[foodnom]

we're always told to get 'our 8 hours sleep' and that, but is it really necessary?

just some thoughts really. I have 6 hours worth of exams tomorrow so would it be more beneficial for me to sleep, or cram in some more information considering that i won't be sleeping much anyway?

[moya]

getting enough sleep is one of the best things you can do to your body, sleep is used to consolidate memories, basically sorting everything out

Unless you know absolutely nothing about your exam, it's always better to get more sleep than it is to revise. People will say that cramming helps, because they revise stuff that comes up in the exam and they remember it, but because sleep deprivation leads to poor memory, you will never know what stuff you would have remembered if you got enough sleep. Basically, with sleep deprivation you will remember less, but you will never know it.

go sleep

[chill543]

go to sleep...
from expeireince sleep is worth 10 times more that no sleep in a test....

[balloon_parade]

If it was me I would get as much sleep as possible and then get up early for last minute cramming, get a good couple of hours when you are fresh from sleep!

My sister crammed all night and then got a migraine from lack of sleep and had to resit her exam another time! She had to get a doctors note and everything! So just try and balance it out.

[chickenonsteroids]

Sleep is amazing.

I can pretend I'm a superhero and a butterfly at my own will. Then I'll suddenly change to a warrior fighting a dragon and saving the whole planet

Sleep. It'll benefit you more tbh.

[moya]

(Original post by balloon_parade)
If it was me I would get as much sleep as possible and then get up early for last minute cramming, get a good couple of hours when you are fresh from sleep!

My sister crammed all night and then got a migraine from lack of sleep and had to resit her exam another time! She had to get a doctors note and everything! So just try and balance it out.

and yes, if you really need to cram, it's actually better to do so in the morning, learning just before going to sleep is the worst time to learn

[RobertWhite]

Do you really think it's good to be shattered in a day of exams? You'll not be able to concentrate. It's better to get a good nights sleep and actually prepare properly before the exam so you don't have to cram through the night. I once forgot to revise for a module in one of my exams. I still had a good nights sleep, crammed in the morning and got 85% in that part of the exam. I doubt I would had done very well in any of my three exams that day had I not slept for over 24 hours.

[Maths_Lover]

From past experience, it is much better to sleep. What good will it do you to sit 6 hours worth of exams mentally and physically exhausted?

Even if you do manage to baws your exams that way, you will feel horrendous afterwards and it will take you a while to recover.

[moya]

(Original post by Maths_Lover)
From past experience, it is much better to sleep. What good will it do you to sit 6 hours worth of exams mentally and physically exhausted?

Even if you do manage to baws your exams that way, you will feel horrendous afterwards and it will take you a while to recover.

actually that's a very good point

if you have exam the day after, unless you sleep properly (if you can guess the right time to get a full nights sleep, taking in to account the fact that you will need to sleep more to make up for lost sleep) your body clock will be screwed

[Mr Dangermouse]

Meh.


I have a weird sleep tolerance.


7+ hours. Feel perfectly fine.

4-6 hours. Feel tired but once I've showered and ate I'm fine.

< 4 hours. Feel awful and miserable all day.

All-nighter. Feel absolutely fine through the day and sleep normally the next night.



So my rule is, if I'm still awake at around 3:30am, I just stay up.

[Vixen47]

I wouldn't say overrated, rather a complete waste of time.

During exams it really depends on the person - I've never slept the night before an exam because I forget everything I've learned when I wake up. Not good. However, I know quite a few people who seem to turn zombie-like when lacking sleep.

I despise sleep. The only reason I get a couple of hours is because I become incredibly bloated and cranky the next day. I hate feeling/looking bloated.

OP, if I were in your position I wouldn't sleep. Just lay off refined carbs and sugars and drink a lot of water, eat wholegrains, protein, etc. and you'll be okay. Well, that is, if you're the type who can handle complete lack of sleep. Of course, I wouldn't recommend this on a normal day but exams are always an exception!

[moya]

(Original post by Vixen47)
I wouldn't say overrated, rather a complete waste of time.

During exams it really depends on the person - I've never slept the night before an exam because I forget everything I've learned when I wake up. Not good. However, I know quite a few people who seem to turn zombie-like when lacking sleep.

I despise sleep. The only reason I get a couple of hours is because I become incredibly bloated and cranky the next day. I hate feeling/looking bloated.

