Sleep is one of the most essential activities for human health, but it’s also one of the most neglected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14.5 percent of adults occasionally have trouble falling asleep. Whether because of work or mindlessly scrolling on your phone, staying up late can throw off your circadian rhythm—the internal clock that tells your body when it’s time to sleep and stay awake.
So how do you get your sleep cycle back on track? Some online communities have suggested pulling an all-nighter as a quick sleep hack for “resetting” your circadian rhythm. The idea is that forcing yourself awake increases sleep pressure—the urge to sleep more that increases the longer a person is awake—allowing you to knock out at your preferred time. While this may have worked for a person or two, it’s not a recommended practice.
Pulling an all-nighter will actually make sleep problems worse, says Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist known as “The Sleep Doctor.” If your sleep schedule is already off, depriving the body of even more sleep can worsen a person’s cognitive function—stunting their problem-solving, memory, and creative thinking skills. A person’s reaction time also drops dramatically, which can increase the risk of drowsy driving accidents.
[Related: How to wake up]
Thomas Kilkenny, the director of the Institute Sleep Medicine at Northwell Health in New York City, points out that sleep deprivation is considered a form of torture banned in the Geneva Conventions—treaties that list protocols for humanitarian treatment during war. “To voluntarily do this is not a good idea and we should try to do whatever we can to avoid that.”
There’s no way to shift the timing of your circadian rhythm in one night. It actually takes roughly 28 days for your circadian rhythm to reset fully, says Breus. The good news is that while it might take some time, there are other effective…
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