Niccolo Medici
08-06-2005, 14:22
(Spun off from the "All nighter tips" thread) As a master of sleep deprivation, I made it through many years of college, slacking, procrastinating, not caring. As a result, papers would be due in 24 hours and I would have only the barest of outlines finished.
Because of this I developed the ability to ward off sleep for days at a time, in my many desperate attempts to pass classes I only attended in name. I was successful in passing all but one class (stupid family emergency), and thus can boast of my achievements in this; The Sleep-loss Guide for the weary NSer.
Note, all humans are different, what works for me may kill you. So watch yourself. Learn to know your limits of endurance, and don't push up against them too hard.
1) The human body
The human body rests when it is not in motion, therefore try to jiggle you leg while sitting down, and when mulling over a problem, pace.
Its hard for someone to fall asleep when they are eating something, the mouth in motion makes the body focus on disgestion. Try low-level snacking, drinking and gum chewing as you work. Avoid large meals because the body will slow down while digesting large amounts of food; just keep constantly eating something small.
Pain; we all see people slaping themselves lightly on the face to wake them up. Trust me, if you're that far gone, a little slap ain't gonna do it. Pinch yourself long and hard on the arm, or give yourself a charlie horse, something that lingers. That might kick in your body's defense mechanism and boost your adreniline or make your tired mind focus on something. (don't HURT yourself, obviously!)
Human interaction; try taking a break, walking outside, and call someone (who's awake) on your phone. Or just have a chat with a waitress or something at a 24 hour resturaunt. Anything where you can have a talk. If you're lucky, your brain will refoucus as it tries to think about the discussion.
Surprise; We all know that a sudden shock kicks in the adreniline, sometimes we can similate that through shock or surprise. Deliberately put yourself in a position of slight danger to kick in the adreniline, run around briefly, something to get the jucies flowing. Find something that gets your blood pumping quickly, but that isn't very exhausting.
2) Atmosphere
Lively music is perferable to quiet songs, avoid slow love songs like the plague. New songs, songs that make your mind start moving as you try to listen to them, can also be useful.
Bright lights are better than darkened rooms, also avoid extremes of Cold or Heat, but don't wallow in the perfect termprature for sleep. Try to get a slightly too warm or cold room.
Avoid overly comfy areas, NEVER sit or lay on a bed when pulling an all-nighter. Try plastic/metal chairs, force yourself to sit upright as often as possible, avoid slouching or relaxing poses.
Shift scenery sometimes to get the body moving and to reorient the brain sometimes. Just moving from chair to chair in a computer lab every 2 hours can liven up your experience enough to complete the project.
3) Mindset.
If possible, avoid reading long passages in books, especially boring ones, try to keep your mind bullet-pointed. Do things in short, stacatto bursts to keep the thoughts fresh.
Avoid all thoughts of comfortable places, feelings or moods. Get angry, get sad, it doesn't matter; but a relaxed mind is one that will fall asleep. The more you think of a warm bed and a soft pillow, the closer you are to feeling one against your face; prevent such thoughts.
Above all else, keep the mind moving, keep the body active, and focus on the tasks at hand. The more time you lose to stray thoughts the more time your body has to think its done for the day and can rest. Breaks and tangents ARE needed at times, but try to keep them lively, purposeful, and short.
4) Caffine
Caffiene does not replace sleep, but going without stimulation on an all-nighter puts a lot of strain on a body. One way to think of it is that your immune system is literally fighting off the sickness of sleep; the more you fight it, the more work your immune system has to do. Too often, or too long, and you'll over work yourself and get sick. Caffine reduces that strain by chemically charging your body slightly.
Caffine comes in many forms, all of them tend to be hard on the stomach. With that in mind, avoid taking caffine straight, no matter what the form. Pad your stomach with bready foods or meals. That will slow the rate in which the caffine enters your system, and make it more of a gradual, long term aid.
If you NEED a quick boost in the short term, caffine works FASTER and burns out quicker if you take it without any food in your system, but its very dangerous to do so, you can ruin the lining of your stomach that way. Sugar has much the same effect.
Try to avoid caffine burn out. Take too much caffine too quickly, or rely entirely on caffine without something else in your stomach increases the "high/low" effect. You might burn out entirely, feeling sick, depressed, and tired as the stimulation flows out of your body. Caffine IS a drug, and you must respect its properties.
