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Surviving an All-Nighter
Published 2 years ago, mid-June under School
As a college student with a penchant for procrastination, I occasionally find myself in the unenviable situation of being faced with a workload so great that I have no time for sleep. These situations are almost always avoidable with advanced scheduling and time management, but we humans aren’t always that rational. So here’s how I deal with the situation.
Stay Focused
Procrastination is always the reason I find myself in the all-nighter predicament, so I have force myself to stop procrastinating over the course of the night. The method I use was introduced to me by a post on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders called (10 + 2) * 5. The premise is quite simple:
1. Set a timer for ten minutes in which you will concentrate on your work.
2. After ten minutes is up, spend two minutes goofing off (mandatory).
3. Rinse, Repeat.
By forcing myself onto a clock I find that not only will I stay on task, I’ll often work faster.
I use a simple dashboard widget: 3-2-1 timer from baldgeeks.com as my timing device of choice. It hides in the background (which prevents me from watching the seconds tick by) until it interrupts me to inform that my time is up.
Prioritize
The first thing to realize when undertaking an all-nighter is that you will quickly lose your mental edge as you grow more and more tired. It’s much more difficult to write a coherent essay at noon the day following an all-nighter than to write it at 2AM. If I have multiple assignments to do over the night, I try to tackle the hardest ones first.
The first thing to realize when undertaking an all-nighter is that you will quickly lose your mental edge as you grow more and more tired. It’s much more difficult to write a coherent essay at noon the day following an all-nighter than to write it at 2AM. If I have multiple assignments to do over the night, I try to tackle the hardest ones first.
Caffeine is your friend. Sugar isn’t.
My weapon of choice to stay awake is tons of green or white tea. Diet Coke also works wonders, but I find regular sugared soft drinks actually make me feel worse about an hour later. When it comes to food I tend to eat light or wait until breakfast.
My weapon of choice to stay awake is tons of green or white tea. Diet Coke also works wonders, but I find regular sugared soft drinks actually make me feel worse about an hour later. When it comes to food I tend to eat light or wait until breakfast.
Location, Location, Location
If I study in my bedroom, I will inevitably negotiate with myself for some sleep time and wind up over-sleeping. If I study in my living room, I’ll wind up watching TV. I try to find a spot as far away from my personal spaces as possible and only bring the studying essentials with me.
The day following an all nighter, I try to take a nap if possible. It’s also good to move around as much as possible. I try to stay awake until at least 7PM to not disrupt my sleep pattern too much.
Go On, Say It!
Yeah, same here. I also try to drink liquids with taurine in them. Somehow when combined with caffine, taurine sends my mental state into high gear. It also clears my mind of random junk that might sidetrack me from the task at hand. My weapon of choice is Redbull or Monster. I know that it is not proven 100% that taurine enhances neurotransmission but I feel the difference as opposed to drinking caffeine alone. Taurine+caffeine+vitaminB12+sugar = brain fuel.
For some reason, most caffiene drinks put me to sleep. However, Red Bull doesnt for some off reason. It takes about a half hour to an hour to kick in, but once it does im good for a few hours. Thankfully, i usually get everything done the day before its due, giving me a 1 day lag-tie incase i decide to finish something later. But i definitely know how it is to do all-nighters. Like a 10 page paper that is due at 10 in the morning and i start it at about 2 am…
I’ve never tried Monster, does it taste good? Either way, all-nighters are harsh…and i barely get sleep as it is (during the semester).
Man, I do that, too. And I always get mad at myself when I do. I like the (10+2)*5 thing, that’s a really good idea, even when you aren’t up late.
I wish I had this kind of advice when I was in college, which wasn’t that long ago. I can’t even count how many all-nighters I pulled throughout my career as I pulled them pretty regularly. In the beginning it was because I would procrastinate up until the very end, then later in my college career, it had more to do with spending hours upon hours programming and pulling all-nighters to meet project deadlines. I used to bring a coffee maker into the CS building with me (cup, container of coffee and all) and make cups of coffee to feed off of while I worked. At that point I drank so much caffeine that it began to make me more tired than alert, except that I got the jitters which were horrible when you needed to concentrate on that mid-term or final exam. I have probably tried every energy drink that was available to me and some worked for a little while, but after not sleeping much for a long period nothing really works that well. The best thing that I learned is start early, no matter how far the deadline is from the present. That is just something everyone needs to learn on their own, though.
Wow, this is so familiar. The funny thing is that it’s entirely a coincidence: I had the same thoughts not too long ago.
[…] The options page is surprisingly full and powerful, you have more options than you’d ever need. The Bring to Front option is bloody useful if you’re doing something like An All Nighter! […]
Maybe because I went to an wall-less high school, but whenever I had to pull an all nighter in college I would watch movies. Often the same movie over and over. It was just enough extra input to help me focus on the work at hand (weird I know, but it works for me!)