Stay Up Late Secretly

Many preteens and teens like to stay up late. It's so common that it's often called pulling an "all-nighter". All-nighters are usually done on weekends and at sleepovers or alone, but for this, you need to find a way to stay up late without waking up your parents or getting caught.

Steps

  1. Before bedtime, make any necessary preparations. The best time to do this would be between 2pm and 6pm. Consider sneaking stuff while your parents are not looking.
  2. Go to bed at your regular time. Avoid retiring early or rushing straight to bed if you never do because your parents might become suspicious. Instead, maintain your regular schedule to prevent unwanted attention.
  3. Wait until your parents go to bed. This would be probably around 10:30pm to 11pm. Pass time with quiet activities, such as reading a book or magazine, listening to an iPod or MP3 player, or watching TV with headphones. Make sure you have one ear not covered by the headphone to listen for parents. If possible, lock your door, using that to your advantage so that your room light isn't visible. If your door lets light through under, stuff the crack with towels. At this point, you can eat some of your snack supply, but save some for later!
    • Avoid turning off your light as it increases melatonin production, making you more likely to become tired and fall asleep. Try getting into an uncomfortable position to prevent drowsiness.
    • If your bedroom is on the same floor as your parents', put a sheet or small blanket at the bottom of your bedroom door to block out the light from anyone who might look down the hall.
  4. Listen for hints of activity from your parents' or siblings' bedroom. Keep tabs on when they get out of bed. If they leave their room, drop everything and turn off the light. Immediately get into bed, and lay motionless in order to appear asleep. If you have a few more seconds, stuff your belongings under the bed or your pillow.
  5. If you have a baby sister/brother with a baby monitor, be quiet. It can pick up sounds and alert your parents.
  6. If you are using an electronic device, mute the whole system unless you have some headphones. Make sure that you listen for any parents/siblings. Otherwise, this can be noisy. Also, if possible, dim the screen down as far as it can (visibly) go that way if your parents walk in, you can stuff it under the covers without it being noticed.
  7. Make sure that everyone is asleep before moving. You may have to wait a little, perhaps even an hour, to be completely sure that your parents are fast asleep. During this time, play on a portable game player such as a DS or PSP.
  8. Sneak downstairs and watch movies or do that homework that is due tomorrow. Make sure you have a memo/map of where all the squeaks are in your house, especially if you have stairs. However, beware of venturing out of your room, as you have a higher chance of being caught.
  9. If you plan to leave your room, have an excuse ready if you are found out of bed. If you are discovered awake, say that you are just going to the bathroom or are getting a glass of water. However, if you are caught going for a drink repeatedly in one night, your parents will become suspicious. Another plausible excuse is "I couldn't sleep." Sometimes, if exams are nearing, another excuse is "I need to prepare for exams."
    • If you have the kind of parents that don't like it when you go downstairs at night, even if they are convinced that you were doing what you stated, finding a place to hide may be necessary. Beware that doing so is particularly risky.
  10. Complete fun, quiet activities that keep your brain awake. Examples are word searches and Sudoku.
    • If you have a Wii and you want to play it during the night, use headphones or turn the volume all the way down. Since the Wii Remote makes sounds and vibrates, remember to turn the Wii Remote vibration and sound off.
  11. Use the buddy system. If you have a sibling or a friend spending the night, ask them to join you. The night hours can seem very long if you have no one to talk to. If your friend can't come over, form a plan with them to spend the night texting each other. This works best if you have an unlimited texting plan; otherwise, it's best to refrain from texting.
    • If you don't have siblings or a friend sleeping over, your dog or cat can serve as great company. If your pet doesn't usually sleep with you, let your parents know that it'll be spending the night with you. Reassure them that you'll take the dog out when he needs to go outside.
    • Note that if you only invite one sibling (because the other(s) are going to be too loud), the other sibling may become jealous and rat you out! Only invite people you trust or else you could be in hot water.
  12. Write. Whether you're composing a letter to a friend, working on a story, or creating jokes, the activity of writing will keep your brain awake and help you pass the time.
  13. Drink caffeine. Coffee, soda, or energy drinks will keep you awake. However, take in drinks at minimum to prevent frequent trips to the bathroom. Store hot drinks in a flask beforehand to avoid having to use the kettle.
  14. Be sure to keep your eye on the clock. Once it's time to wake up, revert your room to its normal mode. Hide your snacks in the closet, and slide into bed. Pretend that you are sleeping when your alarm clock rings or your parents come to wake you up.
  15. Drink a good cup of coffee the next morning, so you can stay awake. To make up for your lack of sleep, take a nap in the afternoon, and get plenty of sleep the next night. Going too long without sleep is dangerous and can be bad for your health.
  16. Have a good excuse or a plan if your parents catch you awake. Also, be sure that you have drinks and snacks that don't need to be refrigerated. Avoid things like yogurt and orange juice. Great recommendations are: bottled drinks, granola bars, unsliced fruits, etc.
  17. Make sure you look like as if you had a good night's sleep. If you appear tired, your parents may become suspicious and demand to know what you did last night. And if they ask what you did, tell them that you woke up in the middle of the night, was disturbed by loud noises, etc.

