How to pull an all-nighter
If you are thinking about studying electrical engineering at Cornell (I doubt anyone is still reading) then this tutorial is for you. I happen to have a lot of experience in the area of sleep-deprivation, and I'd like to share my techniques. We must first, however, define the term. An all-nighter, at least in my book, is any night where the sun comes up before you go to sleep. If the sun comes up at 6:30 am and you go to sleep at 7:30 am, then that's an all-nighter. It's also very unsettling.
The first step to pulling a successful all-nighter is motivation. There are lots of reasons why you could pull one, but I think the best is homework. There are those nights when you realize you have a boatload of homework due the following morning and there is no way you can waste time sleeping. When one of those nights comes along, you're set. Light the midnight candle.
Here is what you need to do to stay awake:
- Drink coffee/tea/etc. Not too much that you end up shaking. Just enough to keep awake. Caffeine makes your heart beat faster, which keeps you going. (Update 4-8 at 5 pm: Arash explained the real effect caffeine has on you. He says, "What really happens is the caffein goes straight to your brain and attaches itself to nerve endings blocking your body's naturally occuring adenosine chemical from being able to attach to those same nerve endings. Your body releases more adenosine, starts to panic because it's not having any affect, and adrenaline is released in small amounts as a defense mechanism which increases your heart rate." Thanks Arash!) It also helps to have a drink you like. Treat yourself while you're torturing yourself. I prefer green tea with a dash (tablespoons) of sugar or a canned Starbucks Doubleshot.
- Eat a meal. You have to realize that you are extending your day to be about 50% longer. If you are on a 3 meal diet, an all-nighter calls for at least one more meal. I find 3 am is a good time to eat. It's also important not to eat fatty foods that will make you sleepy. No one wants to jeopardize their all-nighter with a sudden food coma. Foods with carbs, such as cereal or pasta, give you energy to keep going, and will help to reduce any nausea from sleep-deprivation.
- Shower. Washing your face is good too. Cold water will refresh you. It also helps to stay clean.
- Listen to music. None of that wishy-washy classical stuff. Loud music. Music with beats and bass and blaring riffs. I usually go for some mentally stimulating techno or drum-n-bass.
- If you can afford to, take breaks. I find 30 minutes of playing videogames that involve lots of action and violence to be especially effective at refreshing my batteries between hours of boring, monotonous homework.
- As a last resort, get up and walk around. Walking gets your blood flowing. If you are in your dorm and you are about to pass out on your desk, walk around the hallway. It also helps you think, in case your mind is about to explode.
All of these things are extremely helpful when you start to feel drowsy, and the key to making them work is to spread out the various techniques over the course of the night (unless multiple showers sounds like a good idea to you).
There are also things you should definitely not do, if you want to see the sunrise:
- Don't lie down. Don't say you are just going to "put your head down for a second m'kay" because when you look up again it will be the next day. Your homework will most likely be covered in drool too. The point is to keep moving.
- As I said before, don't eat fatty food. A hamburger and french fries are not power food.
- Don't turn the lights out. Any reminders that it's nighttime and you should be sleeping are bad. Shine a flashlight in your eyes if you need to.
- And last but not least, don't be a wimp. You have to be hardcore. You want that all-nighter. You need that all-nighter. You will get that all-nighter, and then you will tear a phonebook apart with your teeth.
Okay, success! So what now?
So let's say you've finished your all-nighter, and it's the morning after. It's time to greet the new day with a big smile and say, "hey, all you happy, well-rested wimps. I didn't sleep at all, and I'm okay with that." Go forward with confidence, remember to take your homework with you, and by all means, catch some sleep in class. You'll be glad you did.
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To compound all of the items that you have listed it is crazy how an all nighter this week seems 50 times harder because of the time change. Good piece!
I found this entry really well written and quite comical. It is too perfect for me right now as previously to getting to this page I had already considered pulling an all-nighter tonight.
Ok, so maybe a 75% all-nighter involving sleep during the one hour before the sun came up.
Bullock: Don't worry, I still managed to pull it off
Ahhhhh … Christian, a superb piece.
As I'm in the process of pulling an all-nighter right now (because of this) it's all too terribly apt.
Hi, I found your site out of curiosity about the CSS nudity thing.
I've found that when I totally can't focus anymore dunking my face in a sinkful of ice cubes and water… a quicker and more intense version of the cold shower trick. Its not pleasant but that's probably why it works.
Tea: Nice. That's definitely hardcore. You must eat raw eggs for breakfast too. Raw eggs and fish oil.
I don't think I could ever handle the ice myself, but maybe one of these days I'll try… though I might just fall asleep while preparing the bowl.
Good collection of tips on staying up all night. But, I would like to advise long term graduate students, or someone who is easily amused by math/programming not to adopt this all-nighter culture in school. I used to be an early morning person, but after being in graduate school for 4 years, I can no longer goto bed before 4AM, no matter how hard I try.
It sucks!
This is more of a "late-nighter"… an All-nighter is when you don't sleep the next day, and as a consequence spend more than 40 consecutive hours awake.
What you wrote about is the graveyard shift. Millions of people do it everyday.
Great tips, I've been pulling all nighters since back when I got into the field (around the age of 13) so I learned these through experience years ago– with the exception of eating fatty foods, I meen come on, I was a teenager.
I find now its much harder to get past 3 am without some major fatigue kicking in; brewing a fresh pot usually helps but sometimes I just cant do it like I use to. I'm 23 now, and not old by any meens, but after so many years it tends to wear on you.
Hey, good read. I'm in Syracuse and I often notice Cornell has many computer jobs open. Maybe taking one on the side and forwarding the calls to your number during those times you feel drowsy could be another trick
Heh. My watch shows 07:10 (am). I've been up all night. During that time, I've managed to 1) Lie down for a short while and not fall asleep, 2) Eat a fatty pizza with double cheese, and 3) Turn the lights out. However, I have not drunk any coffee, showered, walked around or listened to techno music.
Conclusion: I'm more talented than you!
I have to agree with what that one dude said (yes I'm too lazy to scroll up): An all nighter is at LEAST 24 hours, and maybe closer to 30.
Lame. I guess this kind of thing is harder for some people than others, but I've never had trouble pulling a real all-nighter. I love how you say not to be a wimp, and you have to be hardcore when you aren't even pulling an actuall all-nighter. Congrats, all of Digg is laughing at you.
Ah, yes. The joy of grad school. I'm starting my first year of grad school in CS after taking a year off and working (…. its amazing how many all-nighters one does not have to pull when not in school).
One trick I've learned is to snort water up your nose. Remember when you were a little (or not so little) kid at the pool and you tried to breathe in while underwater, and you got the sharp pain at the back of your head? Same thing… only this time you mean to do it.
Now, this is by no means something to do on a regular basis, but if its four o'clock and you've just played video games for 45 minutes, drank three cups of coffee, while listening to the loudest music you have, and Advanced Unix Programming is still looking like a nice, squishy pillow, its time to bust out the secret weapons and go for the water in the nose.
The effect usually lasts 10-15 minutes, during which time you won't be the least bit tired. (after that though, you're on your own…
)
Pasta will a lot of times make you tired.
Walking around is a "last resort?" Wow. I would say it's a definite plus. Instead of playing video games on your break, get some low-impact exercise. It's especially effective if it's cold out or if there's some light rain to refresh you.
Also, lying down for 30 minutes or so helps a LOT. You can even doze. You don't want to do it for more than 30 minutes because then you transition from napping to sleeping and it screws you up for the rest of the night.
Good article Christian.
As for the moron who commented just before me, it depends on what kind of work you have to do during the night - if you're sitting around playing multiplayer games on the internet or studying something easy then its not as difficult as staying awake while you have to do something difficult.
Electrical engineering homework is by no means easy or interesting.
PS: when I said moron, I meant 'tiuk' and not these other nice people.
Wow.. Nice… Although I am already out of college but I can really relate to this since I have been pulling all-nighter grinding code for gizmoojo.com
staying up an extra 8 hrs in a 24 hr day is not almost 50%… it is 33.3% and most people don't sleep 8 hrs to begin with. i still agree that an extra mealis needed to fix the stressses you are putting your body through, i just disagree with your math
don't try so hard.
sleep when u want, work when u want, and u'll be happy when u want.
Nice article man. As the young kid that I am, this will help me in the summer months while I'm trying to code websites, learn web languages, fix servers (do that the most), and of course searching on digg. I love it when its 6 in the morning and I see my while/after playing Halo 2 all night while downing a case of mountain dew with your friends. Ahhh the good times…
Ok guys, my math does apply to more than 24 hours at a time. To each his own
i'm on hour 30 right now…my legs are really weak, but it's saturday so i'll definitely sleep til 12ish. that's the hardest part, i don't really get tired from staying up, but walking to class the following morning is really tough. i feel so sluggish trying to get there. good tips, the shower def helps. i need to get out of this habit though or get out of engineering…ah who am i kiddin'. i love it.
