When Sleep Deprivation Is an Antidepressant

My default mode for writing term papers during my student days was the all-night slog, and I recall the giddy, slap-happy feeling that would steal over me as the sun rose. There was a quality of alert focus that came with it, as well as a gregariousness that would fuel bonding sessions with my other all-night companions. After we’d turned in the products of our midnight oil to our professors, we would all head out for pancakes. Then I’d go home and sleep the magic off.

For years, I’d wondered if there was any basis for this temporary euphoria that I—though certainly not all my classmates—experienced after those