Everyone has pulled an all-nighter at least once in their lives—some for fun, like singing songs around a campfire, others for something not so fun, like finishing homework due the next day or working a late shift. For one day of the year, you can stay up in unison as hundreds of people across the world celebrate Stay Up All Night Night!

This is a chance to let loose and make some exciting plans with your friends, or just see where the night takes you. Whatever happens, the rule is simple: no sleep till morning! So why not challenge yourself and see how long you can stay awake before nodding off, or why not have your friends stay over and place a bet on who will fall asleep first? As long as you don’t have anything important to do the next day, go for it!

History of Stay Up All Night Night

Staying up all night is definitely no new concept. People like medical professionals have been staying up all night to do their jobs for hundreds of years, with countless people’s lives depending on whether they would have their wits about them at 3 a.m.

Today, tens of other jobs require work to be done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the United States, an estimated 26% of the population works nights, so it is quite probable that you know someone who does this. What you may not know, however, is just how many risks working nights poses to your health, from sleep disturbances to obesity, from fatigue to depression, and from cardiovascular disease to fertility problems, to name but a few. And can you imagine just how hard it could be to concentrate on performing a complex medical procedure in the middle of the night?

Stay Up All Night Night was created to help those of us who don’t have to stay up all night to do our jobs understand how much effort actually goes into that, as you would be surprised how hard it can really be to stay up through the night, and sleep during the day, it is often overlooked.

How to celebrate Stay Up All Night Night

The best way to celebrate this night is… well, to stay up all night!

Of course, you don’t have to make a point of trying to work through the night, as it could be difficult for a person who doesn’t do this on an everyday basis to focus properly. It’s enough that you try to stay awake all through the night, whatever you may be doing.

So, are you up for a challenge? Great! Have some friends come over and do something to keep you all awake. You can stay up and cook or bake, play your favorite card game, go out on the town, or watch movies (horror movies may be more effective at keeping people awake!). Basically, you can do anything you want, although consuming alcohol could be very counterproductive, as it tends to make people sleepy.

If you want to make things more interesting, maybe every person coming over to spend the night can put up a certain sum of money, with the person staying awake the longest getting to take the jackpot? Whatever you decide to do, this night is almost certain to be an eye-opener to everyone who thinks that staying awake all night when everyone you know is asleep is just as easy as staying awake during daylight hours.

It will be much easier to stay up late at night if you are not running on sleep debt. If you are already overly sleepy due to the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation, you will have a harder time of it. Ensure that you are getting adequate sleep before trying to stay up late.

If you are planning ahead to a special event when you need to be up later, try to optimize your total sleep obtained in the week preceding it. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep to feel rested.¹ Younger people may need even more sleep. If you are unsure if you are sleep deprived, consider a method of going to bed at a regular time and allowing yourself to sleep in.

Lastly, here is another tip that can help you stay up all night, for the stay up all night night (that is a tongue twister!). Alcohol is another substance that we consume that impacts our ability to stay awake. Unfortunately, it makes it more likely that we will fall asleep. If you go out late to a party or stay out late dancing at a club, evaluate how much alcohol is part of your evening.

As a general rule (with some variation based on your body’s metabolism), it may take about 1 hour to metabolize one alcoholic beverage. By drinking more you may feel buzzed (or even get drunk), but it is also more likely that you may become overly sleepy. This may lead you to pass out and it thus may put an early end to your evening.

So, that concludes this article. Stay Up All Night, Night, is yet another example of people coming together to celebrate something that is often overlooked. It is something accessible, and something that can be done, that can engage the entire family, or engage friends. Doing it together and creating new memories for everyone. Go out there, have fun, join friends, join family and make memories together for Stay Up All Night Night!