Hey,
) I have however stayed on campus to work on until 3:30/4:00 many many times.
I am currently doing ECE (EE) at Cornell.
I am a second semester Junior and have only had to pull 1 all nighter my entire time here (ECE 315
Good tips. But I would say getting up and walking around , going to the bath room etc … should not be considered necessarly a last resort (getting up and walking around up and down stairs really helps wake you up) Also pasta tends to make me sleepy it is good to have a cruchy snack while working to keep you awake (nuts, cereal, chips etc)
I pull all nighters everyweekend. Lights out, no music, just sitting here. Probably not healthy though.
Classical is not wishy washy! Consider you can listen to 1-2 hours of the -same piece- without worrying about what's playing and building the same vibe. Considering checking out Mahler's 2nd Symphony (conducted by Zubin Mehta, decca) or 9th (Bernstein, Berlin Philharmonic). You will not fall asleep.
Why do you l e t t e r s p a c e your body copy? It makes it super hard to read. Anyone who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep
Great suggestions, but have anything on how to best recover during the following day?
my personal strategy is ritalin. lots and lots of ritalin. and you have to snort it for the extra kick instead of just swallowing the pill. my record is 75 hours of not leaving the studio.
That explains why i was more successful at all nighters when i had a huge box of pita chips and hummus from sams…. and as for the lights off thing, that actually works against me as my eyes tend to dry out with the lights on and they become red…. i used to remedy it with visine but thats like putting a big wad of grease in sand…does nothing. Now i instead have a blacklight over my bed and one under my computer desk which light the room at night supplying me with enough light to get by…. I got the idea after i read somewhere that blue light is much less stressful on the eyes and it helps you stay up longer, yes im aware it isnt blue but purple's dam near close and i swear by it. It helps.
***Light on thing
Oh c'mon you wimps.
This is a decent article. BUT I must say, I usually sleep only about 21 hours a week (3 a night, tops, unless there's a concert, or party or such). And it all began with pulling all nighters for gaming and coding during the summer and such with friends, and then when school came, I was used to it and had sooo much more time for school with sleeping only 4 hours a night during school nights and 3 on the weekends.
Though I don't need it anymore, one thing that keeps you awake…if you drink too much, it makes you hella-sick, is double-brew coffee. Make coffee. Now make another pot of coffee again….but instead of water for this pot….use the coffee you just made as the liquid (of course you're using different/new grounds)…..you will stay awake like crazy after just 1 cup. Exceed 2-3 cups and you may just be sick and puking all night instead.
oopss wrong forum………. mi accidente
Elle: Keep eating, and don't exert yourself too much… though you shouldn't stay still for too long either. Sometimes you gotta stand up rather than sit, so you don't fall asleep on people. Going the full 36 hours is intense, but I've done it
When I was a student, all-nighters cutting code were easy (admittedly, we were completly wired on coffee, cola and haribo - sweets of the gods), now I'm 28, I almost never code past 2am
Going for the 36 hour lan party is always fun, done that a couple times. There is always lots of action and noise there so it is not too hard. Plus lots of Mountain Dew, the breakfast of champions.
I was actually considering Cornell! Hm.. let me rethink that. jkjk.. great article!
Others have said it before — it's not an all-nighter. An all-nighter is when you just skip a night's sleep and stick to your normal rhythm afterwards, i.e. you're up 40h+.
If possible, don't force yourself to do it. If it doesn't come naturally, take breaks. No matter how awake you feel, your productivity takes a dive. Yes, short naps help, if you manage to wake up again. I wouldn't call that a real all-nighter anymore, but you do it to get work done, not for the coolness of it (because it won't impress anybody anyway — I'd bet most of my friends had to skip two nights in a row at some point, I know I had to several times, mostly due to bad planning/procrastination).
Excellent article, all your tips are superb. As a fellow Cornellian, also in ECE, I have to say we see enough of this to warrant a good guide to the rest of the world. Also I have to say, although it's not required unless it's September or May here, but keep the temp down in the room while doing work keeps me pretty wired - and shivering, but it got me through my 230 prelabs fine, heh.
While occasionally, Like 4 times in 5 years for me, you have pull an all nighter. But if you find yourself constantly pulling all nighters, it's probably because you need to take some time to get organized, use your time at school efficiently, and stop playing video games when you're supposed to be working.
While earning my degree it amazed me how many sleep depped kids were wandering around doing a half ass job, yet they all found time to sit in the labs for hours on end playing CS and old SNES emulators. Simply by attending classes and actually doing somework work while at school will definately signifigantly decrease the number of all nighters you need to pull.
Not only that but after 8 hours your brain just doesn't work as efficiently. If you overwork yourself, which is generally unavoidable at school, and add to that by constantly depriving yourself of sleep. Chances are your grades will suffer, and you won't actually learn as much. It's your money, your education, use it wisely.
Check out the "caffeine nap". Basically, set your alarm, chug a cup of coffee, and nap for 15 minutes. I only tried it once and it seemed to work well. There was a recent article on Digg about it.
I vote against video the 30 minute break, especially for video games. It's worse than the “put your head down for a second m’kay.” If you've made it far enough to need a break then you should hurry, you don't have much time left
Turned 40 a couple years ago and have been doing all nighters every other week for about 15 years. Many of Christian's observations are great, but a few others come to mind after my many years of deprivation:
1) The hardest point in the night is usually 4 or 5 am (assuming you're starting from a normal waking hour). This is where your normal body cycles likely reset. I find that besides an overwhelming need to sleep, you may also experience waves of nausea and/or subtle hallucination as your ability to concentrate dissappears.
2) You can cat-nap for brief periods to some benefit, but remember to create a less than ideal sleep environment - lights on, no blankets, cool or cold room, leave music on, or equipment running.
3) You may experience several loose bowel movements between the hours of 5 and 8 am as your digestive system, missing its normal cycle, purges the wastes of the previous hours.
4) You can stay awake an additional 24 hours, but with less success as you proceed into the third day. Sleep starts to occur instantaneously as you blink, your eyes will be extremely sore and dry, concentration will dissappear entirely. It becomes a real mental battle to fight the overwhelming discomfort.
After years of doing them, I've reformed. Pulling an all nighter is ultimately far less productive than simply just getting a few hours sleep. You'll find you can work far more effectively once you've reset your circadian rhythms.
I now work until 10 or 11pm - sleep til 4am and resume work. The hours between 4 and 9 are highly productive, quiet times and you will find your ability to concentrate at its zenith, and your ability to work longer continuous periods more successful. Anyone can do a single all-nighter - but to go weeks like this, you need a more realistic strategy.
(Great topic Christian)
Yeah, Marco just explained it quite well (I'll turn 30 in a few days), yes, including the digestion thing, although the early morning productivity wouldn't work for me.
Over the past week I had about 3h per night, on average. It's OK, you can do that for a while. I've had less. But what I found was that the less you sleep per night, the shorter the period where it's sustainable — i.e., while you should be able to do it without, you'll get more work done if you sleep 2h a night when you've got three days left. If you've got 5 days, sleep 3h, and so on.
The least amount of sleep that is sustainable for extended periods (not just a week or two) is said to be 20min every 2h. However, that is the least sleep, not the highest productivity. Waking hours and productivity are seperate things.
i bring up all those tips everyday. My night's day starts from 11 pm to 8 am. i get my dinner @ 11 night then a couple of drinks.. and so the session starts. some 5-6 cups of coffee, 3-4 calls to friends and an hour of discontinous games/web surfing makes it all fine.
i've found that the cocaine and ecstasy combo helps me get through the night
then bam! some oxycontin when the sun comes up for sweet dreams!
Stare at boobs…
I'm an artist going to an art college where an all nighter is the thing to do… I've got some experience in this field. One thing I've notice about all nighters is if you do decide to drink some highly caffinated drink (I prefer BooKoo Works wonders) though the secret to drinking such a drink for an all nighter is to drink it slowly, as in sips at a time. This allows for no caffine high and lows. Although I've notice that at the initial start of drinking it you get really tired then the caffine starts taking over.
I havn't tryed eating any pasta or cereal as I go through the night.
I remember one all nighter I pulled I just drank BooKoo all night and didn't have anything in my stomach and WOW i'm not doing that anymore my heart felt like it was about to explode the next day.
O and one other thing usually I take a caffinatied nap and i think it works…you drink a whole cup of coffee or something similar in caffine and right after you do that take a almost exactly 15 min. sleep and remember not to fall back asleep after it. Try it out sometime but read about it first. http://goalsuccess.typepad.com/goaltips/2006/02/how_to_take_a_c.html
take care
One note about the caffiene. Don't start drinking it right away. As the night progresses slowly start sipping. If you start too early and drink too much you may end up running out of available energy and find yourself a mindless zombie in the late hours of the morning.
