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How to pull an all-nighter

Posted April 4 in Life.

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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203 Comments

Responses to my article
  1. Bullock April 4, 2006

    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!

  2. FoxyLady April 4, 2006

    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.

  3. C Montoya April 5, 2006

    Bullock: Don’t worry, I still managed to pull it off :)

  4. Cameron Adams April 5, 2006

    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.

  5. Tea April 5, 2006

    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.

  6. C Montoya April 5, 2006

    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.

  7. Saurabh Garg April 8, 2006

    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!

  8. RyeBrye April 8, 2006

    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.

  9. Emanuel April 8, 2006

    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.

  10. JT April 8, 2006

    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 ;)

  11. gtugtu April 8, 2006

    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!

  12. all-night-dude April 8, 2006

    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.

  13. tiuk April 8, 2006

    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.

  14. Kevin April 8, 2006

    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… ;-) )

  15. brad April 8, 2006

    Pasta will a lot of times make you tired.

  16. Joe April 8, 2006

    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.

  17. Tarun April 8, 2006

    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.

  18. Tarun April 8, 2006

    PS: when I said moron, I meant ‘tiuk’ and not these other nice people.

  19. khangtoh April 8, 2006

    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

  20. Santiago April 8, 2006

    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

  21. dave April 8, 2006

    don’t try so hard.

    sleep when u want, work when u want, and u’ll be happy when u want.

  22. Chris April 8, 2006

    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…

  23. C Montoya April 8, 2006

    Ok guys, my math does apply to more than 24 hours at a time. To each his own :)

  24. zombie April 8, 2006

    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.

  25. Bhavin April 8, 2006

    Hey,
    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 :) ) I have however stayed on campus to work on until 3:30/4:00 many many times.

    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)

  26. dawnerd April 8, 2006

    I pull all nighters everyweekend. Lights out, no music, just sitting here. Probably not healthy though.

  27. Wayne April 8, 2006

    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.

  28. Pete April 8, 2006

    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

  29. Elle April 8, 2006

    Great suggestions, but have anything on how to best recover during the following day?

  30. jon April 8, 2006

    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.

  31. jaed April 8, 2006

    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.

  32. jaed April 8, 2006

    ***Light on thing

  33. CaptJ April 8, 2006

    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.

  34. busta April 8, 2006

    oopss wrong forum………. mi accidente

  35. C Montoya April 8, 2006

    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 :)

  36. GrimFandango April 8, 2006

    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 :(

  37. Rain April 8, 2006

    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.

  38. amy April 8, 2006

    I was actually considering Cornell! Hm.. let me rethink that. jkjk.. great article!

  39. vfred April 8, 2006

    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).

  40. Matt April 8, 2006

    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.

  41. G-Dawg April 8, 2006

    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.

  42. R April 8, 2006

    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.

  43. chris April 8, 2006

    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 :P

  44. Marco April 8, 2006

    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)

  45. vfred April 8, 2006

    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.

  46. RK April 8, 2006

    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.

  47. peter h April 8, 2006

    i’ve found that the cocaine and ecstasy combo helps me get through the night

  48. peter h April 8, 2006

    then bam! some oxycontin when the sun comes up for sweet dreams!

  49. Ivan Minic April 8, 2006

    Stare at boobs…

  50. KG April 8, 2006

    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

  51. Llynix April 8, 2006

    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.

  52. renskav April 8, 2006

    fill a plastic bowl with cuttlery and metal screws, whenver you start to doze of shake it next to your ear.

  53. sonth April 8, 2006

    erm. i am reading this at 4 am.

    -dies-

  54. Rico-San April 8, 2006

    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 ;-).

  55. Brian April 8, 2006

    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.

  56. billy April 8, 2006

    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.

  57. Lawsy April 8, 2006

    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

  58. Heretic April 8, 2006

    I also recomend drinking a lot of water. That way you keep your blood pressure high and you are not sleepy.

  59. Lloyd April 8, 2006

    Very sound advice.

  60. LTZ April 8, 2006

    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.

  61. bigtingz April 8, 2006

    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

  62. gary April 8, 2006

    cups of coffee, cups of yerba matte- some red bull, plenty of water= awake for 58 of 62 hours.

  63. alphonzo April 8, 2006

    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!

  64. Jeroen Bulters April 8, 2006

    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.

  65. mike April 8, 2006

    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.

  66. professordoktor April 8, 2006

    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:

    1. 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).

    2. 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).

    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.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    6. 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.

  67. Mark MacInnes April 8, 2006

    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 :-D

  68. Cooper April 8, 2006

    I haven’t slept in years…

  69. MacZOT April 8, 2006

    A friend just pointed me to this site. Book marking now as most nights are all-nighters for us.

  70. Zajako April 8, 2006

    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.

  71. Rein Masamuri April 8, 2006

    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

  72. Zajako April 8, 2006

    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.

  73. Rein Masamuri April 8, 2006

    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

  74. Zajako April 8, 2006

    “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.

  75. Rein Masamuri April 8, 2006

    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.

  76. ben April 8, 2006

    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

  77. Joe Mamilia April 8, 2006

    You could simplify your article with one line….”Snort one line of Crystal Meth” and you are good for about 3 days ;)

  78. Calum April 8, 2006

    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

  79. Jeff April 8, 2006

    Nice article.
    I’ll see how well it works tonight.

  80. Javier April 8, 2006

    nice article! i will really use this!
    thanks

  81. P April 8, 2006

    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.

  82. Eli April 8, 2006

    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.

  83. Ben Darfler April 8, 2006

    Dude, well done on getting this posted on digg.com. Crazy to wake up and see one of my info230 students become moderately famous.

  84. .w.h.i.m. April 8, 2006

    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!

  85. shutit April 8, 2006

    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.

  86. Tan April 8, 2006

    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 :-)

  87. PTS April 8, 2006

    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.

  88. blackumbrella April 8, 2006

    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

  89. lueshi April 8, 2006

    LOLOLOLOL

  90. Kirtan April 8, 2006

    Intersting and useful! I’m about to start my MBA course so this will definitely help me a lot :-D I’m sure I’ll have to spend quite a few all-nighters during these two years.

  91. Frank Mbanusi April 8, 2006

    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… www.myxpi.com/frankm

  92. steve poling April 8, 2006

    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.

  93. skujkfuh April 8, 2006

    thank you captain obvious

  94. PiMC2CM April 8, 2006

    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.

  95. NinjaDude April 8, 2006

    Take speed! It works better

  96. andywebsdale April 8, 2006

    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

  97. james April 8, 2006

    Excellent guide.

  98. Brian April 8, 2006

    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.

  99. Mark April 8, 2006

    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.

  100. blah April 8, 2006

    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!

  101. Miguel April 8, 2006

    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.

  102. nado April 8, 2006

    An alternative to all-nighters is starting your assignments early.

  103. Jman April 8, 2006

    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..

  104. Huri April 8, 2006

    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!

  105. Lukasz April 9, 2006

    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.

  106. MITkid April 9, 2006

    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.

  107. SCOTT April 9, 2006

    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.

  108. :) April 9, 2006

    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.