Tips for pulling an all-nighter

pinkheels88

After 4 years of college I've never mastered the all-nighter technique. I've a thesis draft due tomorrow, and am currently struggling with it. Only solution stay up all night and get this mo' fo done!
Any tips? Red bull it up? Blare loud music? Conjure up arctic conditions by leaving every window in the apartment open? Try and locate an angry motivating Mr.T type-man to shout abuse at me?...
All suggestions welcome! :rolleyes:

starbelgrade

Stop wasting time by posting on Boards & you might get some more work done.

ilovemybrick

Water and Green Apples. I worked night shifts years ago. This works better than any caffeinated substance.

pinkheels88

starbelgrade wrote: »

Stop wasting time by posting on Boards & you might get some more work done.

Expected this one... :rolleyes:

phasers

Do your work ahead of time.

Celly Smunt

not leaving everything to the last minute and being one of those idiots who seems to float through college get a degree and try to tell everyone they're wrong in the workplace because they have "a degree"



rant over

minidazzler

Only 3 things that have ever worked for me.

Do something that bores you so intensly that you couldn't sleep if you wanted.

Do something so interesting that sleep seems totally unnecessary.

Get drunk, and keep drinking.


I don't think any of these will help you, but they work for me!

KeithM89_old

Jog on the spot for 1 minute every half hour - got me through my leaving and helped my keep this amazing figure :rolleyes:

Dean820

ilovemybrick wrote: »

Water and Green Apples. I worked night shifts years ago. This works better than any caffeinated substance.

Really? Never heard of that one.

craggles

Red Bull, 2 to 2.5 hour intervals between each can throughout the night, i.e. one at 11, 1.30, 3, 5, 7, 9.. should do it. You might want to increase your caffeine intake around sunrise, I find this is the most difficult part of the all nighter.

Have a night breakfast, night lunch and early morning dinner. Small meals, with little fat and not too much sugar. A sugar crash will **** you up. Pasta, cereals, decent sandwich etc are ideal.

Take 5 to 10 minute breaks every hour. Vital. Don't ever lie down or sit in a comfortable chair that you could possibly fall asleep in.

pinkheels88

pmcmahon wrote: »

not leaving everything to the last minute and being one of those idiots who seems to float through college get a degree and try to tell everyone they're wrong in the workplace because they have "a degree"



rant over

Thanks for that, no I'm not one of THEM people. I've been working hard on this all summer, I'm just stuck in the horrible final stages of it.

Celly Smunt

pinkheels88 wrote: »

Thanks for that, no I'm not one of THEM people. I've been working hard on this all summer, I'm just stuck in the horrible final stages of it.

thats what they all say..

murrayp4

You'll need to sleep at some stage. When I was doing all-nighters I'd sleep for around 3 hrs (say between 1 and 4) get up, have a shower and get back to it. You can collapse back into bed when you have handed your draft in.
Good luck!

BluesBerry

Cocaine and lots of it

4zn76tysfajdxp

Just quit now. You're a failure and you'll never get it finished.

The Mad Hatter

pmcmahon: Doesn't matter how much work you do, it all piles up at the end. Always.

pinkheels: Don't touch the Red Bull, it'll get you wired, but for physical activity, not mental. What you need is a constant stream of strong coffee. Take regularish short breaks (say about every hour or hour-and-a-half), and try to get as much as you can done before about three or four in the morning, as that's when your productivity will start to slack. Which still gives you about eleven hours, which is plenty, as I assume you've done all the research already.

Also, turn off your wifi (or unplug your computer or whatever) and start now. Really.

neil_

If you care at all it shouldn't be that hard to just stay up until it's done. I wouldn't bother with redbull/coffee unless you drink it a lot normally, it'll just mess up your concentration. If you're really struggling go outside and get some fresh air for a few minutes.

clikityclak

This thread is an invite to people to give out about you not doing your work in time... Anyway, I had to pull an all nighter for my thesis there in May, got about 9000 words over the night(it was hellish). Start off with a shower, and maybe another one to refresh you during the night. Drink litres of water, eat bananas and little snacks for energy, and maybe a bit it of strong coffee if you're struggling. Stay away from the red bull I find it puts me on edge.