And one other note… I myself am caffiene free. As a result on the few occasions when I do need a boost I can drink a coke and fly high for two days straight. It's my ninety-nine cent crack.
fill a plastic bowl with cuttlery and metal screws, whenver you start to doze of shake it next to your ear.
erm. i am reading this at 4 am.
-dies-
As a fellow EE undergrad over at Notre Dame, this article is spot-on. Definitely informative and some good advice. I'm going to have to give this a go next time I pull an all-nighter.
And it is true, electrical engineering homework is neither easy nor fun. Believe me ;-).
What I do is I take power naps- for example lets say I work till 2 and i'm way out of it. I take a 30 minute nap (with 2 alarm clocks), and then wake up at 3:30, and keep on working.
All nighters aren't that bad- I pull them all the time. You should also add that peopel should practice once in a while- because if you normally sleep at 9 (pussies), and all of a sudden you have an all nighter on your hands, you could literally pass out. Just my eight hundred and ninety-nine cents.
i'm very please that you voiced your experiences. to those that replied to your post with comments about it not being a real all-nighter, i must say "WOW! look at the stones on those guys - they're HARDCORE". i don't think it says anywhere an all-nighter requires 40+ hours without sleep; that would simply be not sleeping last night. typically, all-nighters revolve around some procrastination and a ridiculous amount of work that needs to be done. if you've been up all day and you are studying up from dinner to breakfast time…you pulled an all-nighter. many a time did i use this in college for exam cramming or coding marathons; i was horrible at starting weeks early like all those kids with bulletproof study habits. i would often tell people in my life that i needed the pressure to perform well, but as a college graduate now, i know that is a load of crap. there is nothing great about procrastinating, it's not helpful and it definitely does not increase the quality of material i produce. sure, you might have a more fulfilling social life, but those wild nights really can't replace a failing grade because you were too retarded to realize that it actually takes some discipline to become great at what you do. i'm not trying to harp or condemn, but i have been there. it might seem like a fine way of doing things and increase the college experience, but in the long run you can never replace a quality sleep time if you want to minimize stress and disappointment. i felt that marco really hit the nail on the head, especially those that are able to function between 4-9am. retention would be greater cramming for a test in those five hours than if you stayed up all night and took a short nap before your 10am test. not to mention you probably wouldn't sleep through it. that is definitely not the best way to approach a test, but we all know that. there were also always kids using their miracle study buddy, aderol. that's another way to pull an all-nighter, but i highly frown upon it. plus you probably would end up talking your roommates ear off, and telling him everything that ever happened to you. stay away from amphetamines as study aids, it will bite you in the ass eventually.
Sounds like some good tips, I might try that one day, how about checking out this article on how to have a 36 hour day and increase your productivity. Very helpful list!
http://jon.zaadz.com/blog/2006/3/how_to_have_a_36_hour_day
I also recomend drinking a lot of water. That way you keep your blood pressure high and you are not sleepy.
Very sound advice.
I'm currently finishing up my undergrad in art school. I've been doing all nighters since high school well technically one in middle school but whatever. Firstly I don't typically classify an all nighter by the sun coming up, it's gotta be 24hrs+. Anyhow, a lot of the tips are the bread and butter. Me I've always been a big coffee drinker, drink it like water, so like two pots throughout the night is nothing big, the caffeine doesn't cause me to burn out. 4-5am is the hardest time for sure, that's where it can all come apart. Back to back all nighters is hardcore, the most I will do these days are 35-40hr days. But yeah, to all nighters and sleep deprivation, haha.
loved this, really good.
i pulled an all nighter the night before the last, had 8 cups of coffee and 3 cans of redbull, then 1-2 hours of halo 2, really did the job
cups of coffee, cups of yerba matte- some red bull, plenty of water= awake for 58 of 62 hours.
I'm a graphic designer. A few years ago I over-booked projects thinking I could handle the load. I wound having to do 62 hours straight with no naps. After all those hours, I still wasn't caught-up and my deadline was coming up fast. I was starting to hallucinate so I was forced to stop working for awhile and took a 2 hour power nap. I woke up and worked another 48 hours to finish my projects. Then I had to go to a visit a friend who was having a going away party. By the time I got home, my body was so messed up that I couldn't sleep. I layed down and finally passed out and slept for 18 hours. I woke up with feeling like I had just come out of major surgery.
Nowadays, I don't do overnighters, especially marathon over-nighters. The reason is that it's not good for your body. You throw off your sleep cycle and mess up your body chemistry. On a rare occaison it's probably ok, but in the long run you can cause long-term serious damage. People have died from sleep deprivation and it's an effective form of torture. Why do you want to torture yourself? Best to sleep and work productively than the work long hours inefficiently. Remember, Procrastination or poor planning = sleep deprevation= health risk. Good night!
I've got to get me some of that starbucks stuff you talked about on my next trip to the USA. Some other pointers:
Keep your window(s) open but curtains closed; fresh air will keep you… fresh.
Eat ICE, yes again, the low fat version of it. Full with sugars and other stuff. Plus, the coldness of it will give you a kicker when you need it.
If you're a CS student, do pair-programming; slap each other in the face when "he's starting to drool".
and last, ORDER food; It'll cost you extra $/€ but having to stay up because the pizza/kebab is about to arrive in 30 to 45 minutes is EASY!
Great article Christian, had a good read after 30hrs of continues programming.
vitamin C 500 to 1000mg
you would not believe how much better you will feel.
you know that icky feeling you get in your stomache when you do stay up all nite? they are so much reduced if you take enough vitamin c. i also take a multivitamin.
Ahh, I pulled a lot of all-nighters back in art school and I must say ritalin is the thing to have. If you're not ADHD ritalin (or any other ADHD meds) will make you like Einstein on crack. I remember working on a single drawing for 12 hours straight without losing interest the entire time.
Now, I'm now a graphic designer almost ready to turn 30 (!) and, having a combination of clients in European and US time zones, still put in 36+ hour days every week or two. Here's what I've found that's sustainable:
Adjust the extra meal advice to SNACK when you want to, then enjoy a light breakfast halfway through the session. Forget carbs for snacks, they do make you sleepy. Instead snack on fruit and protein: citrus, apples, bananas, nuts, etc. Fruit juice is great to pull on between coffees (see #2) more than Dew or any soft drink, and drinking water doesn't hurt. I find staying up leads to dehydration, which makes you tired. My breakfast around sunrise usually consists of a bagel or small amount of pasta, which does the trick. No matter what, don't allow yourself to get too hungry (or too full).
Pace your caffeine consumption. As others have said, don't start drinking it until you feel the need. Then, pace out cups over a period of time. Don't guzzle all at once. A caffeine crash will put you out as soon as anything else. The "caffeine nap" is also a real phenomenon and can be exploited (see #3).
Nap before if you can. A few hours in the early evening before you start can work wonders. Otherwise, micronaps of 1/2 hour to an hour help, but it's up to you to find out which system works to get you woken up at the right time. I find sheer panic is the best motivation.
Take breaks that are different from what you've been doing. If you've been staring at a computer screen, do not play games or browse around the web. Instead, take a walk and rest your eyes. If you've been reading or writing, maybe computer stuff will do. However, I find active, mind-clearing breaks like walks to be the best. If you can manage to stop thinking about what you've been doing for a brief period you'll retain more, become inspired, and will be more refreshed when you return. This does not mean engage in strenuous exercise that will make you tired. Nothing that will break a sweat, just some down time.
Try to stay awake at least until the late afternoon. If you have classes this helps. Then, sleep for as long as you need. Chances are, you'll wake up sometime early morning and your schedule won't be screwed up and shifted permanently nocturnal.
Live right when you're not pulling an all-nighter and it makes it easier when you have to. Just following the usual rules of eating right, sleeping well and exercising makes it much easier and fills you with reserve energy when you need to stretch your physiology for brief periods. If you make a habit of abusing your body for long periods, you will burn out. That's a guarantee.
I always find it much better to do an all-nighter in the library/computer science labs (provided they're open 24/7 of course). That way, even if you do get too tired, you would still have to walk home to get to bed, so you are more motivated to stay awake! It is also best if you are not alone.
A friend and I ended up doing 60 hours with no sleep due to far too many pieces of coursework. We managed it in the end. And then went out that night and got very drunk very quickly
I haven't slept in years…
A friend just pointed me to this site. Book marking now as most nights are all-nighters for us.
About having lights on.
This is not true, I find it best to be in a dim-ly minimal lighting room, as the less light, the less work your eyes have to do. too much light and your eyes pull in everything going around you and dont focus on whats imporant, which wastes away energy that could be used more efficiently.
