根據美國《高速企業》雜誌的報導，為了了解熬夜對大腦的傷害，有研究人員針對與大腦傷害（例如腦震盪）有關的特定蛋白質在血液裡的濃度進行偵測，結果發現，熬夜的人，這類蛋白質的濃度比睡眠正常的人要高出20％。
美國約翰霍普金斯醫學院（Johns Hopkins School of Medicine）的助理教授愛默森．維克沃爾（Emerson Wickwire）指出熬夜對大腦的4大傷害：
1.睡眠愈少，愈容易出錯：
如果睡眠不足，大腦的認知處理過程、專注力、記憶力等，都會容易發生錯誤，若為了趕最後期限熬夜工作，到最後可能得花更多時間彌補這些因為睡眠不足而造成的疏失。
2.睡不飽，容易變笨：
大腦神經元之間的連結愈細密，學習能力愈強、愈聰明。
睡眠時，大腦會自動進行篩選，將不重要的連結捨棄，強化真正重要的連結，並空新的空間，接受新資訊。
3.不足的睡眠是不可能補回來的：
很多人以為，等到週末或假日時，再來彌補之前的睡眠不足。
維克沃爾曾進行一項研究，要求一組受試者第一個星期每天只睡3～5小時，第二個星期則可以每天睡到自然醒；另一組受試者則是兩星期都睡眠正常。
結果發現，第一組受試者，雖然到了第二個星期，成績表現有稍許改善，但是仍不如另一組睡眠正常的受試者。
不過，維克沃爾表示，「預存睡眠」卻是可行的。
如果你預期之後因為工作忙碌，無法有充足的睡眠，因此在幾天前就開始每天多睡一些，這絕對會有幫助。
4.太晚睡導致大腦缺乏緩衝時間：
很多人常常是熬夜到很晚，然後因為過於疲累，只能匆匆上床睡覺，缺少了睡前放鬆的緩衝時間，反而扼殺了創意，因為創意和創新的想法，通常就是在最放鬆的時刻浮現出來的。
所以，在睡前最好能留給自己一段緩衝時間，可以寫下自己心裡的想法，或是列出第二天的待辦事項，這些都能幫助你在一整天的忙碌之後，釐清混亂的思緒，並為第二天的工作事先做好準備。
作者：吳凱琳編譯
原文網址：
http://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5057991&page=1
英文原文：
http://www.fastcompany.com/3029692/work-smart/how-working-late-is-harming-your-brain?utm_source=facebook
HOW WORKING LATE IS HARMING YOUR BRAIN
When running up against a deadline, pulling an all-nighter may seem your only option to complete a project, but a recent study published in the Swedish journal,Sleep showed that, rather than boosting productivity, staying up all night is actually harmful to your brain.
The researchers measured blood levels of certain proteins associated with brain injuries such as concussions and found protein levels were 20% higher in those who pulled all-nighters compared to when they got a full night's rest. Although not as high as protein levels post-concussion, the study proves skimping on sleep can do real brain damage.
Dr. Emerson Wickwire, Sleep Medicine program director at Howard County Centre for Lung and Sleep Medicine in Columbia, Maryland, and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says that while many executives have habituated to chronic sleep loss, they are losing out on key productivity benefits of sleep by depriving their brains of a nutrient just as vital as food or water.
Why are all-nighters so harmful?
1. BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL RESULTS IN A HIGHER RISK OF MENTAL ERRORS.
"Sleep loss has been associated with many manmade disasters," says Wickwire. From the Exxon oil spill to the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, sleep deprivation has been associated with deficits in cognitive processing, concentration, memory, and increased mental errors meaning that, while you may pull the project over the finish line, it may be riddled with mistakes you’ll have to fix later.
2. SLEEP MAKES YOU SMARTER.
"Sleep facilitates memory and learning," says Wickwire. It also allows the brain to filter all information received during the day. With synapses firing all the long, the brain is flooded with electrical activity, but not all of the relationships that develop between synapses are important.
“It's during sleep that unimportant synapses are discarded and the important synaptic ties are strengthened," says Wickwire. Skimping on sleep means depriving the brain of this opportunity to improve your intelligence by strengthening these important connections.
3. YOU CAN'T CATCH UP ON SLEEP.
While you may think you can use the weekend to catch up on lost sleep, Wickwire says the brain doesn’t work this way. He cites a study in which one group of subjects was asked to restrict their sleep to three to five hours a night for a week and were then allowed to sleep as much as they wanted the second week. Even though the subjects performed better during the week of recovery sleep, they still didn’t perform as well as those who had full nights of sleep during the entire two-week period.
However, sleep banking--the process of purposefully oversleeping before a busy week--can help. If you know you’re going to be burning the candle at both ends for a few days or a week, planning ahead and oversleeping a few days in advance can help to minimize the errors you may make because of your sleep loss.
4. ALL-NIGHTERS ELIMINATE THE BENEFITS OF DUSK.
Extending working hours and immediately collapsing into bed late at night or in the early hours of the morning means you miss out on the wind-down period, traditionally known as dusk. “Creativity and innovation need space to emerge,” says Wickwire.
Creating rituals that slow things down can help to improve productivity when you return to engage in the task at hand. “If you focus on the lows, then the highs will get higher,” says Wickwire. Fight the urge to stay up all night and plow through a problem by writing down your thoughts before bed or making a to-do list for the next morning and giving your brain the time and space it requires to sort through the problems during your rest.
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