It's funny - I think originally I started staying up late on purpose because I noticed that when I did, I wasn't really as stressed out the next day. When I had had a late night, I didn't sweat the small stuff, didn't get hung up on work, and generally didn't give a shit because well, I was just too tired. It was kind of like being stoned (or what I imagine being stoned might be like), without the drugs; things just kind of washed over me without actually affecting me too much.
I figured this was great because I had a lot of personal stuff going on and work sucked, so the less of it I had to actually deal with, the better. Plus it made my regular morning coffee caffeine hit taste like heaven.
There's a point though at which it stopped being fun; or helpful. Today I almost amputated my own thumb with an Esky (a story for another time), got stabbed with a shard of glass, and fell asleep on some random guys shoulder on the train. The fact that he just left me there with my dreams is either really kind, or really creepy.
It gets worse: being so tired you fall asleep standing up on a crowded train is not a good look, especially the recovery, where you realise that this time it wasn't just a dream, you really were falling.
No; depriving myself of sleep is definitely no longer a helpful way of dealing with stress (if it ever was) which is why I'm going to bed now for a quality 6 hours sleep... just as soon as I post this.