When I'm up for days straight programming my light is off 99% of the time, and I'm just working to the lighting of my 4 monitors. This honestly helps wayyy more than one would think, it is second to the caffine dosage.
Well, that's usually wrong Zajako. You still have the warm incandescent glow of your monitors. Which, if brighter, can actually help to keep you up because it tricks your mind into thinking it's day. Now if you're like me and you live your life in the dark, that part of your mind may have died off. If so, ignore this comment :p
nah has nothing about tricking your mind into thinking its day, your body has a natural clock, it is quite capable from knowing day and night. Lighting cannot trick this sensor. If you notice from working in office buildings with lots of lighting, you will be more tired throughout the day at work, where as if you work at home with the lights off, you will be more awake.
The body has more than one way of telling time. Circadian rhythms are what you're talking about. The bright lights can increase blood flow to the brain and, again, tricks the mind into thinking it's day.
This lighting process actually helps to reset your circadian rhythms
"Light and the biological clock
Illuminance must be greater than 1000 lux to reset the circadian clock in humans.
In addition to light intensity, wavelength (or color) of light is an important factor in the degree to which the clock is reset. Melanopsin is most efficiently excited by blue light (420-440 nm).[1]"
quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythms#Light_and_the_biological_clock
provided by rein himself.
Normal 70 watt bulbs cant do this. They only put drain instead.
Tricking is not resetting. Tricking is tricking.
Tricking: temporary, doesn't need as much light. will last a few hours.
Resetting: perminant till next reset.
for those of us who have already repaced our circadian rhythms there really is no mystery here.
this post is kind of a joke.
worldpeace,
ben
You could simplify your article with one line…."Snort one line of Crystal Meth" and you are good for about 3 days
Im in final year of my computer science degree and its coming up to my finals. This should come in handy!!
Cheers
Calum,
Belfast, Ireland
Nice article.
I'll see how well it works tonight.
nice article! i will really use this!
thanks
I'm also an EECE student at Binghamton University (1hr away from Cornell). I don't think it's that necessary to do it all the time. For those of you who do it all the time, as one person said above, you NEED TO REORGANIZE how you do things. If you're constantly pulling all-nighters, SOMETHING IS WRONG.
I've found your article at an interesting time, since i just completed a 38 hour gauntlet of conciousness yesterday. though i've gotta say i made it by going a slightly less socially acceptible route. Though there is alot of negative stigma around it, i have some ritalin pills (doctor persribed to me personally for adult ADD) and though i dont take them as perscribed, whenever i need to keep cramming to keep the grades up, nothing really compares to them. 5 hours of attentive, focused production per pill. Terribly effective.
Dude, well done on getting this posted on digg.com. Crazy to wake up and see one of my info230 students become moderately famous.
I graduated from college 2 years back, but I do clearly remember those days of finishing up my final year project!! What those 3 weeks like … trying to fit in a year worth of work
Anyway, here is what I found out about all-nighters:
** If you smoke, then a cup of black coffee and a smoke can really get you on your feet. Its nice to have some company when you're having our coffee. Talking really wakes you up. An alternative is to find a quiet isolated place and sing to yourself (applicable for a bathroom singer like me!)
** Snacks with sugar really help… cuz you really need the energy to keep going. Drinking a lot of water not only keeps you hydrated… it make sure that you don't escape the toilet breaks …
** A lab / office environment is always the best… make sure you stay away from couches… lay back and thats it… you'll be woken up next morning!
** Make sure the cause is worth it. Cuz if you don't feel the panic, you'll probably slack off
Cheers!
Hint: Don't do this for a job. Do it for school.
You are wasting your time if you are coding more than 8 hours.
As a fellow EE ('80) I only cringe at the thought of doing an all nighter! I needed a clear head to do my homework or projects. I managed to destroy my share of braincells, but I can think of few things that are more important than sleep (except for sex
While studying CS and later working as an engineer I've had my share of all-nighters. Nevertheless I've come to the conclusion growing older:
There are extremely few situations where all-nighters are required if proper planning would have been done ahead of time. And as we all know the last minute dirty hack will very seldome have the same quality as a thoroughly designed and implemented solution (read engineered).
Now you ask why one couldn't do a proper design and implementation during an all nighter. I say: most certainly you can but to be honest, why do you think your body tells you it's time to sleep? You need the downtime. The further you progress without downtime, you will become less creative, less attentive all resulting in higher defect rates. I.e you produce but the resulting quality is poor. Depending on what you are producing the defect rate may be beyond what is acceptable and hence rendering your all-night work useless.
Having turned to the dark side (management) I realized what I stated even more, especially as quality of software is one of the things I manage.
Last but not least, sometimes planning is off or there are good reasons why you need something done and you have no time left, then go ahead, pull your all nighter, you gain a few hours by that. Be aware of the cons though. I would also like to stress that it's better sleeping say 4h instead of 8, getting up early and doing the work as you will be a bit more productive the next day.
The only thing missing in the description above is the 15min powernap, set your alarm, sleep 15min, get up go for a walk drink your coke and you'll feel a lot better for 2h or so. Repeat as often as needed.
I understand the whole engineering thing as I fall into that group. Some times the 21+ credits a semester kills me. Yet just a suggestion green tea has Very little caffiene in it. Move on to chai or black/red/english teas. Green is my favorit, but it is seriously laking in the electric area
LOLOLOLOL
Intersting and useful! I'm about to start my MBA course so this will definitely help me a lot
I'm sure I'll have to spend quite a few all-nighters during these two years.
I'm not too fond of coffee …I say if you're going to need a boost, do it healthy…try the Boost Power shot from my website…You wont be disappointed… http://www.myxpi.com/frankm
I find that carbs are not good for maintaining wakefulness. I suggest high-protein foods. Eggs and cheese have a lot of protein, but a lot of fat, too. I like a 3:00am breakfast, but I prefer an omelet to a bowl of cereal. But a big meal makes me logie, so don't overdo eating. A protein bar or two might suffice.
I also find that I need to cut off my caffeine intake or I'll get the jitters and that'll impact performance.
Bad thing about all-nighters is they can goof your performance for a couple days afterwards. Best to save them for cramming for finals.
After I finished my masters' in Math and I was working for the gubmint, I got to thinking I was too old to handle late nights. But then I started another masters' in CS. And I discovered I had even more capacity for all-nighters than when I was an undergrad.
thank you captain obvious
Though not a true insomniac, I have had a lot of experience with all-nighters. This guide is a good starting point, but each person has to figure out what sort of sleep cycle is able to maximize their alertness.
Here is what I have found to be the case:
With regards to lighting, it seems to be on an individual basis that people prefer bright or dim environments… so pick one. Either have the lights on as bright as they'll go or keep it dark (as some people have said, dim blue light does seem to increase alertness for me). Just make sure you don't end up in a room with dim yellow light… trust me, it'll put you right to sleep.
Coffee is great as an initial caffeine boost- drink one (or a few) cups as you begin your work. After this initial boost, I find it's best to stick to cold caffeinated drinks (i.e. Red Bull™) until your cycle starts resetting (4-5 am). Don't drink cold drinks until you start to get tired… you'll need the boost more then. It is fine to chug the coffee, but DO NOT chug a cold beverage for all-nighters… sip slowly and keep it ice cold during the entire time you are consuming it until it is empty. The boost it gives you is only effective so long as the drink is cold. After you've finished it, you've (usually) only got 2-3 hours of alertness left, so if you need more time, drink another. While some people prefer to drink coffee while they work, I find that the heat comforts me and can lull me to sleep… but if it works for you, that's great. (On a side note about caffeine… I once came across some powdered caffeine… I would not recommend it. It is the combination of temperature, sugar, taste, and caffeine content of a drink that makes it effective at keeping you awake and not just the caffeine itself).
Food. Anything you eat should either be prepared already or microwaveable so you don't have to waste precious time preparing it. I usually eat pasta right before drinking my coffee, at the beginning, with a sauce that has a strong taste–whether it be excessively spicy, salty, or tomato-ey, this will prevent you from getting tired immediately. While you work, munch on something crunchy. I personally recommend Flamin' Hot Cheetos Limón™.. they're spicy and crunchy and I'm addicted to them.
As many others have said, I find around 3 am to be peak performance time. Depending on how late you normally stay up, you'll start losing focus between 4:30 and 5. When you start losing focus around this time, immediately give yourself a break. Cold, fresh air is the best along with light physical activity… nothing too serious. For best effects, your break should incorporate a change in: lighting (dim>light, light>dim), temperature, color temperature of light (warm>cool, cool>warm), and physical motion (if you have been sitting still, chaotic, erratic movement will refresh you–exert your muscles somewhat but don't become physically tired). A walk is excellent; stretching can also be invigorating and loosen the now-stiff joints. You'll almost always be able to tell when you can return to your work–it usually takes me 15-20 minutes or 30-40 if I'm particularly tired… you should stop your break as soon as you become accustomed to your new setting, so that returning to work is something different. This is the time during which you are most likely to fall asleep, so if you feel yourself going, do something sudden and drastic, like sticking your head under a cold faucet. If you can make it past this point, you're home free.
