This Is Your Body On No Sleep

Wes Judd, writing for Outside

The first signal that your body is overtired will be a sluggish mind. Your reaction time will begin lagging around hour 18; after a full night without sleep, it will nearly triple—which, for context, is about the same as being legally drunk. Your ability to form memories will start deteriorating, and after a while, your capacity to create any new memories at all will shut off entirely.

This piece hit home. Most of the week I do alright in the sleep department but I have a terrible habit of staying up way too late on Mondays when putting the finishing touches on the morning shakeout, which, heroic as it might sound to some of you, is not something that brings me great pride. In those final few hours before I go to bed, which is usually between 2-3 AM and somewhere around 20-22 hours after I last woke up, I’m definitely not thinking clearly or making the best decisions. I’m prone to missing things, making mindless mistakes, and forgetting important or necessary details. When I wake up the next day, which is usually 4-5 hours later, 6 if I’m lucky, I’m usually feeling sluggish and overtired, almost hungover in a way. And more often than not, I have a craptastic run to boot. That one poor night of sleep usually sets me back 3-4 days before I can re-stock on enough Zs to feel like I’m back on my game. It’s a bad habit I’ve got to break.