How do you get through all-nighters?
University course discussion for architecture, surveying, town planning, landscaping, etc.
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How do you get through all-nighters?To all architecture students: how do you cope with having to stay awake the whole night, no napping whatsoever? Except the stress by the end of a project, of course, which is usually enough to keep you on pins and needles. I mean those times when you try to get things done even though it's not crucial at the moment, but you want to do them just because you know how a few hours of sleep every night can pile up to a horror movie by the end.
And I don't mean to sound paranoid or brainwashed into working non-stop. It's just that even with a review due the next day I can never go without a couple of hours of sleep no matter how maxed out I am on caffeine. I'm certain there must be a way around this, though.
In short: what helps you get through a night of completely sleep-deprived, though productive work? Yes, I sense the oxymoron here, but I must assume someone, somewhere has managed to do just that. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?Welcome to TSR. I do physics. I'm like you I can't do all-nighters, I have no caffeine and have at least 2-3 hours sleep as this is just enough for me to survive the rest of the day.
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?Hi, thanks. Are you on some kind of regimen like Uberman's or have you just accustomed your body to make do with whatever you can squeeze off the night?(Original post by k9markiii)
Welcome to TSR. I do physics. I'm like you I can't do all-nighters, I have no caffeine and have at least 2-3 hours sleep as this is just enough for me to survive the rest of the day. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?I usually go to bed at 3 wake up at 8 but on hand in days it's more often 4 til 7. No regime no caffeine just water and willpower.(Original post by nod)
Hi, thanks. Are you on some kind of regimen like Uberman's or have you just accustomed your body to make do with whatever you can squeeze off the night? -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?Just some general pointers for all nighters - wake up as late as possible the day before will definitely help. Find something engaging - I revise something/write about something that I find interesting so that I don't want to go to bed.
Caffeine isn't a necessity... it helps, but if you don't like it - you don't need it.
Avoid things that will put you to sleep - soothing music, reading, a hot bath, lots of food... don't sit in your room either. I always do my allnighters downstairs in my living room.
Reward yourself - something small like a chocolate bar/10 minutes of music/youtube/facebook etc.
Keep yourself mentally alert.
Splashing yourself with cold water.
Drinking cold water.
I'm not an architect but I pull a fair few all nighters... -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?umm, I drink plenty of water and I make sure my window is open and heater closed. This will make sure I stay awake.
Having said that, I discourage everyone going that route unless it's a life and death situation. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?Last year 4 hours of sleep was luxury for me. My body got used to just having 2 hours of sleep a night. I don't like coffee or tea so I never had that source of caffeine but I did drink Pepsi Max a lot. I knew I was pushing it one night when I felt like I weighed a ton but my brain felt light and airy and as I reached out to take another sip my hand was shaking. After that I took to snacking and just concentrating on my work too hard to notice the exhaustion and I always had Comedy Central on in the background not to distract me but whenever I felt too overwhelmed I'd sit away from my laptop and just watch for a few minutes.(Original post by nod)
Hi, thanks. Are you on some kind of regimen like Uberman's or have you just accustomed your body to make do with whatever you can squeeze off the night?Last edited by sliceofcake; 09-05-2012 at 20:45. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?Why?(Original post by Jhyzone)
Having said that, I discourage everyone going that route unless it's a life and death situation. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?If it's a Friday deadline and you have no problem sleeping the whole weekend it's fine. If not, then it will seriously mess up your sleeping pattern and you tend to do silly mistakes with your assignments etc.(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
Why?
I guess it's up to personal preference, but for me, a person who loves sleep. I despise it!
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?6am time is when I begin losing the will to stay up, so diet coca cola is the way forward for me(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
Don't ever go to sleep at like 4-5 am if you need to wake up at 7. You will feel horrible all day. You'll feel much better if you just power through and do an all nighter. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?I love all the American sports so I normally sit up until 2 or 3am even when I need to be up early. My rule though is any time past 3:30am I just do the all nighter otherwise I'll feel even worse.(Original post by Jhyzone)
If it's a Friday deadline and you have no problem sleeping the whole weekend it's fine. If not, then it will seriously mess up your sleeping pattern and you tend to do silly mistakes with your assignments etc.
I guess it's up to personal preference, but for me, a person who loves sleep. I despise it!