Just tear into that mofo AND GET OFF T'INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!

karlog

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Don't touch the Red Bull, it'll get you wired, but for physical activity, not mental. What you need is a constant stream of strong coffee.

Not to mention energy drinks give you the worst dose of the sh*ts imaginable.

ismiseuisce

I've done many an all-nighter in my time!

I used to drink coffee but I find that although it wakes you up when you drink it, you'll have a downer about 30-45 minutes after you drink it. Coffee is also terrible for concentration, you'll be awake but you'll be too hyper alert to focus on any one thing after continuous coffee drinking.

I drink LOTS of water when I am doing an all-nighter, water is much better for when you are trying to concentrate, plus you'll be needing to pee all night and that'll keep you up too.

Krusader

I thought this would be about drink & drugs

I should really get back to studying

Red Alert

Seriously, don't bother.

Sleep well for a few hours and wake up with a clear head ready to go at it again. Much better use of your time and you'll get much more done.

johnmcdnl

I'm assuming you've 4hrs done since you posted looking for help - so your getting there...

now the same again and it's 1am - that's 8hrs straight... take into a shower then and a dose of fresh air and a big feed of something like a fry up

then take into it again... around 5 you'll start to tire a bith but you have 12hrs done now and then it's another dose of food again....

if you really want to stay up you'll manage too - but don't go to bed when your finished - straight into college and hand it in and then bed - and you'll wake up at god knows what time...

knird evol

Lots of salt. High sodium intake in the next few hours will give you high energy and alertness all through tonight and into tomorrow. Also lots of caffeine. If you get cardiac arrest don't come crying to me.

rainbow kirby

Keep your room quite cold, and drink lots of coffee.

orourkeda

roids

Logical Fallacy

Don't bother with caffeine, energy drinks or high sugar bull****. It's largely a waste of time.

Caffeine will give you "energy", but no glycogen flow to your brain...so your brain still gets tired and stops working at the levels it should do. This is why people who survive on coffee instead of actual food normal manage to do just that, survive.

Energy drinks will have you crashing out by 4 to 5 am, pretty much a guarantee there. It's not real energy, it's fake burst energy...and eventually it fades away and leave you asleep.

The best bet is to work in 1 hour slots, taking 10 minute breaks every hour. During this 10 minute break, go for a little walk outside with your mp3 player and listen to some nice energetic music.

Eat proper foods through the night, nothing too sugar and nothing with bull**** carbs either. I wouldn't avoid fats to be honest, they are great slow release energy. Things like brown bread, wholemeal anything (pasta, rice ) etc, fruit and veg and meat. Treat the night like a day.

Drink plenty of water, and as already said, keep the temperature in your room at cool, it will help you stay awake.

The key is not just staying awake, but rather staying awake, alert,effective and focused. Real food and proper plan will help with that, anything else will just result in substandard efforts and output.

poodles

All the smart kids are on Ritalin

orourkeda

You could alays do it on time in future

The Mad Hatter

Red Alert wrote: »

Seriously, don't bother.

Sleep well for a few hours and wake up with a clear head ready to go at it again. Much better use of your time and you'll get much more done.

Hopefully pinkheels is off writing by now so this won't matter to her, but people work on different rhythms. Some people work better in the morning, others better at night. If I tried what you're suggesting when I had a lot of work to do by the next day, it'd be a one-way ticket to not getting the thing done at all.

Lia_lia

Take some speed.

kfallon

So did you manage to stay up all night and get it done?

Me, I had a lovely kip from midnight til about 4am, got up for a piss, back into me warm bed and dozed off again til 8.30am....I thought of you as I closed my eyes after the 'interval' at 4