I HATE ALL-NIGHTERS

[Big Poppa Smurf]

[ QUOTE ]
'Personal Diary'- 500 worder (due at 11:55 tonight). I lose?

[/ QUOTE ]

500 words in an hour is a joke

[Golden_Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, new question: I don't need to pull all-nighters anymore, but I'm now sleeping like 2-3 hours a day, in like 2 seperate blocks of napping (like 7-8 or 8-9am, then a few hours in the afternoon where I doze off). I'm also having a hard time sleeping now since I'm so used to not sleeping a lot.

How do I adjust back?

[/ QUOTE ]

You gotta suck it up and eliminate the afternoon nap. You'll be tired and cranky all day, but come nighttime, you'll be ready for bed.

[Needle77]

All-nighters are teh suck. I am literally so sick of this paper on honor killings that I just might commit one. Damn Modern Middle East!!!

[RainDog]

Ahhhhh!!!!

6am and my term paper is due at 12:30. I've only got my intro paragraph written and I've been working on this sucker since midnight. I have most of my argument put together now though and I've only got to make this about 7 pages long. Here's to beating the page an hour rate from here on out! I'm on my 3rd rock star and zinging!

Paper is on Chaucer, medieval dream theory, and lovesickness as it pertains to medieval medical ideas regarding melancholy and black bile. Bleh...

[Needle77]

[ QUOTE ]

6am and my term paper is due at 12:30. I've only got my intro paragraph written and I've been working on this sucker since midnight. I have most of my argument put together now though and I've only got to make this about 7 pages long. Here's to beating the page an hour rate from here on out! I'm on my 3rd rock star and zinging!

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen, my paper is due at 12:00 and have the page an hour thing going as well. I'm not a big fan of energy drinks, I have had a coffee but I've been dipping in cycles of Peach Skoal and Kodiak Wintergreen. Nothing keeps you awake like a good dip.

[ChipStorm]

Different for everyone, but in my pre-prescription-mindbending-drug college days, here's what worked for an all-nighter.

1. Controlled caffeine intake, starting modest, very gradually ramping up through the night. I'm really sensitive to the stuff, so I had to watch this carefully.

2. Plenty of water. Dehydration => hard crash. #1 mistake of rookies.

3. Get up, walk around, stretch every half hour or so, just for a couple of minutes. Sitting still at the desk for long periods will eventually put you down.

4. One additional round in the bathroom, late-night: shower, shave, teeth, and then dress in clean clothes.

5. One additional meal. This one was really big. Avoid the constant snackage approach, and find a way to sit down in the wee hours to something akin to a full breakfast or lunch. You'll be amazed at how ready to rock you are after that.

6. Know that your productivity will drop off as time goes on, and plan for it: target a completion time of at least 2-3 hours before actual deadline. When your head is swimming at the end, you'll be glad you did.


All of this said, my experience was that if I'm pulling an all-nighter, I've blown my planning up front. It was always the least attractive solution to getting the work done. By senior year, I was hitting all cylinders by just sacking out by midnight, getting up at 7:30, refreshed and awake, and getting the work done during the day. And if I couldn't get it done during the day, it simply didn't get done -- wasn't worth whacking myself out physically.

[Needle77]

[ QUOTE ]

6. Know that your productivity will drop off as time goes on, and plan for it: target a completion time of at least 2-3 hours before actual deadline. When your head is swimming at the end, you'll be glad you did.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. I think I did a decent job of that tonight. I'm on my last point and then onto the conclusion w/ bib and footnotes after. Hour and a half to go, quick recess until we are back on the ball. But productivity definitely is faltering here late in the game.

The hydration/meal thing sound interesting. I've never really drink anything during the night, maybe a sip here and there but nothing major. The meal sounds legit as well.

[ChipStorm]

[ QUOTE ]
Rhino old guys like you still pull all-nighters? This stuff kills me already, I can't imagine how it would feel in ten years or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

The last all-nighter I pulled was age 41. That was 4 years ago. I'm not planning any more.

Once you get here, you'll be amazed at what your "dream" job in the working world can demand of you.

[Golden_Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
Different for everyone, but in my pre-prescription-mindbending-drug college days, here's what worked for an all-nighter.

1. Controlled caffeine intake, starting modest, very gradually ramping up through the night. I'm really sensitive to the stuff, so I had to watch this carefully.

2. Plenty of water. Dehydration => hard crash. #1 mistake of rookies.

3. Get up, walk around, stretch every half hour or so, just for a couple of minutes. Sitting still at the desk for long periods will eventually put you down.

4. One additional round in the bathroom, late-night: shower, shave, teeth, and then dress in clean clothes.

5. One additional meal. This one was really big. Avoid the constant snackage approach, and find a way to sit down in the wee hours to something akin to a full breakfast or lunch. You'll be amazed at how ready to rock you are after that.

6. Know that your productivity will drop off as time goes on, and plan for it: target a completion time of at least 2-3 hours before actual deadline. When your head is swimming at the end, you'll be glad you did.


All of this said, my experience was that if I'm pulling an all-nighter, I've blown my planning up front. It was always the least attractive solution to getting the work done. By senior year, I was hitting all cylinders by just sacking out by midnight, getting up at 7:30, refreshed and awake, and getting the work done during the day. And if I couldn't get it done during the day, it simply didn't get done -- wasn't worth whacking myself out physically.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have summed up what I have always known, but couldn't quite articulate. Nice list my friend.