[QuantumOverlord]

Are occasional all nighters to get work done more benefitial than not? By this I do NOT mean last minute revision, I just mean some extra time at university when the workload is rather high, or perhaps indeed for revision (but again not last minute). Assuming the all nighters are occasional, would I gain from these, or would the sleep deficit from the one night, kill some other work time in efficancy lacking or just sleep?

[aeterno]

Well...this really depends on you. I know that I need some sleep or I'm dead the next day so I don't pull all nighters but some people don't have much of a problem with them.

Um, all you can really do is try one...preferably when you don't particularly need to just in case it doesn't benefit you so you don't end up messing up your work.

[DMed]

It may work it may not.

I know that with me it doesn't work, as I hit a point and after that it's working for the sake of working rather than doing anything productive. However, quite a few people who I went to Uni with managed it and got good grades out of it.

[ROYP]

(Original post by QuantumOverlord)
Are occasional all nighters to get work done more benefitial than not? By this I do NOT mean last minute revision, I just mean some extra time at university when the workload is rather high, or perhaps indeed for revision (but again not last minute). Assuming the all nighters are occasional, would I gain from these, or would the sleep deficit from the one night, kill some other work time in efficancy lacking or just sleep?

Anytime I've attempted an all nighter, when I get tired I just go to sleep and face any consequences in the morning (or likely mid-afternoon)

sleep>most things

[SoMature]

Well look, I've pulled a couple of all nighters and I'm ok. I (and I know I'm hardly alone in this so.. its hardly a brag) have sat down at 11pm and written an essay due in at 11am and managed to pull in a respectable score. There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about an all-nighter.

However, unless you are bionic (and, as I am someone in their mid-thirties I suppose it could be true of 18-21 year olds in comparison ) it is highly unlikely you will do your best work overnight - whether that be essay writing, revision or general work. I agree with aeterno- maybe try it to find out, but don't rely on it for anything crucial.

Edited to add: They may not be wrong, or bad but they can be very boring and painful.

[NuclearFusion]

This sounds like a good idea for a test, I'm sure lots of people would be interested in what benefits overall productivity the most

[Wookie42]

They work for me, I won't lie. Depends on the type of work though, I doubt I'd manage it if I did a History/English degree.

[dknt]

My peak productivity is at like 1am.... but it quickly declines 30 minutes later.

[ummm]

I need to 'adapt' to staying up until 1-2am every night again. At the moment I just feel so tired at around 10:30.

I've never actually done an all-nighter, but have worked until like 4am a couple of times, then woken up at 6am to do more work. I guess it works, but only when I feel as though I am under massive pressure, and have no choice but to do it.

[Tiger Eyes]

I'm the kind of who person who turns into a monster if I don't get enough sleep. If you're that kind of person too then an all nighter is a bad idea. I find it's better to work late, get some sleep and then get up earlier than normal if needed.

[LeeC]

I have done 4/5 days solid work at uni before (i.e not going home, sleeping 2 or 3 hours max per night on a sofa in the common room), and a couple of 2 and 3 dayers too. After that all nighters are nothing, you can just get used to them. But don't do them at home, you will just go to sleep and not do the work and mess up your sleep pattern. Also they generally aren't a good idea for things like writing, a lot of my work can involve design type work which is more numbers and thinking rather than being coherent. As long as you check your working enough the quality is the same.

[badumdumtscht]

Well, if there's no urgency for the work to be done, I don't do a full all-nighter. I'll maybe stay up to 2-3am doing work and then nod off, but that's it.

Can you not come in from uni one day and just work from 4-12? Surely that would be better than messing up your sleeping pattern?

[Cll_ws]

It depends on what exactly you've gotta do the next day really. If you've just got a deadline the next morning, and once your stuff is in you're allowed to leave, then pulling an all nighter can be useful to give yourself some extra time.
If though it was for something like revision, for an exam the next day, then I can't imagine it's the best idea.

I'm fine with all nighters, I sleep very little anyway, so I can usually still function without those few hours I do get on a normal night. I'm awake right now, at 7am, having not slept, I am about to go to bed though, but that's kind of an all nighter! And I have been doing work, I don't have uni until tuesday though. I seem to function better at night, during the day i always find reasons to put off doing what I need to do.

My best module grade this year has actually come after I spent 16 hours solid in the library through the night doing work before hand-in.

[Dan1909]

For most people an all nighter is a bad idea, as the quality of the work you'll do when you're that tired will be below what you could do (and probably take longer to get it done) than when you're fully awake and rest.

And for exams all nighters are always a bad idea unless you can function on very little sleep. It's great that you can spend more time revising at the last minute, but if you're too tired for your brain to function properly, you'll be in a worse position than had you just gone to sleep without the revision.

[inkman]

Me and a guy from one of my courses decided to do an all nighters once to get our presentation out of the way, we basically bought a load of energy drinks and just got on with it. We did surprisingly well and managed to finish in time for a mcdonalds breakfast, however I must say that I was on the weirdest caffeine high ever. I've heard about people pulling and all nighter before an exam and then not doing too well so I really wouldn't recommend that unless your super human.

[tillytots]

Never done a full a night as such. I've done until half 4 but never past that. I find I actually usually work best between about 10pm and 1 but I dunno, I hit 3:30 am ad my body always loses it after that point so I never get anything good done. Usually just end up waking up at like 8 to finish it.

[andym88]

it is more beneficial in the long run to have a proper sleeping pattern.

[Shadowplay]

All-nighters before an exam: NOOO. Red bull doesn't really help you remember tiny details your brain forgets because it's too tired.

All-nighters for essays - YES! I personally find that I can bull**** more when I'm tired and a bit delusional. My imagination works better (probably because I'm half-dreaming by then)

[mike101]

Not at uni yet, but as i'm doing my HNC while working full time I have done a few all nighters to get an assignment finished. Usually the boring tedious ones, which once I start I don't like to stop until it's done, purely because I know i'll never build up the motivation to do it twice!

[siani-chan]

I do all nighters for seminars, work solid hours for lab reports (like, I'll have uni 9-5, then do lab report from 5-12 or something stupid like that.) But I never do any all nighters for assessed work, especially not for exams. I finished a lab report at 2am before but I've vowed never to do that again.

I am the grumpiest person ever if I don't get enough sleep, it's just not a good idea. My brain doesn't function at all either. I have had far too many cereal-in-glass, squash-in-bowl incidents to justify any all nighters.