Is Staying Up Late and Waking Up Late Considered Staying Up All Night?

For many freelancers and students, sleep is a big deal. It’s not about not getting enough sleep, but whether staying up late and waking up late is the same as staying up all night.

What Sleep Is Like

Scientists say an adult needs 4–5 sleep cycles each day. A sleep cycle is when your body goes from light sleep to deep sleep to REM sleep.

Even though sleep seems like one long thing, scientists found that we go through cycles when we sleep. The first stage of sleep is when you start falling asleep. This part lasts about 5 minutes.

When your body goes from this first part to real sleep, it’s called light sleep. During light sleep, your ears, eyes, and senses don’t react to things outside, but loud noises can wake you up.

When you go from light sleep to deep sleep, it’s harder for noises to wake you up. Only really loud noises can wake you from deep sleep.

From deep sleep, you go to REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep. This is when your eyes move a lot, and you dream the most.

From falling asleep to REM sleep is one cycle, and each cycle is about 90 minutes. You go through 4–5 cycles every night.