Ideally, you should try to get more than 90 minutes of sleep. Sleeping between 90 and 110 minutes gives your body time to complete one full sleep cycle and can minimize grogginess when you wake. But any sleep is better than not at all — even if it's a 20-minute nap. For more sleep support, check out our sleep shop.
Is 3 hours enough? This will depend largely on how your body responds to resting this way. Some people are able to function on only 3 hours very well and actually perform better after sleeping in bursts. Though many experts do still recommend a minimum of 6 hours a night, with 8 being preferable.
If you can't sleep, don't try to, says Michael Perlis, PhD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program at the University of Pennsylvania. “The problem with staying in bed for any appreciable amount of time is that this reinforces sleeplessness, physiologically and psychologically,” Perlis says.
This depends upon your genetics, health, and lifestyle. Generally, an adult needs between 7 and 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. A person will generally stabilise in how much sleep they require during young adulthood and stay at the same level for the rest of their life.
The bottom line. If you want to change your circadian rhythms, staying up all night may not offer the most ideal solution. Pulling an all-nighter will likely just make you sleepy. Instead, you can try to fix your sleep schedule by following sleep hygiene practices like keeping your bedroom dark.
“A power nap is a nap that's short — less than 30 minutes long,” says Safia Khan, MD, a specialist in sleep disorders and an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine and the department of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
The answer to whether it is better to sleep for two hours or not at all is… neither. Staying awake all night poses health risks in the long and short term. Not sleeping at all can be risky if you have a difficult or manual job, drive, or work in healthcare.
While sleeping in for a morning or two may help, it's often not enough. Research has shown that it can take up to four days to recover from one hour of lost sleep and up to nine days to eliminate sleep debt.
“Sleep deprivation boosts activity in the part of the brain that is driven by the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is linked to the brain's reward center. Sleep deprivation-induced euphoria affects your mood in the short term and you might feel a giddy rush.
While pulling a late night once in a while isn't great for your health, repeated all-nighters could lead to permanent brain damage.
If you have ever pulled an all-nighter you may have asked yourself, “Is it better to stay up all night or sleep for an hour?” Well, in truth neither answer would likely serve you best. Completing a sleep cycle takes 90 minutes, which is when sleepers should find their most beneficial rest.
The good news is that following a single night without any sleep, you'll only need to bank an extra two to three hours than normal to return most functions and your mood to normal.
Nap SMARTLY!
You might want to stay awake the entire night, but that's easier said than done! It's most feasible when you intersperse your all-nighter with small naps. A 90-minute nap (or one full sleep cycle) is recommended if you don't want to wake up feeling too groggy.