OP, if I were in your position I wouldn't sleep. Just lay off refined carbs and sugars and drink a lot of water, eat wholegrains, protein, etc. and you'll be okay. Well, that is, if you're the type who can handle complete lack of sleep. Of course, I wouldn't recommend this on a normal day but exams are always an exception!

There's no type of person who can 'handle' a lack of sleep, it's just that some people are used to the horrible feeling and you get to the point where you don't feel it anymore.

Sleep is not a waste of time. If you don't sleep, you die. It's pretty simple. A general lack of sleep leads to many things, including disease, and poor learning, and I can back this up with many studies.

I used to despise sleep. But you should learn about it, it's very interesting, I read this article http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm and realised there were many things I didn't know and just assumed.

tl;dr, lack of sleep is unhealthy

[eddoonn]

(Original post by foodnom)
we're always told to get 'our 8 hours sleep' and that, but is it really necessary?

just some thoughts really. I have 6 hours worth of exams tomorrow so would it be more beneficial for me to sleep, or cram in some more information considering that i won't be sleeping much anyway?

it really depends on the person me, i can sleep 4 hours and still play football for like 6 hours when i wake up. but if you have exams you should be aiming at least 6 or more , dont take any changes of having headaches in the exam or being soooo pissed off at everything lol that happens to me sometimes

[Bobifier]

If you don't sleep you die. Thus, I can simplify your question to "Is not dying overrated?". Of course, that is subjective and for you to decide for yourself, but the most popular response is "No."

With regard to exams, you will generally not take in a lot of information while you are tired making your extra work ineffective, and equally will perform less well in the exam if you are tired. If you throw a full all nighter then you will feel the effect during the night but will be most hit by it during the day tomorrow, particularly the afternoon. These, of course, are prime exam times, so you probably want to be roughly awake for them.

All things considered, if you don't know it by now your chances are slim anyway. You will only make things worse by staying up all night - go to bed.

[Sternumator]

Its a tough question. Cramming does work because you don't have time to forget it. People say don't cram because you will never remember the stuff but if you have read something a couple of hours ago and its a question in the exam it is very difficult to have forgotten it in that amount of time. But at the same time sleep is so important for thinking, if I am tired then I can actually feel my brain doesnt have the same ability to process information which is very frustrating. It only matters that much if you are doing a subject that really pushes your thinking. For most exams you don't really need to be a peak mental performance because you can just write down stuff you know already.

[winning11]

surely it's hard to fall asleep if you feel like you know nothing for the exams

i usually get that on edge feeling which keeps me going


then i come back and sleep after the exam/crying

[Rahul.S]

its over rated

[internet tough guy]

I don't have trouble staying up, I've been through a whole day a night without sleeping before. The problem is maintaining concentration while revising when you should be sleeping/resting. I've always found my mind drifting off while reading a textbook or working through a question , I end up spending about an hour just getting through 3-4 pages of work.

[jd66]

(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
Meh.


I have a weird sleep tolerance.


7+ hours. Feel perfectly fine.

4-6 hours. Feel tired but once I've showered and ate I'm fine.

< 4 hours. Feel awful and miserable all day.

All-nighter. Feel absolutely fine through the day and sleep normally the next night.



So my rule is, if I'm still awake at around 3:30am, I just stay up.

That's pretty much the same as me to be honest, also if I go to sleep less than 4 hours before I'm due to wake up I find I often wake up about 8 hours later having slept through my alarm, hence why I'm up to type this now. I reckon I've had 9 hours sleep altogether this week and don't feel to bad and I'll sleep like a log tomorrow night, once Friday's here though I'll have finished uni

[Maths_Lover]

(Original post by moya)
actually that's a very good point

if you have exam the day after, unless you sleep properly (if you can guess the right time to get a full nights sleep, taking in to account the fact that you will need to sleep more to make up for lost sleep) your body clock will be screwed

Yes precisely. I used to sleep a minimal amount for an extended period and didn't think that it was important... then my memory - which used to be incredible - started to suffer. I would forget things people had just told me and I was starting to become a really slow thinker and it would take me forever to process what someone has just said. Eventually, I started getting really depressed and my looks started deteriorating too.

So OP, as someone who has been through the "Pfft - I don't need to sleep! " phase, I would say NO sleep is not overrated. In the short run it may not seem to do much damage but it the long run... you can find yourself really regretting it.

I have now been getting into a good sleeping pattern and I'm seeing noticable improvements in both my physical and mental wellbeing.

Plus, it's a definite improvement not to constantly look like you're going to punch the next person that speaks to you.