Sep
3
How To Pull An All Nighter
Filed Under Career, Health, Improve Efficiency, The Bigger Perspective |
The All Nighter
We’ve probably all had this experience at one time or another: There is something you need to get done tomorrow and you can’t finish it by tonight. So, being the responsible person that you are, you try to stay up late to get it done. Here’s a couple of very important tips that’ll help you on your next adventure.
The Cause Of The All Nighter
First, realize that if you have to pull an all nighter, you have already screwed up. Somewhere along the line, you had thought you would be finished by tonight, but you haven’t. The plan had not gone as you had anticipated, and now you are paying your dues. Therefore, you should examine your planning errors, as that will be of greater value in the long run. Did you spend too little time planning (or didn’t plan at all)? Did you procrastinate and not follow your plan? Did you not allow enough time for random factors in your plan?
All of these things are situations that come up time and time again in your life. Therefore, it’s important to recognize these inefficiencies and try not to repeat them. You don’t have to do this right this minute, but it should be done as soon as possible while your memories of the events are fresh in your mind. Maybe a quick summary right now, with a more in depth analysis after you’ve finished your stuff and had some sleep. In the long run, a couple of wasted hours every once in a while can add up to substantial amounts of time throughout the course of your life.
The Cost Of The All Nighter
The all nighter is not a way to get more time. That seems to be a common misconception that if you worked over night, then you basically gained those extra hours with no consequences. Nothing could be further from the truth! You will give those hours back by sleeping more the next few days, dozing off at school/work, etc. In fact, from my experience, I would say for every all nighter hour you spend awake that you should have spent sleeping, you need to sleep about 1.1-1.5x as many hours just to get back to the same level of alertness. Not to mention the diminished level of work that you would accomplish during those hours, which will have to be taken out of your other awake time to be made up. Therefore, all nighter hours need to be repaid by 2+ normal hours.
This is not to say there isn’t a place for pulling an all nighter. One hour now could be worth more than two hours tomorrow. For example, there is a final exam in a few hours and you really need the extra couple of hours to study. In this case, doing poorly on the exam may cost you many, many more hours later in terms of retaking the course, speaking with the professor, etc. Or maybe your plane is taking off at 4am and you need to be on board. If you don’t make it, then you’ll have to spend many hours waiting at the airport for the next flight (although if I had a laptop or something else I can do, then it would be partially or wholly mitigated - see Give Me A Little More Time).
Your Motivation For The All Nighter
If your reasons for getting into the all nighter in the first place is because you procrastinated, then the all nigher really isn’t going to help that much. If it’s something you really don’t want to do, no matter how much caffeine you put into your body, or how long you stay up, you are not going to do it. It would be better to fix this problem by addressing the root issue by finding out what you really want. It would be easier to just fail the class or not do the assignment, and start focusing on the things you want right away. Tomorrow, explain to the person in charge that you are not really interested in whatever it is, apologize, and move on. What’s the point of doing a lousy job on something you didn’t want to do anyway?
On the other hand, if your reasons for going into the all nighter is a lack of planning for something you are passionate about, then you are in the right frame of mind. Back in college, when I wanted to live up to my word in finishing a project for my research professor, I very very easily worked from 6pm until 3pm the next day, completing the project in the nick of time. I didn’t even need any coffee or caffeine, and wasn’t really that tired. If you are actually interested in what you are doing and excited about it, you really don’t even notice the time or how tired you are.
If you didn’t want to do it to begin with, even with all the coffee in the world, you’ll be looking for reasons to fall asleep, and you’ll do exactly that. At best, you won’t be able to fall asleep, so you’ll be stuck in a dreamy world where you’re not getting anything done and wish you were sleeping instead.
Tips For Pulling An All Nighter
Motivate Yourself - As stated above, motivation is the most important thing in terms of keeping awake and working on the project. You might as well go to sleep if you don’t want to do it.
Focus On the Task - In NAVY Seals training’s “Hell Week”, where people have to stay up for 5 days with only a few hours of sleep, it was reported that the key to staying awake is by focusing on tasks in the present. Try not to let your mind drift at all. Forget about going to the bathroom, or sleeping, or anything else. There is just you, and the task. If you conquer it, you can get the thing you want most - sleep.
Go Easy On The Caffeine - Each little bit you drink now will make your recovery from it that much harder (see How To Recover From Caffeine Addiction) later. Yes, you are already spending your “later hours”, so try to keep that to a minimum. Focus on the two tips above and hopefully you won’t need any caffeine. If you must, drink a minimum amount that’ll keep you awake. Remember that the placebo effect can be pretty strong, so if you just believe that 1/2 cup of coffee will keep you awake for another 12 hours, it probably will.
Don’t Take A Nap - While theoretically, you can be more clear headed after a 20 minute nap, I find that not to really hold up in reality. If you can talk yourself into taking a nap, you can talk yourself into sleeping until past when your project is due. Not to mention that you’ll probably be groggy when you wake up if you don’t do it right.