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?This. I can't go for a nap because I'll just feel a lot worse when I wake up so I normally just power through it. OP, it's mainly down to your willpower.(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
I love all the American sports so I normally sit up until 2 or 3am even when I need to be up early. My rule though is any time past 3:30am I just do the all nighter otherwise I'll feel even worse. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?I'm surprised nobody has mentioned exercise, yet.
The best way to pull all-nighters off is, in my opinion, to be well prepared beforehand. Have some kind of caffeine intake - tea or coffee if you can, or a sugar free drink. Sugar will perk you up but you'll also crash hard. Make sure you have a plan of what you need to do, it can be hard to give yourself direction when you're panicking from a looming deadline.
Get up and do some sort of exercise every now and again, maybe do some pushups or some squats or something. Nothing too heavy as to exhaust you and make you tired, but so you get a little buzz from the movement and feel energized enough to continue.
If you have to have music, make it something that won't put you to sleep (that means no Ludovico Einaudi). Make sure you take breaks for working as well, do something else stimulating in your breaks.
Your bedroom is a room you associate with sleep a lot of the time. You always retire to your bedroom to sleep, and for naps, and you wake up in your bedroom. This association with sleep means it's not a good place to be when you're trying NOT to sleep. Obviously if you're at Uni that may not be an option (maybe you have 24 hour libraries or something?) but the key thing is to try and remove all temptation to sleep. Oh, and in the morning when the sun comes up you'll feel like crap but you want to keep the curtains open and let yourself get some sun. This helps keep you awake because it's related to circadian rhythms and things like that. Similarly if you want to correct your sleeping pattern then a good way is to get up when your alarm goes off and rip open the curtains - the sunlight will tell your body it's time to wake up.
I pulled my first all-nighter playing GTA: Vice City and it was fantastic. But it's not a good habit to get in to, it does mess with your sleeping pattern. If you can help it, don't go to bed until later that night. You will feel tired at about 2/3ish in the afternoon and be tempted to sleep but don't, hold out until that night to minimise damage to your sleep schedule.
If you have anymore questions or what ever ask away. -
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?I always end up doing an all nighter before important coursework is due - even if I'm nearly done and try not to - I always end up referencing/editing/formatting, if not working on actual content, and I feel like time flies by so much quicker between 1am and 6am compared to the rest of the day (maybe its just my brain thats slowed down?)!!
I think you just get used to it, but usually its the stress of the deadline that keeps me awake, and I'm normally not too bad the day after, but get tired really quickly in the afternoon.
I usually get decent (but not great!) sleep beforehand...I think what's making it difficult for you is that you're already tired from lack of sleep (4-8am is not enough!) and doing that on a regular basis slowly tires your brain out more and more over time, so your stamina for all-nighters will be reduced. Why don't you try having a week to recouperate - sleep regularly for 7-8hrs a few days in a row, and then try an all-nighter? See if that helps your situation.
I only mention this because before university, I'd sleep at 10-11pm and wake at 7am every day, thus getting about 7-8hrs of sleep each day. At the start of university, I ended up going to bed at around 1 or 2am (thats early!) and sometimes 3 or 4, I don't think I ever slept before 12!! It was fine for the first 6 months and I had loads of energy, but then after this period I started getting tired really quickly at night time. Now I've got into the habit of preparing for bed at around 11-12am and then reading in bed for about an hour! I find it quite hard to bring myself to get ready for bed before that....there's always something to do and I always faff around my room for ages, or linger on the computer for longer than I should!! No matter how tired I am - I think its just I feel that there's still time to do stuff, or else the day is cut short, or something like that
If any has any tips for motivating myself to sleep early, then please let me know!
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Re: How do you get through all-nighters?People work in different ways. Most of architecture is grunt work you can do after being awake for 20 hours, this thing about 'errors' is a bit rich when all we need to do it sit there and CAD and photoshop something. I was awake for 25 hours yesterday. The subject is fairly unique in this way, which is why architects seem to be the only students who really consistently complain about lack of sleep and the unfairness of the course in general.(Original post by yeahyeahyeahs)
I don't do all nighters. I get 7 hours sleep like an average person should.
the more sleep deprived you are, the more likely you will make errors in your work.
To OP, I think one key thing is controlling when you eat and drink, experiment with half-day fasts between meals, and do things like lie-in as much as you want then stay up until you're about to collapse.
If any has any tips for motivating myself to sleep early, then please let me know! 
