Yet another anecdotal data point: I pulled my first all-nighter at age nine. That was July 1969, Armstrong on the Moon, which in Europe was a nighttime event. S

Yet another anecdotal data point: I pulled my first all-nighter at age nine. That was July 1969, Armstrong on the Moon, which in Europe was a nighttime event. Stayed up for the rerun next morning and day. Tired, of course, and everything slightly unreal, mostly from all the agitation and the ghostly tv images, I think. Since then, have not infrequently skipped nights - because of night shifts of physical labor, because of coding and inability to call it a day, because of travelling, because of childbirth, because of sudden insomnia, because of new, exciting girlfriend or - rarely - because of partying. Generally, once I get a normal night of sleep, I'm fine, no residual effects that I'm aware of. 'A normal night of sleep' means 7 - 8 hours in the dark part of the year, 5 - 6 during summer. Just entered my sixties, and healthwise doing just fine. Working in a job with a higly varying time schedule and actually enjoying it, whereas regular hours Monday through Friday eventually always push me into torpor and quasi-depression. I rarely take naps, but will go to bed and fall asleep no problem at five or six in the afternoon if that's what my schedule dictates.