Get Some Sleep - In contrast to the tip above, it may not be such a bad idea to get some sleep if you have a presentation or test in the morning. By sleep, I mean complete cycles, in about 90 minutes - 2 hour increments. For me, 4 hours equals two sleep cycles, where I’ll wake up quite alertly. In these cases where you need to memorize stuff, sleep helps bury it deeper into your long term memory. After you wake up, continue studying.
Take A Shower - This is generally very refreshing. The pounding water is exciting your sensory impulses, while the heat relaxes you so that you’re not too tense (but not so relaxed that you’ll fall asleep).
Go Out For A Run - Exercise will speed up the heart and increase blood flow and metabolism. This is the same thing as described in How To Recover From Caffeine Addiction
Eat Some Sugars - Fruit Juice, or other sugary stuff, should provide your body with a good source of energy for the short term. Caffeine’s not the only thing that can juice it up!
Let Your Alarm Clock Ring - I’ve found that years of training in jumping out of bed when the alarms rings has created in us a kind of a built in automatic “awake” reaction to the alarm clock. Set the alarm clock to ring at random times in the next few minutes. Go about your work, and that “shock” from the alarm clock can keep you awake for hours.
Turn the temperature down - It’s just damn hard to fall asleep when it’s freezing, so make it really cold. However, it shouldn’t be so cold that it distracts you from working. I find that about 60-70 degrees in your pajamas should do the trick. Of course, adjust that depending on your size and the amount of body hair you have.
When All Else Fails
Remember that whatever it is, you can always not do it. You can fail a test, miss a flight, or disappoint a partner. However, you cannot get another life if you permanently damage your health. Face the consequences and remember to plan better next time - it’s usually not that big of a deal!
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I do not recommend an all nighter unless you have to because of the potential health risk related to the body. An all nighter diminishes your strength, energy, motivation and sleep for the next day so it is best to leave it for the next day if you can. Also not enough sleep will take a toll in the body in the long run and might even make you sick for a few weeks like my aunt because she has lost too much sleep. She needed a few weeks of recovery to be back to normal again.
I’ve only ever had a couple of all nighters in my life and that was with group projects at University. I found them really, really horrible. There’s a certain point in the early morning where I start feeling quite nauseous, I think it may be because I’ve been awake for so long without eating enough food.
I also find the recovery time lasts two or three days, I’ll always be a bit tired and out of balance for ages after.
I wonder if there are any long term health problems with all nighters, I bet there are …
this really helped!! thanks alot! also it worked out great! this didn’t really explain how da heck it’s bad for you though…i doubt it’s THAT bad for you…good night lol
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Yeah, I’m only 15 and I’ve pulled at least 10 all nighters in the past year for my honors classes, balancing out five hours of dancing plus hours of studying a night. All different techniques have worked for me.. I once got through 27 hours straight with no sleep by drinking two red bulls two rockstars some other random energy drink and five cans a coke. Of course it is NOT HEALTHY, but i’m fine and I got a high B on the honors english exam, and had to dance for about 9 hours that night. It sounds crazy, but it worked. Other times, I would take 20 minute nap intervals and have my book or notes next to me in the middle of the night and randomly wake up and recite them. Again, it worked. I catch up on my sleep throughout the weekends and I progress fine. It’s super hard and stressfull, but the rewards and honors are so worth it. Pull an all nighter, go for it. You don’t wanna be upset and stress more about not finishing than feel that accomplished sensation. Trust me
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wow that helped explain why sometimes my allnighters will work or not work (in regards to the motivation aspect.)
and for those of you with AP classes and/or college finals, etc, i’m sure you understand the need for allnighters.
like rachel, i’m on a dance team. ap classes (well now college courses for me), and dance practice and shows.. an allnighter can be a savior.
i’ve learned that its always better to bust your ass and get the work done. because you can always recover the sleep (although it’ll take longer, yes), but retaking a failed course or earning a B instead of an A is a whole different story. you cant redo school &/or grades. (well you can, i guess..but it doesnt look good.)
also, i dont know if anyone else feels this way, but i always feel so upset and angry when i end up having to do an allnighter cuz i messed up my scheduling or i procrastinated, etc. then this ends up messing with my head and i am too upset to work. but here’s some advice: try taking the emotion out of the situation and see it like a game. yes you fucked up, but you cant change that now, so let it go. you have so many hours left til class, and a certain amount of work to be done. either do the work now, or dont. it wont be the end of the world if you dont complete it.
and yeah, allnighters are quite unhealthy for you, so thats a call you’ll have to make on your own. for me, i’d rather look back on life and be proud of my accomplishments in school and my career than be able to say i have impeccable health.
haha just some of my random thoughts.
actually.. i’m procrastinating from an allnighter i should be doing right now lol.
I do all nighter every night. I go to bed at 4AM and I take 3 hours nap. so I get 2and a half hours of sleep and I take 3 hour nap so I am fine. I do’nt thinkt it is that bad for you. I think it is alright for you. I became sleep deprived I am attempted to sleep my body wants to stay up all night and catch up on sleep on naps after i come home from school. so ican’t control it.