When you return to work, I've always found a change in the original work environment to spur increased productivity. For me, I usually turn on the TV to an early morning news show, like World News Now or something and let it run in the background… in this case morning news both helps your body reset for the day better and gives you a little bit of an incentive for working faster, because it's as if you can hear time ticking away. If you've been working in the dark, turn the lights on… anything that makes your mind not feel as though it is returning to the original tedium it just left.
As soon as you've passed your tiredness threshold here, you will once again have a huge productivity boost- for me it lasts 2-3 hours, from 5:30 until 8 or so. If you've got a morning deadline or due date, this window is easier to extend than the 2-4 productivity window because you know you have to turn it in soon.
In summary: First, coffee+bold food. Work while munching crunchy food and start sipping COLD sugary caffeinated beverages when you get tired. Take a break when you start slipping–change your environment. Get back to work.
Sorry about the excessive length. Hope someone gets something out of it.
Take speed! It works better
Ritalin - that's the thing… If you're already a procrastinating hedonist strong drugs are your only hope - you might as well enjoy the journey as you descend into a hell of your own making
Excellent guide.
You people are weak. When I was a DBA, I got an emergency page at 3AM Friday night/Saturday after a long night of drinking. Turned out we had a serious disk problem that had corrupted all sorts of things, and databases on the East & West coasts needed to be rebuilt. (And the other DBAs were either on vacation or in the hospital)
This resulted in a 36 hours of hell, going through 3 shifts of datacenter technicans, who kept me awake through various means. I didn't come back in until Thursday.
I pulled all nighters about 8 times a semester during my first year of my CS degree, and extended them to two-nighters by my 2nd year. I would sleep in Saturday morning, start working on the assignment around noon, then work through til Monday morning, hand the assignment in to the office at 8:55am Monday morning (they were checked at 9am), then go home to sleep for 24 hours.
I noticed I would start hallucinating at roughly the 40 hour mark, and by the 45 hour mark I would have a headache (mostly from the caffeine) and a sore back, and occasionally would pass out with no warning. No fun, but it got the job done.
Some of those tips are ok, but some are just stupid - especially the last one. I've pulled many all-nighters - I'm arguably the god of all nighters! I think one of the most important things is the caffeine - coffee works wonders along with some sort of beverage like coke - forget about branded products like Bolt or those other high-caffeine products cuz they just don't compare to cola or coffee.
Another tip, is to wash your face as mentioned above in cold water, and to preferably turn up the air conditioining or turn on a fan ..the reason for this is that the cold water will awaken you but as it dries you'll find yourself more relunctant to work as a result of the fact that the body will tend to make you sleep when cold, but turning on a fan while your face is moderaltely wet somehow manages to counter this sleep effect and keeps you awake longer (I can't scientifically explain this but it appears to work, at least for me).
Another thing is to take breaks, but not 30 minute breaks because that's way too long, and also playing something like a video game or watching tv will more likely make you waste time and you'll end up spending more time then necessary in recreation than in the work you should be doing!
Thanks for the tidbits. I go to Ithaca and know what the all nighter feels like. Thanks for the advice as I am sure I will be using it this week for an 11 pager.
Noted: A drug induced solution to this wouldbe just to take adderall, but that's only if your up for that kinda thing.
An alternative to all-nighters is starting your assignments early.
Good points all around, I've used every single one of them. Oh, and I'm studying theoretical physics at McGill, so I've had to pull quite a few all-nighters..
after 2 years of be an all-nighter i discovered that its a hard job…i believed it was funny and sometimes i tried to record my hours without sleep but now…is not funny, it appears im 26 (im 21) or more…:S…
also i sleep more and i find the all-nighter job hardest than before…
im not an allnighter anymore =( im old!
I've found dark chocolate to be a good energy boost. Also even though it is dark go outside for 1min, taking a deep breath of fresh air always helps. Constant music tends to put me to sleep so every hour or so play an "energy" song (RATM - Wake Up) maybe? Also, do some pushups.
All nighters are stupid.
I repeat: there is nothing cool or macho about an all nighter. People come up to me, looking like shit, and say "Man, I have not slept in so long I have been working so hard."
They expect me to respond with awe and respect over how hard core they are. I categorically will not endorse self destruction and stupidity, so I say in response:
"That was dumb. Why did you do that? I bet the work you did was crap."
I can say this is true from much first hand and second hand experience. Losing sleep is stupid; especially if you are a student.
You will suffer later on for your lack of sleep and lowered skills/concentration in the long run… meaning you will pull more all-nighters. Does anyone else see the positive feedback loop? This spiral can destroy an entire semester.
Furthermore, you cannot learn properly without sleep. New concepts are not internalized, and your intuition will leave you faster than the copious amounts of urine that caffiene makes you produce (it is a diuretic.) Homework (especially hw involving serious thought) will take longer… meaning more all-nighters.
In all seriousness, if I find myself needing to do all-nighters, that means I need to rethink my organizational skills or drop a few classes. There's no shame in reducing your courseload so you actually learn what the teachers are trying to tell you.
Call me old and conservative, but I have three hard and fast rules during a semester:
1. No caffiene or stimulants.
2. 8 hours of sleep a night.
3. Exercise daily and vigorously. (The 30 minutes to an hour spent this way more than pay off in productivity.)
Woe to those who stay up all night. You will get what is coming to you… the consequences of sleep deprivation are as unavoidable as death and taxes.
I've pulled all nighters before, but never for schoolwork. Not yet, anyway. I think it would be way too hard going to school after staying up all night. The best I've done is going to sleep at around 5:30am and getting up at around 8:30am. It really does make you feel like shit though.
My school holidays are coming up, so I might try and all-nighter just for the hell of it. With a PS2 abd a computer it wouldn't be that hard, I don't think. I'm not gonna do it during school, though, because seriously, its stupid.
Meditation. When I have too much to do in too little time I meditate for 30min. This refreshes me, clears my mind and gives me the ability to go beyond the sunrise. Simple meditation; I just count my breaths to ten. If I think of anything other than the number of breath, I start over. Not as easy as it may seem, but it certainly helps with focus.
Found this in Furl and saved it right away. I'm 54 and STILL have to pull all-nighters about twice a month to get my job done as a teacher. Your tips are great and nice to see it organized so well. Love the comments too, here.
As someone who has pulled all-nighters in college and later while writing, I think this is right on point. I like the inclusion of what coffee does to you.
I've got an all-nighter ahead of me tonight…thanks for the tips
Two things from someone who only started pulling all-nighters at the age of 32 (and has since given them up for good!):
First, whenever you are feeling like you can't keep your eyes open, drink a full glass of water; don't know why it works, but you will feel more alert and mentally clear w/in 3-4 minutes, every time
Second, there is a prescription drug that is not an amphetamine or amphetamine-like substance, brand is Provigil (US)(generic name Modafinil) which simply makes you feel not-tired. No 'speedy' feelings, no racing heart, no come-down; suddenly you simply feel not-drowsy. It was originally developed/prescribed for people suffering from narcolepsy but now is used by long-haul truckers etc… Most importantly there are literally no side effects of any consequence.
I do NOT recommend taking any drug for any sustained period of time unless under a doctor's direction.
However if you need to get through the hump of an all-nighter, Provigil is a life-saver.
One final note, I weigh roughly 250 lbs and do not need to take more than 100mg of Provigil during a 24 hour period in order to be awake and alert - this stuff is powerful per mg/pound. Basically I take one pill and each time I start to lose steam (usually every 90-180 minutes) I nibble roughly 5-10mg off of it, and that seems to be plenty.
Good luck!
as i said before, I've pulled all nighters for tons of my assignments and no one is saying that its something to be respected - in the same way that ipods only prove how much of a group mentality a person has.
modafinil
Christian, thanks for bringing me back to life at Cornell. It was nice imagining my old days in the old U Halls, arguing with the roommate, getting a whiff from the lounge of something salty and fatty and delicious.
Which brings me to my point: Where is Hot Truck?? Please tell me it´s still around and providing dreadfully unhealthy food to the hordes of freshman at CU. I miss those damn french-bread pizzas.
Oh, and can I just say that it´s friggin´ great to read all the comments from the macho allnighterers and the macho neverallnighters.
I consider myself in the group of macho someallnightersneverhurtanyone group.
It´s fun! Come join in! We talk about some of the times when we had to pull all-nighters, and how we drooled on our pillows the next day, and then how we probably should have been studying more earlier, but whatever–it´s not like I knocked 2 years off my life because I drank too much coffee that night.
