How to Effectively Spend the Night If Necessary
Finals, due dates, exams, and deadlines all have one thing in common: they convince us that skipping sleep is a good idea. While this is certainly not true, sometimes a full overnight stay is your only way to get things done. And if you have to go down that path, you can do it right.
First, let’s talk about what we mean by “perpetual sleepover”. Some people are naturally night owls and tend to have a later schedule. If you work the evening shift, go to bed at 4 am and wake up at noon, you do not drag all night, you just have an atypical schedule. However, if you are planning on getting three hours of sleep today to meet that deadline, congratulations, you are an overnight candidate. However, before drinking this energy drink, ask yourself if it’s really worth it.
When to pull all night
Denying your body to sleep is naturally unhealthy. Thus, there is one rule that is above all others in order to spend the night long: do not do it. Obviously, this isn’t always the most practical solution, and on some days you just need to work late. However, you should always remember that reducing the amount of sleep affects your body. If minimizing sleep is part of your daily routine, you ruin any productivity benefits you would get in those extra few hours.
Sleeps are also not good for your memory, focus, or concentration the next day. Staying up until 4 a.m. to prepare for your test at 8 a.m. is a bad idea . Just reading the words on the pages all night does not mean that your brain memorizes information. If you have to work the next day, cut your losses – or at least compromise and get some sleep.
There are still situations where sleeplessness all night will not kill any benefit you might otherwise get:
- When your workload is light the next day. It’s a bad idea to get ahead in work or school, but we all have slower days than others. Staying up late Thursday to finish your project by Friday isn’t so bad if you only have to work a couple of hours before the end of the day.
- When there is time to take a nap. Not getting enough sleep is a problem that can only be solved by getting some sleep. You can stay up all night to complete your morning project if you have time to take an afternoon nap. If staying awake all night means you won’t be able to get enough sleep for two days, think again.
- When you haven’t spent another night lately. Staying awake all night means losing sleep. Not sleeping every night is a permanent disruption to your sleep patterns. If you have missed a significant amount of sleep in the past few days, do not do it again until you are well rested.
How to deal with a big night
A night out needs to be treated like any other physically demanding activity: you need to make sure you have everything you need and prepare before you go. When you know you are about to skip sleep, follow these guidelines:
Take a nap if possible
Sleeping takes away sleep from your future. Make up for this by replenishing your metaphorical reservoir before you start. The more you get enough sleep in advance, the less you harm yourself later. In an interview with how-to blog Art of Manliness, the ex-fur seal explains why it’s so important to start all night with sleep:
Make sure you stay awake. When you know that night is coming, consider if you can put off a few extra hours in advance. This makes the well deeper when you need to dive into your reserves of sleep. It really works.
Taking a nap before work will benefit the world more than a hasty nap. If you wait until you’re exhausted to “just take a little nap,” you may not wake up for hours. The only thing worse than sleep deprivation is sleep deprivation and lack of evidence. This is also a good time to brush up on the correct amount of naps for the brain stimulation you need .
Eat Protein, Not Carbs
Your body needs to burn something to survive the night, especially if you are focusing on a brain-intensive task like writing paper, so it might be nice to have a snack or snack. However, what you eat matters. Instead of focusing on carbs (potato chips, pizza, and most of the most popular overnight cramming foods), focus on protein. Why? Carbohydrates save energy for the future and can even make you drowsy for a short time :
All high-carb foods (like bread and pasta) associate with energy, but they actually prepare your body to use energy. This means that only exercise makes the carbs in your body start the wheels.
Eating high-carb foods releases high levels of a hormone called serotonin into the brain, according to Dr. Nathan Schier, a professor of nutritional science at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Too much serotonin makes you sleepy. Translation? Stay away from high-carbohydrate foods before and during school, or you’ll be sleeping on your keyboard “all night”.
Protein will be much more beneficial so that you can safely endure the night. So, instead of a bag of Doritos and cookies, get a jerky and a protein drink.
Take caffeine (but abstain from it first)
Caffeine is an essential product for staying up late at night. Plus, while it’s not exactly a healthy option, energy drinks are actually effective at keeping you up and even improving your concentration (though you’ll crash later on). The trick, however, is to avoid consuming caffeine, which can lead to sleep rebellion. Again, The Art of Masculinity explains how caffeine consumption during the day reduces the effectiveness of the drug at night:
All the SPEC-OPS guys we spoke to unsurprisingly recommended some caffeine during the night. The trick, they think, is to quit caffeine the night before and the day before your night. Your body and mind builds a tolerance for caffeine, so if you’ve been drinking coffee continuously all week, it won’t have the same effect on your 24/7 vigil.
This effect is a pretty strong argument for reducing or eliminating caffeine from your diet altogether. Caffeine has measurable and sometimes beneficial effects on your brain , but if you use it consistently, it will be least beneficial when you need it most. It is also worth reiterating that this scenario is far from ideal. We all know what it takes in desperate times, but drinking caffeine to avoid normal sleep will ruin your productivity, concentration, and even your memory.
Do periodic exercise
The impact of exercise on your brain and productivity cannot be overstated. In the same way that a quick 20-minute workout can help your brain just before an exam , exercise can help boost your brain’s ability to learn and retain information, as well as improve creative thinking. We call this property neuroplasticity .
Of course, you don’t want to exhaust yourself with a full body workout. However, a walk, a few push-ups, jumps, or whatever to improve blood flow will help keep your brain on track. This is the basic physiological response for thousands of years of evolution: if prehistoric people fell asleep, fleeing danger, they most likely would not live very long. When your body exerts physical energy, it signals to your brain that now is the time to be alert and focused and not drift off into the land of dreams.
Rest and regroup when you’re done.
You survived the night, completed this project, completed this work, built this combat robot, or whatever else you needed to do. You met the deadline and it’s done. It’s time to get back on track. It can be tempting to crash once you get home – and sleeping in peace can help you get through the day! – but to get back to your schedule properly, wait for your usual bedtime to crash. At the very least, don’t go to bed more than a couple of hours earlier than usual. When you do this, make sure you get enough sleep.
The most important of all recovery techniques is to stop wasting all night long as much as possible. Especially when you’re in college or working in a responsible job, it can be tempting to work on the minimum amount of sleep and the maximum amount of energy drinks. It will kill your productivity in the long run (not to mention the effects of lack of sleep on your brain). Plus, developing good sleep habits can mean you need less sleep anyway . So if it’s time for a crisis and you just have one important project to complete, do what you have to do. But don’t make it a lifestyle.
This story was originally published in April 2014 and was updated on January 26, 2021 in line with Lifehacker’s style guidelines.