Tips

  • If you are lying on your bed, try moving around into uncomfortable positions so that it will be harder to fall asleep, but you'll need to move often to prevent falling asleep. (If you feel too tired, stand up you will begin to feel less tired)
  • Stay under the covers whenever possible. If your parents come in, even if you think you're caught, just stop moving immediately and stay completely still. It takes their eyes a while to adjust, and they'll doubt themselves rather than risk waking their peacefully sleeping child.
  • If you use headphones, keep the volume turned down low enough that you can hear if anyone wakes up, or leave one ear open. Be careful, though - the other headphone will leak noise, which is surprisingly audible.
  • If you have a quiet alarm clock (an iPod with an alarm function and headphones, a cell-phone with a vibrate alarm, or something similar), then you can go to sleep, and get up very early (~2-3 AM). Don't go back to sleep; just stay in your room until your parents get up. This way, you will not have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and will not be suspected.
  • To prevent your parents from seeing light from your room, put your dressing gown or something of a dark colour along the bottom of the door.
  • If you don't have a TV in your room spend the night in the living room, say you want to sleep on the couch. If you are watching something on T.V and you hear someone coming, be quick, turn the volume to a mute and shut the T.V off. Act like you are asleep for about five minutes.
  • If you have a bunk bed, try tucking a thick blanket under the top mattress and over the sides so less light leaks through if you're using electronics.
  • When you sneak downstairs, try to make as little noise as possible, especially if your parents are light sleepers. The noise could wake them up. To make the least amount of noise practice walking on the front of your feet with your heels raised. When walking down stairs, step, then out the heel of that foot down slowly and bend that knee, repeat with the other leg until you reach the bottom. Beforehand, map out the stairs that creak a lot and try to not step on them.
  • It is best to freeze any drinks such as water or juice, during the daytime, and taking them in your room right before you go to bed. That way they will stay cold all night. Just make sure you don't freeze soda. It will explode before it is cold enough to take out of the freezer.
  • An iPod dock or radio alarm clock used at night should be on the quietest possible setting, and even then it might not be quiet enough. Listening to music via headphones is safer.
  • Stash gear ahead of time. However, make sure that it's hidden, or your parents might become suspicious.
  • Have a shower right before you go to bed. It'll perk you up enough to stay up for quite a while.
  • If you have a gate at the top or bottom of your stairs, open it before you go to bed. It will make too much noise when you open it.
  • If you have a shower/toilet extension in your room, use that. It might wake everyone up, but it will save you a walk.
  • Turn the brightness down of your phone/tablet or whatever you are using.
  • Make sure your drinks are filled up, you don't want to be sneaking down to the kitchen and risk being caught.
  • If you have an adjustable closet light, use that instead of the room's light source.
  • If you feel like watching TV, watch your desired show through Netflix on your iPad/iPhone.
  • The "blue light" from computer screens wakes up your brain, so if you play on a tablet, iPhone, laptop, etc. it will keep you awake. This is very effective, and it also keeps your brain entertained and active.
  • If you are inviting a friend to talk to make sure nobody hears your alarm or door.
  • Wait till your parents go to sleep.
  • If you have snacks or sugary drinks throughout the night use mouthwash to show your teeth are clean in the morning.
  • If you have socks on, be careful not to slip (a lot of people wear socks because they make your footsteps quieter) wear socks that are not slippery.
  • Be prepared bring up snacks during the day, and then you will have them for the night if you get hungry.
  • If you are opening a door or doing something creaky and sneaky, do it as fast as possible because the longer your parents hear that noise, the more of a chance they will wake up.
  • Turn your brightness down so your parents won't attract any lights while you are on a device.
  • When staying up all night, you should text friends. That always passes the time so you don't get bored and go to sleep.
  • If you have a really young sibling and you wake them up try and put them back to sleep with a lullaby,or any other methods that work best for you.
  • Try not to laugh when you get up and walk around the house, it might wake someone up. Also, try to do only fun things and not boring things, because if you get really bored you might fall asleep.
  • If you have to cough, sneeze, or (maybe even) laugh, stuff your face into a pillow. This muffles your cough\sneeze\laugh. If you're too far from a pillow to get there in time and have carpet, put your face in the carpet. If you have something other than carpet,just cover your nose/mouth.
  • Try doing this on a weekend or when you have no activities planned in the morning of the next day. Take a nap early in the day, that way you'll have more energy for night time.
  • Also If you have pets that are loud such as dogs make sure they don't notice you because they will bark or possibly think you intruder alerting your family.
  • If you get caught when your parents are supposed to wake up, tell them that you woke up early.
  • Don't eat crunchy food early in the night. If somebody passes by your room, they could hear it.
  • If you have to walk down the stairs and the stairs creak, step on the very sides of them, or as close to the wall as you can.
  • To mask small noises (heavy breathing, typing, etc) put on a fan. The cold air will also help you to stay awake too.
  • Splash water on your face, especially under your eyes and in the corners. Also, if your room is kind of far from your parents, do some jumping jacks.
  • Use minimum light like a flashlight or a phone, don't use bright lights like overheads or bright lamps.
  • Put the blanket over your head to block out light, and dim the light of any electronic device that you are using. If you are wearing headphones, make sure to leave one side off.