Much luck to all…keep on keepin´ on….
Carl: both Hot Truck and Larry's Lunch are still in business, as far as I know.
Really entertaining and well-written! Glad to see someone putting up a semi-short introduction to allnighters. Hope you didn't sleep all the way through your social-studies-class, don't wanna be one of those numbers you know! Gotta change the world.
Have a great day!
I saw a recent study, and after an evening of use, can and do vouch for it. Blue Light. What i read said that blue tinted light keeps you more alert, and had been studied and all that. If you can find one of those party lights that are tinted blue, pop that guy in a lamp while you have your other lights on and where it can shine on / near you. I just took a piece of blue gel (cellophane) from an artstore and taped it infront of a multi bulb squid type light and turned all three one when i need to stay awake for those late night code hacks.
On the flipside, how about tips on how to get an early night?
wooo, this is my 54th hr of no sleep and I feel tottally fucked up but ohwell drinks another cofee I think im dehydrated.
I always find that stepping outside for a minute refreshes me AND makes me feel like a creature of the night. I often make trips to 7-11 in the middle of an all-nighter- for a long time I was convinced that the 15 minute walk would be a waste precious time, but then I realized that when I got back I was way more productive. The minute you walk back in the door, you have a mission.
Also, I like to turn lights on in every room of my apartment, even the bathroom. I'm sorry, Energy, but you've got to do what you've got to do to keep it bright as day.
I've found that the main reason drinking coffee or tea keeps you up is that 30 minutes after drinking, you have to go the bathroom. When you return from the bathroom, have another cup! Rinse, lather, repeat.
Another important trick is, after you've passed 3-4am, stop thinking that you've been up all night… You've gotten up early. This helps you avoid thinking about how much you want to sleep and switches you to thinking about how you really need to wake up.
Be careful if you decide to eat sugary things. The insulin bounce you get hit with can knock you out fast as can be.
This whole calling going to bed after dawn is an all-nighter is wrong! Missing an entire sleep cycle is an all-nighter. (52 hours seeing 3 dawns is my personal best)
Caffeine is terrible for long hours because of the adrenal response, which will always lead to additional recovery time. Modafinil is considerably better from this regard simply because it does not elevate the sympathetic response and allows for rapid recovery time. With Modafinil I have routinely worked 48 hours and then completely recovered with 6 to 8 hours of sleep. Wonderful stuff!!
haha, to whomever said, "an alternative would be to start assignments earlier," shut the fuck up, you've obviously never attended a serious university. Thank you.
Thanks for the article. I've done too many all-nighters in my time, and I'm sure many more are to come.
Got any other good college productivity tips?
I guess different people handle these differently; when I was ~20 I didn't have any problem at all staying up all night. I worked as a security monitor such that I worked all night every Thursday for several years. Like some of the other commenters, I disagree with a few of these tips; in particular, a brief catnap (set an alarm!) can help a lot.
Eating is indeed a good tip. In fact, chewing alone can help as well. I think it tricks the body into thinking you're about to eat, so it needs to stay awake. So chewing gum is exactly what I do when I'm out late driving and start to feel drowsy.
Or you could do your work ahead of time.
Just a thought.
Keep non-medicinal eye drops in the fridge and use whenever your eyes start feeling scratchy and tired. It's harder to keep your eyes open when they are dry. The cold drops also jerk you into alertness.
In the vein of 'shower', I cannot emphasize enough the virtues of a clean pair of socks. Back in the days when I used to work as a theatre technician (touring show), I would often have to do a setup from 10am until 6pm, rest for a bit, work the show from 8-10:30 and then tear down & pack the truck.
A new pair of socks at 10:30 made all the difference in the world. Many thanks to my colleague Jan Werger for that tip.
how odd that i come across this tonight… here i am working on a design tech project thats due tomorow morning, looking through mass amounts of wikipedia sites (i just found out how awsome it is today… im hooked on em
), and i go thropugh a few links and get here somehow. this will deffinitely help out tonight. love your choice of music, but man… i've been listening to music for a good 5 hours now and i've got a HUGE headache…
awsome article, very well writen
Hi!
The reason why I am writing is, that you should contain a warning in your text. I am not working often at night, but for a period of four month or so I had to stay up at night one night a week. That caused some health problem, decreased my motivation for other things like enjoying social contacts and - yes, studying. So all you students out there: Its best to get your work done during daytime, and then have enough resting time and spare time in the evenings and at night.
Good article, contains a lot good points on staying up all night working. I myself work often at night, but not for studying, I earn money, then.
The second point is: Sometimes unions or medical organiziations (I don't know what you could look for, because I only know it for Germany), insurances or Institutes for Public Health have books or brochures for nightworkers, they can also be helpful for your purpose.
But remember: Working at night might reduce your brain cells, increase your heart rate and make you fat and depressed. Having an A in the next exam is not everything.
Please excuse my bad English, it is not my mother tongue.
This is a great article. I actually do all these things when I pull off my graveyard shifts for work.
Another great this to do is if you know anyone else if awake and is also pulling off an all-nighter, phone them up and chat for a little bit. It certainly keeps me awake!
I liked the post the most! Great! Actually I was allnighter 4-5 years before. But I suddenly lost my allnighter habit! I was so successful when I was all nighter. But after quitting that habit! I become less productive. So my result went low. Actually I started facing problems of time management!. But Now I decided to become a Hardcore allnighter! I hope my performance and result will improve to a very good level! Thanks Christian!
One quick non-chemical pickmeup that I've discovered is juggling. Whenever I feel like I'm about to fade into neverland, I take a five minute break and do a simple 3-ball cascade juggle.
My hypothesis is that it activates different parts of your brain that were otherwise going unused during study. Juggling forces you to coordinate your eyes and hands and lets the rationalizing portions of your brain take a break for a few minutes.
It's very likely that you will be worse at juggling after being awak for 36 hours (I sure am), so stand over a couch or a bed so that your constant drops don't piss off any roommates or downstairs neighbors.
i am currently on hour 66 and feeling dizzy give me tips or i will uhhhh sumthin. but none o dat go to sleep stuff
All good, but face should be refrehsed with warm (or as hot as you can stand) water to allow the blood to circulate better to head.
Thanks, that was some really great advice! I also have to agree that the ability to stay up all night does not always last. I used to be able to go 36+hrs without difficulty, but that is sadly, no longer the case. One day my body just said "NO!" and it has been quite the adjustment!
Personal tricks that I would recommend, if necessary, are:
Chocolate covered coffee beans - I can't eat them because I am highly sensitive to caffeine, but my roommate swears by them. Just don't eat too many, because they can mess up your digestive tract and make your heart race when eaten in large quantities.
Walk while you are reading. If you are tired, bending your neck while sitting is a death sentence for your all-nighter. Caffeine, cold water, munching, and exercise will work for a while, but my last resort on the nights when I have to finish 350 pages of a Dostoevsky, (I am a english/anthropology major) is walking. Your body's only choice if it wants to sleep is to fall; mine tends to prefer self preservation, so it works!
You know, all that stuff you listed as far as technique goes is about what I did about 2 weeks ago when I pulled two all-nighters in a row. I'm not gonna lie, the aftermath was probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had and I'm still sick from the blow to my immune system, but damnit, I pulled it off.
I graduated from Cornell in 1993 as a ChemE. I can definitely relate to the necessity of all-nighters!!! Good post.
Nothing beats a short 20 minute cat nap. of course…you need an aggressive way of wake up. Short naps are much more energizing than having coffee trick your neurons to a state of awake.
Excellent advice! It will surely come in handy. What I have always done is just try to drink as much coffee as humanly possible, I never really considered the other things.
Yeah, um I don't follow directions very well. It's 4:15 am and the sun might come up before I go to sleep. At least I'm using my night time reading this
Just do it
As a party-animal, this tips don't really suit me, but I think you should also advice on what to do the next day… after all, pulling an all-nighter means you'll be sleepy the next day.
My trick: during the day, when you really cannot hold it anymore, sleep from 15 to 20 minutes somewhere. Your body will rest a bit and, for some more hours, forget it needs to sleep. Don't go over 25 minutes, or your body will require the extra hours it needs!
Excellent article though. Wish I had it when I was a student! It would have saved me a lot of troubles I got myself into.
Hello there! I came out of the kitchen from just eating a piece of toast and summed up what I know for tomorrow's exam - nothing. I know I'll have to pull an allnighter but I knew I couldn't do it on my own. I needed expert advice and with some quick googling i found you. I'm going to swap my cranberry and blackcurrent juice for some hardcore tea and throw on Ok Computer. Ah what the heck, i'll do it all naked too! This is tale will be told for decades.
