Sleepless nights before exams

It's 6am, I went to bed at 11pm, and have had absolutely no sleep. I have an exam at 1pm and I'm so frustrated...

Im not staying up late on purpose, I'm winding down a few hours before, no caffeine etc... And I don't feel particularly nervous (though now I do, because I'm worried I'm going to fall asleep mid sentence)

This is my third exam in a row that this has happened, and I can tell my performance has really suffered because of it. I have to keep myself awake with ridiculous amount of caffeine, but my recall goes to pieces...

Should I just give up on sleeping for the night, go through my notes and make sure I get a good breakfast?

Also, I have one more exam left an it's the one I'm most nervous for- is there any point in seeing my doctor about it?

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Reply 1

manchesterunited15

how did it go? i'm doing the same thing but my exam's at nine

Reply 2

Stacey-

This always used to happen to me aswell, I'd literally have about three hours sleep before my exams :tongue:

Used to try and finish the exam super early so I could sleep until it was over...good times.

Reply 3

stillgotlegs

I make sure I get an awful night's sleep the night before the night before an exam, so I always feel like I've slept well... not sure if it actually makes a difference, but it feels better to me.

Reply 4

E.Cook

I get this … just lay in bed and just rest your eyes even if your brain won't turn off …

Reply 5

Donald Duck

Take a sleeping pill (not a strong one) and go to bed early :wink:

Reply 6

NaturalAndReal

Original post by manchesterunited15

how did it go? i'm doing the same thing but my exam's at nine

It went surprisingly well, actually! They were quite nice questions and I'd prepared quite well... Still haven't caught up on my sleep though :/

Let me know how your exam goes!

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Reply 7

NaturalAndReal

Original post by stillgotlegs

I make sure I get an awful night's sleep the night before the night before an exam, so I always feel like I've slept well... not sure if it actually makes a difference, but it feels better to me.

That's not actually a bad idea... But then if I still can't sleep, I'll end up catatonic for the exam...

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Reply 8

inamuckingfuddle

Original post by NaturalAndReal

That's not actually a bad idea... But then if I still can't sleep, I'll end up catatonic for the exam...

I have the same problem and I always worry about this, too. It's not that I'm really nervous, it's just that I start thinking "If I don't sleep I'll do really badly" and then I start panicking about not getting any sleep so I can't sleep!

The best thing you can do if you can't sleep is just try to relax as much as possible... maybe try meditating. Avoid counting down the hours until your exam thinking "If I go to sleep now, I'll have four hours of sleep... three hours...two hours..." :smile: