Stay Awake at Night
Do you ever wish that you had more time to do the things that are important, but there just aren't enough hours in the day? You could hypothetically stay up all night working, but staying alert and diligent during the dark hours is difficult. See step 1 to get started planning your all-nighter.
Contents
Steps
Preparing to Stay Awake
- Take a nap beforehand if possible. If you know you're going to be up all night, then grab a nap in the afternoon. You will want to make sure that you don't sleep for too long and that you don't nap too close to when you would normally go to bed (try to take the nap 6 or 7 hours before your usual bedtime).
- A half hour nap is good for jump-starting your system. If you go too much over that, you'll get into a deeper sleep and will feel groggier when you wake up. If you go too much under that you won't get enough sleep to help.
- An hour and a half nap can help make up for lost sleep, in that you usually get through one sleep cycle in that amount of time so it can help you feel less sleepy, especially if you've been pulling a lot of all-nighters.
- Get some sun. Daylight (and sunlight) influence our circadian rhythms (which govern our sleep-wake cycles). So, before you pull that all-night event, spend at least 30 minutes outside in the sun and in the daylight. This (and the fresh air) will help keep your sense revitalized.
- Drink lots of water. Dehydration can make you feel sleepy and cause you to be tired. Combat this early, before the night sets in, by drinking lots of water. It's especially important if you're going to be drinking coffee, because coffee can aggravate your dehydration, which will make you crash harder.
- Grab a friend. You'll stay awake much easier if you have someone to help keep your brain stimulated with conversation and presence. They can also help check that you're on track with your plan to stay awake.
Staying Awake at Night
- Drink something caffeinated. Coffee or other type of caffeinated drink can give you a much needed energy boost to get you through the night, especially if you pace your coffee drinking so that you don't crash heavily and painfully in those hours between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. which is when a lot of people fail.
- Coffee takes about 15 to 30 minutes to kick in, but the benefits from it can last 3 to 4 hours. If you plan on drinking a cup of coffee every few hours, you'll keep pretty awake and energized.
- When you stop drinking your caffeinated drink, you will crash heavily. Avoid it either by spacing out coffee drinks, or by utilizing other staying awake methods.
- If you don't want to drink caffeinated beverages, drink very cold water and sip on ice chips. The coldness can help to keep you awake and alert.
- Make the atmosphere cool. To sleep, your body prefers to be at a warm temperature, so the warmer the temperature of your environment, the more you will want to fall asleep and the harder it will be to stay awake. Turn on a fan in your room, if you can, or open the windows.
- If your environment is too hot and you can't cool it down, consider taking a cold shower. That will give you a boost of alertness.
- You can also apply cold compresses to your head and wrists.
- Get up and move around. Moving around and taking a break helps get your blood flowing and keeps you from feeling sleepy. Scientists found that exercising could be more effective than some medications for increasing energy and reducing fatigue (this does not mean that you should stop taking medication, if you're on some).
- Take breaks from your computer screen. Staring at your computer screen for hours and hours on end can cause eyestrain and make your sleepiness and fatigue worse. Relax your eyes for a few minutes each hour, either by closing them or looking at something else for a while.
- Exercise. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise. This will increase your energy level and help you stay awake. Whenever you're feeling a hit of drowsiness, go for a brisk walk or do some jumping jacks.
- Switch tasks. Monotonous work (doing the same thing over and over and over for an extended period of time) can be just as bad as sleep deprivation for staying alert. This means, when you feel yourself getting drowsy, switch tasks to something more difficult that requires greater concentration.
- Eat a healthy snack. Low blood sugar can make you super groggy and sleepy and foggy, so you'll need to keep your energy level up with healthy snacks. You especially want to eat snacks that will give you more energy to burn for a longer period of time.
- Eat things like yogurt and granola with fresh fruit, or peanut butter on a whole wheat cracker and celery. You'll want protein, healthy carbs (like oats), and lots of fruits and veggies.
- Avoid sugar. While sugar can give you an immediate burst of energy, it very quickly wears off, leaving you more fatigued and foggy than you were before.
- Keep the lights bright. Light stimulation to your eyes slow your biological clock. These lights hitting your receptors will delay your circadian rhythm, changing your biological clock to restart later and later. Be careful, as this may lead to a prolonged change in your sleeping schedule.
Tips
- Have a goal set in mind for how late you want to stay awake. It is common for people to overshoot, and get too tired to finish their work for the night.
- You can make your room colder by opening the window. Although this will lower the effects of the cold shower, this may help keep you awake enough to not resort to that step.
- Be sure to let the people you live with know how late you intend to stay up. Make sure they are okay with whatever steps you follow in the guide.
- Try to engage in many different activities. Instead of staying on your computer, do some exercise or read a book.
- Listen to some loud/upbeat music for a while. Keep your body moving when possible.
- Take a bath with cold water and have some ice cream.
- Play some heavy metal music loudly through your earphones.
- If you start to fall asleep, pinch yourself.
- If you sense that you're about to fall asleep, hold your breath for a short while. This will get your heart pumping, increasing your blood circulation and thereby keeping your brain awake. Don't overdo it, as it causes stress!
Warnings
- Be prepared for the consequences the following day. Unless you are used to this amount of sleep, do not plan on doing this before a large test or important event.
- This may change your sleeping pattern permanently if done on a regular basis. You may not be able to revert back to your old sleeping pattern unless you set a goal to sleep earlier everyday. Do this at your own risk!
- If you're staying up all-night to study for a test, remember that getting enough sleep is actually more beneficial to doing well on the test than cramming your head with facts for the whole night, as you won't retain as much.
- Be sure you are not allergic to any of the high caffeinated drinks as it could be hazardous to your health.
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