Yeah, the allnighters are a fun thing to pull, but I've got a scenario for you… a friend of mine is a self-induced insomniac. Meaning, he doesn't sleep, by choice. He hasnt in about 3 years. For recreational purposes only, any ideas on how to acieve this?
Cadi: My only advice is, be totally crazy (and maybe stupid).
another idea is to put salt in your hand and put hot sauce on top of it and swallow it………it really does work!~!
other ideas that work are washing your face and drinking ice water while putting the ice on your eyelids
Great tips! I can't believe i didn't read this when I was still in college!
The greatest tip to stay awake you forgot is to lay down with your feet above your heart with an ice pack wrapped in a washcloth on your face. This actually fools your body into thinking it received sleep. *Note- Doing this for more than three consecutive days has been known to cause pyschosis
Wow Matt, I wouldn't want to try crazy techniques like that. Besides, when I'm in college I don't have any ice lying around
ah. Good advice. Ive managed to pull off quite a few all nighters of my own, and sometimes even 2 in a row! O.o
Anyway, most of these techniques sound really familiar, since i used them without even realizing it. Good Job!
BADASS TIPS
Well when i want to stay up late i drink alot of water. it helps me alot. Also coffee and some red-bull and offcourse toast with ham & cheese.
"While all of these are interesting suggestions I have a few things that have certainly helped me to stay up as well as more alert and able to produce more quality work.
1) When taking a nap while the fifteen and thirty minute ideas as well as the forty minute idea are good the best thing you could do is nap in increments of one and one half hours. This is about how long it takes to complete one full sleep cycle and if you wake up after a cycle is over you will wake more clear headed and less groggy. I remember reading somewhere that the body only needs about three hours of sleep a night although most people require more for not completely known reasons.
2) I find that things like black coffee or sugar free energy drinks are the way to go for caffiene as this avoids the high sugar intake along with the sugar crash shortly thereafter.
3) When eating the carb idea is good in theory however the same idea as with having processed sugar applies. Highly processed flour products are broken down into sugars so quickly you end up having a crash. I would recommend rice or a whole wheat bread and maybe a small piece of fish or a plain egg or two.
All of that being said I don't always follow these rules in practice but I seem to perform the best when I do follow them.
Oh and one more comment that I thought of. All of the people who mention hallucinations after not sleeping. This is a common misconception that has never been able to be proven in research. In the majority of cases even staying up three or four days in a row has only caused severe tiredeness. The hallucinations have been found to stem from psychological or drug induced (including caffeine) conditions that are highly worsened by staying up. Some have also been found of what seem to be a placebo affect in which the person thought that if they were sleep deprived they would hallucinate. There does come a time if nothing is used to prevent it after like five days that it is impossible to stay awake. In studies thousands of dollars have been offered just to stay awake one more day to no avail as the person slips out of consciousness sleeps for a day and wakes up fine.
Ah yes, eggs sound like a great idea. They are very easy to prepare too, you can just boil a few if you know you will be up late. Thanks for sharing, and I definitely agree that sleep deprivation on its own cannot be responsible for hallucinations.
yo i was typing in ways to pull all nighters on google and this came up, its about 5:24 am, lets see if i can do this,haha, thank for the tips!!!
Cornell..School there is intense.
I'm currently a freshman so I found your article to be priceless.
Thanks!
GO BIG RED
Thanks, This was really good. I've had a couple of all nighters this year, Grade 10. Including yesterday. So next time Ill keep these tips in mind and remember to eat something like Cereal. So I dont fell nausea. Thanks Again.
These tips help and don't watch court tv it will scare you before finaly going to bed I'm not jokeing try it to humor me
Hi guys I just pulled an all-nighter and it was easy as. I just left my fly undone and had the toilet route clear, and then proceeded to drink 4.1 litres of water and a can of red bull. It was easy as, just go for walks outside every hour. I find it helpful to drink your massive amounts of water freezing cold with little bits of ice. And don't do caffeine-a well placed energy drink (1 only) and cold working conditions will keep you working at 100% until around 12:00 noon-when it is a good idea to have a pick-me up e.g. cocaine, ecstasy, lsd, or another can of red bull. Good luck!
Great article!!
I have one thing to add, never smoke pot when going on an all-nighter. I discovered this when doing a work a day before the final deliver date… Fortunately I made it in time, but it was a close catch…
Nice little article. Short and sweet.
But the most important point is the last one. Don't be a wimp. If you can pull an all-nighter you can achieve anything in life (well almost). Just sit up straight, turn Black Sabbath to 11 and grit your mother-f***in teeth.
You got it right. After double majoring in chemical engineering and german amongst my crazy activities I became a professional in allnighters, and I approve this message.
P.S.
It's 6:35Am. I'm on vacation. I have no homework. I have no work. I have nothing to do. I'm typing allnighter on google search.
Am I too much of a professional?
Great Tips major help…. should have read it before i drank 4 cups of tea in 10 min. lol
Thanks, and nice article. Hopefully, this will all help right now!
Nice collection of tips. I'd just like to note that if you're going to go with caffeine then it is better to sip it slowly over-time than to gulp it all down in one shot. K peace.
Yo Emanuel, I hear you. I'm 24 and I'm out of gas. During my junior and senior year of high school I slept on average 4 hours a night pulling an allnighter every Thursday and Sunday. This added up fast. Not only did I suffer from short term memory loss and loss of mental math ability, but I'm totally useless now when I'm up all night. I might be able to make it through the night, but I'm a zombie the next day. If I could do it again, I'd sleep more back the so I could stay up later now. I'd still be more retarded in the long run, but at least I get a degree out of my efforts now.
really late reading this but wtf! Not really hard to stay up all night. This is also coming from someone works 5-6 days a week starting at 5am. Maybe it's just me but i can stay up for the night into the next night without a big plan like this.
You're just too cool gregf. Hopefully you will father many children and fill the world with highly capable offspring that are as talented as you.
Nice article.
For school students (ie 18 year olds and below) - in my experience I find it's always the best thing to pull an all-nighter on a friday or saturday (or both, if you're a real man) - that way you dont have a time limit at 7am. The 7am thing really is worrying, and when the time keeps coming in on your closer and closer, you just want to say "fuck it, ill make an excuse", and end up going to sleep.
Sundays night all nighters are the worst time to do them tbh
ALL NIGHTERS REALLY DO EXIST
Its Wednesday Morning and i've been away since Sunday Morning
anyone have any words about energy drinks?
i bought a red bull a rockstar and three monster XLs on the way home today [just to be sure]
peter: I have always avoided energy drinks… they just seem too unnatural to me. I try to just stick to classic coffee. I can say, though, don't drink them all in one night! 1 or 2 should be more than enough.
I came upon this article while taking a study break, trying to make myself feel better about spending the night working. The tips are good, I definately agree with the zombie feeling the next day though. Most of tips are fairly self-evident, and I've tried all of them, in addition to many other tricks to stay awake, and I find these to be most reasonable and effective. As a bit of background, I'm currently a junior undergrad and I find it's much harder to pull allnighters now than it was just six months ago. This may have something to do with getting old (hopefully not!) or just a factor of the kind of work I'm doing. Used to write papers (oh so much easier when spending the night awake), now I'm grading freshman papers, which is a challenge at 3 am. Maybe the difference is that I could run my papers through MS words grammar check (never quite trusted it though) and now I have to catch all the stupid shit freshman miss re: both concepts and simple comma usage. Anyone else experience this problem of different work making it harder to spend the night awake? Would like to know what people think.
yeah two monsters were enough for the night and a redbull in the morning to perk me up for my bio test
well, i am in high school, and though i have never pulled an all-nighter for homework (i pride myself on keeping up with my work), i sleep very little on school nights due to a tough courseload and many extracurriculars. i never drink coffee or take drugs though. i take vitamin c and sometimes advil in the morning after a few hours of sleep. get kids chewy vitamin c from GNC. the sharp sourtaste will wake you up and the vitamin makes you feel better. really!
w00t, annivesary of this article.
All-Nighters are teh pwn.
whoever said that's how caffeine works is totally off his or her rocker. caffeine is a xanthine that works by blocking the activity of cAMP phosphodiesterase, the enzyme which deactivates cAMP, a second messenger in the protein kinase A pathway (which is activated by nor/epinephrine). This pathway generally increases your energy, so by inhibiting the breakdown of the 2nd messenger, you are keeping the energy going longer. If anybody cares.
In the middle of an allnighter right now, and I'm ashamed to say it's my first in a good 8 months. I find that staying OFF caffeine is best for me, I feel it makes me quite weak the following day, not to mention the chest sensations. My personal allnighter strategy is to drink water hourly, get up every hour and walk about, and to eat a meal at around 4am (e.g) cereal. The following morning a strong cup of coffee is ok, but remember to drink another 3 hours later. Then come home and simply go to bed.. looking forward to this ending!