Just because you have to pull an all-nighter doesn’t mean you screwed up. Making time for random factors is understandable, but sometimes these random factors can be long enough to make it impossible for you to study the day before an exam until evening rolls along. Or maybe you’re a parent, and we all understand how busy that life can become in a second. That opening snippet was completely judgemental and ridiculous.
Here I am, procrastinating by reading this post, when I know I’ll be up all night on a client deadline.
I felt compelled to post though, because I don’t think all-nighters are necessarily a sign you screwed up. Some people perform better under pressure. Some people — especially authors/writers — are night owls.
I’ve pulled all-nighters my whole life, starting in 4th grade. I’m now 40, and nothing’s changed. I think you do more damage when you beat yourself up for staying up, just because mainstream society wants you to believe you “screwed up”.
My point is that when I have a limited amount of time to meet a deadline, I am less distracted. I stay focused on the task at hand and clear out all the extraneous stuff that muddies the waters. That doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about my deadline / project for days before-hand. I am. But then, when the clock looms, I can sit down and bang out my best work. That’s just how it works for me, and it always has. When I try to plan ahead and deliver before a due date, my work is always weaker.
I decided not to berate myself for this, but to accept it as who I am. I’m a night owl, and I don’t mind seeing the sun rise when I’m headed to bed. There’s always time to sleep.
I’ve pulled an all-nighter before, and it wasn’t too bad, but prepare for a deep sleep the next day. the next day when i got home from school, i fell asleep at 4 and my mom was unable to wake me up (without inflicting physical pain) for a few hours. but it was worth it since i got an A on the project. try to make it fun, and music will save you when you just want to hop into your warm bed and sleep. i have to pull an all-nighter tonight because my teacher tweaked the essay prompt, so i have to start all over, and this essay is part of final. and the other part is a serious of questions, which we expected next week but he switched it to two days from now. so i’m stressed to the max but hopefully this all-nighter will get my caught up. good luck to all you sleep deprived people =)
i have pulled a few all nighters and i am only 13. i have no idea why but i found them amazing. the best way to stay up a while is to bring a big bottle of coke or 7up or sprite to your room, constantly drinking it helps you stay awake (sugar) urinate often which helps you move a bit more. and try and watch a really scary film. like the last time i did it i watched final destination 4. scared the crap outta me at the time and i didn’t wanna sleep
then the next day i slept for like 15 hours lol (only pulled all nighter for party) nothing bad happened to me and i loved it ^.^
Interesting concept.
Particularly the part about 1 all-nighter hour
costing 2 normal hours to recover the sleep debt.
If left to my own devices, I have a ~26 hour sleeping pattern, and find that the best way to reset it is to pull an allnighter if I get badly out of sync, although this messes me up for the next couple of days.
Also, following on the heels of an all-nighter with a massive (100+ mile) bike (pedal, not motor) ride usually works wonders for resetting your internal clock.
hi, i live in london and doing my first all nighter tonite cause i partied to much in my half term holidays that i forgot all about my chemistry work and mathematics exam, its going great so far, im following all your tips….SO HELPFUL thanks =)
i asked my dad about all nighters, cause hes a doctor and he sed there perfectly fine, as long as you dont make it a habit =P
Drink lots of mango juice he sed, drank half a litre already=
xx
Not to be too fussy about the beginning of this article; but I have to agree with some of the other people. Not every all-nighter is a result of a screw-up. There are assignments that take a deceptively long amount of time, there’s illness, and some days each teacher gives you a moderate amount of homework and it just piles up. On the other hand, the tips were really helpful- the alarm clock idea was especially good.
Hey all. Before reading any of these posts I’ve found ways to stay up all night on my own. I am weird, where I don’t pull all nighters to get work done, but I do them so I can just — not sleep. I don’t enjoy sleeping, so I will study all through the night, and ONLY sleep when I HAVE to. I found drinking water constantly helps. Always have a glass of water which you are drinking, and because you are drinking so much, you’ll be on the toilet, moving back and forth from the toilet and your room. Also, yoga helps keep my blood moving, and if I am physically moving, I can’t fall asleep. I found, that taking 10 minute “power naps” do work. You don’t go into REM until after about 20 minutes, so a 10 minute nap will actually refresh you. STAY AWAY FROM CAFFEINE! Drink something more natural — for example…water…haha. Anyways, i’ll be up all night, don’t know about you…have fun
I am 16 years old and of course I have stayed up all night at sleepovers when everyone is hyper and can’t sleep anyways, but I have to do a HUGE essay for my english/ american lit class. The essay is about 20% of my grade, it’s like 150 points! I haven’t even started it and it is due tomorrow. I need to stay up to get this done and if we don’t have it in class when we get there then she will just give us a zero on the WHOLE thing! I don’t know if I can do it. I am going to just take a 20 minute nap and get my brain to relax for a while. Thanks for the tips, I hope I can get this done.
I have pulled an all nighter once… After that I stayed up until 5:30p.m. with no breaks or naps… When I went to sleep that day I was so delarious!
…I’m trying another one tonight…