BODY& HEALTH
LS, NIGHT OWTE! O N E TAK
r If you neve n your power dow n can’t brai body, your fo and process in for e clear spac ies. new memor
The Cult of
NO SLEEP Inside the scary world of all-nighters, where the more tired you are, the more accepted you feel. by ANDREA STANLEY
T
he kids at Kate’s high school are exhausted, drained, rundown—and never get sick of boasting about it. “Not sleeping gives you bragging rights—everyone is weirdly proud of how tired they are,” says Kate, 18, from St. Joseph, Missouri. “It’s like, ‘Look how
70 SEVENTEEN.COM / NOVEMBER 2015
involved I am! I hardly sleep! But I can do all these things!’” There’s no rest for the stressed at Jillian’s high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, either. “It’s basically a trend to have too much to do to sleep,” explains the 18-year-old senior. “People use it as a way to fit in.”
Jillian admits that when she’s not as fatigued as her friends, she feels excluded. “Last year during AP testing, a lot of my friends were taking multiple tests, and I was only taking one,” she says. “The whole week people were talking about staying up late to cram, but I wasn’t because I didn’t have as much to study for. I felt left out, like an outcast.” It’s not merely the hope of a good grade that leads you to keep zombie hours: “My friends are up late on social media, too,” Jillian says. When it comes to choosing sleep over a 1 A.M. Snapchat sesh, “It always sucks when it feels like you’re missing out.” Jillian’s and Kate’s high schools aren’t the only places where
MAIN PHOTO: ERHARD WERNER/MINAMOTO IMAGES/STOCKSY. (MODEL USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.)
Sleep, FTW(eak)