Hey guys, I'm on hour 30. I found this really great group: http://groups.google.com/group/all-nighter. They keep you chatting and annoy you with beeps if you doze!
First, I would like to inform everyone that this was meant as a joke. Please see comments to this blog.
http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=487
However, the article itself, as well as the comments, provide an excellent source of information, regardless of the author's motive.
For me the most critical times are around 11 P.M. and during early morning hours, about 4 or 5 A.M.
I pull all nighters about two times a school year, but I am in middle school, so this shall probably rise. By an all nighter I mean skipping sleep, sometimes with an hour nap in the afternoon.
Like
Tuesday 10:00 P.M. Go to bed
Wednesday 6:30 Wake up
Thursday 2:00 P.M. Go to bed
Thursday 3:00 P.M. Wake up
Thursday 10:00 P.M. Go to bed
Friday 6:30 A.M. Wake up
Absolutely awesome!
I use to do this and now this article comes in very handy!
.-
im at work right now, i worked a 12 hours shift yesterday, didn't goto sleep and now im working another 12 hour shift 12 hours after i ot off the last one. i splashed some water in my face, but when i dried it off, the towel reminded me of a pillow.
i would agree with the water up the nose posted by Kevin in 2006.
over all im going to have to say that making my self a schedule is the best thing, i work non stop till my break, then i just sit and chat with my fellow co-workers which also help give fatigue the boot.
hey Peter, just something i try to avoid is energy drinks that are sugar free, because that glucose crap is horriable about half way through the next day. you'll feel like u got hit by the daze train.
also full trottle is a natural health drink, so it works wonders.
I'm in the process of pulling an all-nighter….sitting here at 3am and i've even forgotten what i'm meant to be writting about :s
thnx for the tips very helpful!!
Wow, mos def saved this little write up. My roomates and I find our selfs all too often in the presence of an all nighter! It feels good to take a study break by googling all nighter and find that my 3am meal of Tuna Helper Cheezy pasta, techno music, and steady flow of caffeene were just the ticket!!
Well done…. fishermans pie also works very well. got all the goodies you need after a night of revising with a contract law exam the next day
the type off food to eat depends entirely on your metabolic type. Foods high in fats may make you sleepy, but foods rich in carbs (essentially sugar) would make me very sleepy very fast.
This was hilarious. I realize this was published a long time ago but I have just pulled an all nighter and sought for advice on how to face the day ahead of me. Good stuff.
Haha, I'm pulling an all-nighter right now and I only got four hours of sleep the night before. Damn finals. I bet that I'm going to crash by 7:00 tonight.
But watch me rip apart this exam with my teeth! Arrrrgh!
Even though this article is pretty old, I still loved it. As an Interior Design senior I really should have my shit together by now and not procrastinate, but whatever… I will definitely use these tips to finish off my winter quarter tomorrow. Thanks!
This article is a classic. It's helped me on many a night like tonight, and salvaged many A's that ought not to have been. I owe my academic prowess to these pioneering souls that placed the collective lore of all-nighters on the World Wide Web!
WeeEee I'm gonna try and pull my first all nighter ever, this article better work!
This is the most motivational thing I have ever read (im looking up tips for all nighters lol, i have TWO papers due tomorrow?!)
Forget the caffeine! Forget the carbs! all i need is YOU, BABY
haha i am an electrical engineering student starting exams in 2 days… i really need to pull an all nighter (but its something pretty typical for me), when read the first line abt being an electrical eng student i was like hmmm now thats me! lol
well just wanted to suggest that 1-2 redbulls helps heapz!
and also i just bought these No-Doz plus tablets, hoping they're gonna make me stay alert through the night! anyway gotta start pulling it now lol
I might not be an electrical engineering student, but I'm in the industrial engineering area and I wanted to improve my all-nighter techniques. Thanks a lot man, now I'm sure my homework will be finished by tomorrow morning hahaha. Good night ;D
I asked google on tips on staying awake when studying and found this site. Tomorrow is the third day of finals so i'm studying right now and it's only 9'o clock, I'm so tired. I've been staying up late to study for three days in a row now. It's not an all-nighter cause I try to squeeze in at least an hour of sleep(for my brain cells), but it's really depressing cause I have so much to study and so little time..
Ugh, well I'm taking your drink tea method…wish me luck
This is absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much.
great hints!
i work at a tennis club and i string hundreds of racquets a week so im staying up and stringing them so this is an amazing help thank you so much
An allnighter is when you wake up, don't go to bed the following next, and don't go to bed the following day. So I'd say an allnighter consist of about 40 hours of being awake straight…
Good tips.
This post is two years old. Shit. I've been up for a day now. 7:30 am. Finals suck hard. Listening to a boat load of Led Zeppelin helps. Screw pasta, pro Chick-Fil-a breakfast burritos. Still going strong all day. No shuteye till midnight. Shit. College…
The longest all-nighter I pulled was 3 nights long- went from 9am Tuesday morning to 5pm Friday afternoon without so much as a ten minute nap (maybe a bit of microsleep in class…). Why? Three papers due in three days. And I did it all without caffeine, which very annoyingly does not affect me one little teensy bit. The adrenalin rush from having stuff due helped me through. I found the hardest parts were during the day, rather than at night, except the last night, where i was just hitting a wall. Lotsa food is good too.
BTW, it's about 4am. I'm up again tonight. I regularly pull a handful of one night all-nighters every semester, and it's paper time again.
Awesome article, Christian.
It's now 1:20 AM on a Monday where I am in the world. I napped for two hours on Sunday because of a very bad headache (from 1 PM until 3 PM). Otherwise, I have been awake since 10 AM on Saturday.
I've got a 10,000 word essay due at 4 PM today.
Your tips are useful because I need to actually stay focused, as this is worth a large portion of my entire degree (25% of it - and it's a graduate degree no less).
Buena suerte to everyone else out there pulling multi-night all-nighters!
Saludos,
Hauser
I'm in high school and I love all nighters. I wish there was a pill that made it so you wouldn't have to sleep. So much time is wasted by sleeping.
I have one tip: Don't do it alone. I find it much easier to do when you are with a friend and playing X-box all night.
Thank you for rocking!!!
K so now i'm confused- my philosophy and law exams are on friday - do i pull an allnighter tonight or sleep 11-4 i am not prepared but what do i do?!
the clock just hit three am. half lying down, lights off, window open, red bull cans starting it stack up. best think to do, if at all possible avoid all-nighters, just plan your time better.
on the subject of lights on or off, i find on for ten minutes then off for a while. just rotate, same with everything keep moving position, do some other work. any to stay awake.
These are really useful! Thanks for the great tips!
I WILL NOW PULL A PHONEBOOK APART WITH MY TEETH.
wow…
thanks soo much
you are officially my hero :]
I'm a terrible procrastinator
(and I'm not proud of it, but it's one of those hard-to-break habits)
and I always end up with bunches of homework due the next morning.
Usually, i juat say I'll nap for 5 minutes and end up sleeping til the next day.
now, I will be successful and get all my homework done on time! (even if it's not the right way to go, but who cares)
anyway, thanks A BUNCH!!!
As an all-nighter veteran, I endorse this guide, except for the "wishy-washy" comment! I find the night before an assignment is due is a good time to burn through ALL of Mahler's symphonies, or a couple of Wagner operas.
One more tip. Keep setting your alarm every hour or two, so that if you fall asleep it will go off and wake you up. This has saved me the night before an important exam. Also, you might be surprised at how much energy 1 hour of sleep can give.
This is both amusing and helpful, so thanks. I had never even though of the washing your face, but it worked. The smell of my face wash is a trigger that kind of tells my brain its the morning, I wont be going back to bed, so it'd better wake up. And also using an astringent after washing stings a little so it helps to wake me up. Also, I find that (if you have the gas to spare and its cold out) drving around town for a few minutes with all four windows down can help wake you up.
Keep the coffee going. One cup for every 2 pages I type on average. Sometimes up to 3 pots one night. Dark roasts are best so they don't kill your stomach lining and teeth- and they also have a better placebo effect (less caffeine, more taste, most people only think it has more caffeine!!)
Stay off of msn, especially if interesting fellow-procrastinators are on.
If you live with the rents, turn off the lights that they see around 2am. Mine get worried when they realize I have been up from 4am to 8am the next day.
If your class is a morning one, just stay up through it. Skip the next one.
Read the tips, not the comments, and do not be a procrastinator like me and type a new comment.
Oh… and no checking out to see if the latest ep of Dexter is online yet. You will look, you will watch, and you will have wasted an hour.
hey,
that's really nice. i am a student at the royal college of surgeons and i had to do so when i had an exam in 4 subjects at once…but it wasn't bad, i got used to it now!