Warnings

  • If you hear someone sneeze, it means that he or she is awake. You can't sneeze in your sleep.
  • If you are bringing siblings, make sure they don't snitch!
  • Don't put off homework until late at night before it is due. A little work ahead of time can save you much sleep.
  • Don't do this too often. Limited amounts of sleep are not good for your health and you could get really sick if you don't get enough sleep. Also it could affect your sleeping pattern causing you to become more sleepy during the day and less sleepy during the night
  • Your parents might lose all their trust in you if they find out.
  • On a similar note, laptops are easily hidden by lying on top of them or pulling blankets over them. If your blanket is too thin, break up the rectangular outline with an arm or something.
  • If you have pets, make sure when you step out of your room, they are distracted or away from you. They will possibly bark, meow, or cry.
  • Be careful not to spill your soda! Especially not on anything electrical/electronic. This can lead to fire, electrocution or malfunctions.
  • A very common mistake is to fall asleep when doing something such as laying down while doing an activity or pretending to be asleep. Don't get too comfortable, and if you feel very tired, take extra precautions, and just to be safe, try putting your items in a safe spot and taking headphones off if you lay down; you could break your tablet screen if you fall asleep while holding it.
  • You may get caught if you are inexperienced at this sort of stuff, and you may get a very bad punishment, such as a grounding, or an earlier bedtime if you get caught.
  • Make sure you put everything in exactly the same place as you left it when you go to bed.
  • If you plan to stay awake all night, make sure you do it on a weekend night or school holidays.

Things You'll Need

  • An mp3 player or an iPod or something similar
  • Handheld video games such as a DS or PSP
  • Possibly a book
  • Possibly a sibling or friend, someone to keep you company
  • Something or somewhere to hide everything if your parents come e.g. a blanket
  • Soft pillows or toys.
  • A flashlight, the smaller the better
  • A laptop if you have one
  • Headphones - Most devices will not play sound through the speakers if headphones are connected
  • Small snacks and soft drinks (soda)

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