Think Twice Before Pulling That All-Nighter, Study Says—Here's Why

When we think about the things we can do to live well longer, getting consistent, quality sleep is definitely high up on the list. And vice versa, according to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience1, sleep deprivation can actually age your brain. Here's what the study found.

"Together," the study authors say, "the convergent findings indicate that acute total sleep loss changes brain morphology in an aging-like direction in young participants and that these changes are reversible by recovery sleep."

It comes as good news that you can effectively reverse the impact of total sleep deprivation by getting a full night's sleep ASAP. Ideally, you're not staying up all night to begin with, but extenuating circumstances can happen, so it's then important to get back on track.

Ensuring you're going to bed and waking up at the same times every day is one of the easiest ways to help your body know when to get sleepy, and know when to wake up. On top of that, rules of thumb like exercising regularly, limiting stress, and taking a quality, research-backed sleep supplement can all help you catch enough zzz's. (Here are our absolute favorite sleep supplements if you're in the market.)

If you go a full night without a wink of sleep, you can be sure you're going to feel it the next day—and your brain might even show it. But with your go-to sleep tools handy and a cleared calendar to catch up on some shut eye, this research says you can help get your brain back to baseline afterwards.