Well, that covers most of it. More specific, person-specific ways of staying up can be discovered if you work at it. These are more general guidelines. Remember, sometimes you cannot push yourself any more, and it IS unhealthy to lose sleep; do it only when needed.
Because of this I developed the ability to ward off sleep for days at a time, in my many desperate attempts to pass classes I only attended in name. I was successful in passing all but one class (stupid family emergency), and thus can boast of my achievements in this; The Sleep-loss Guide for the weary NSer.
Note, all humans are different, what works for me may kill you. So watch yourself. Learn to know your limits of endurance, and don't push up against them too hard.
1) The human body
The human body rests when it is not in motion, therefore try to jiggle you leg while sitting down, and when mulling over a problem, pace.
Its hard for someone to fall asleep when they are eating something, the mouth in motion makes the body focus on disgestion. Try low-level snacking, drinking and gum chewing as you work. Avoid large meals because the body will slow down while digesting large amounts of food; just keep constantly eating something small.
Pain; we all see people slaping themselves lightly on the face to wake them up. Trust me, if you're that far gone, a little slap ain't gonna do it. Pinch yourself long and hard on the arm, or give yourself a charlie horse, something that lingers. That might kick in your body's defense mechanism and boost your adreniline or make your tired mind focus on something. (don't HURT yourself, obviously!)
Human interaction; try taking a break, walking outside, and call someone (who's awake) on your phone. Or just have a chat with a waitress or something at a 24 hour resturaunt. Anything where you can have a talk. If you're lucky, your brain will refoucus as it tries to think about the discussion.
Surprise; We all know that a sudden shock kicks in the adreniline, sometimes we can similate that through shock or surprise. Deliberately put yourself in a position of slight danger to kick in the adreniline, run around briefly, something to get the jucies flowing. Find something that gets your blood pumping quickly, but that isn't very exhausting.
2) Atmosphere
Lively music is perferable to quiet songs, avoid slow love songs like the plague. New songs, songs that make your mind start moving as you try to listen to them, can also be useful.
Bright lights are better than darkened rooms, also avoid extremes of Cold or Heat, but don't wallow in the perfect termprature for sleep. Try to get a slightly too warm or cold room.
Avoid overly comfy areas, NEVER sit or lay on a bed when pulling an all-nighter. Try plastic/metal chairs, force yourself to sit upright as often as possible, avoid slouching or relaxing poses.
Shift scenery sometimes to get the body moving and to reorient the brain sometimes. Just moving from chair to chair in a computer lab every 2 hours can liven up your experience enough to complete the project.
3) Mindset.
If possible, avoid reading long passages in books, especially boring ones, try to keep your mind bullet-pointed. Do things in short, stacatto bursts to keep the thoughts fresh.
Avoid all thoughts of comfortable places, feelings or moods. Get angry, get sad, it doesn't matter; but a relaxed mind is one that will fall asleep. The more you think of a warm bed and a soft pillow, the closer you are to feeling one against your face; prevent such thoughts.
Above all else, keep the mind moving, keep the body active, and focus on the tasks at hand. The more time you lose to stray thoughts the more time your body has to think its done for the day and can rest. Breaks and tangents ARE needed at times, but try to keep them lively, purposeful, and short.
4) Caffine
Caffiene does not replace sleep, but going without stimulation on an all-nighter puts a lot of strain on a body. One way to think of it is that your immune system is literally fighting off the sickness of sleep; the more you fight it, the more work your immune system has to do. Too often, or too long, and you'll over work yourself and get sick. Caffine reduces that strain by chemically charging your body slightly.
Caffine comes in many forms, all of them tend to be hard on the stomach. With that in mind, avoid taking caffine straight, no matter what the form. Pad your stomach with bready foods or meals. That will slow the rate in which the caffine enters your system, and make it more of a gradual, long term aid.
If you NEED a quick boost in the short term, caffine works FASTER and burns out quicker if you take it without any food in your system, but its very dangerous to do so, you can ruin the lining of your stomach that way. Sugar has much the same effect.
Try to avoid caffine burn out. Take too much caffine too quickly, or rely entirely on caffine without something else in your stomach increases the "high/low" effect. You might burn out entirely, feeling sick, depressed, and tired as the stimulation flows out of your body. Caffine IS a drug, and you must respect its properties.
Well, that covers most of it. More specific, person-specific ways of staying up can be discovered if you work at it. These are more general guidelines. Remember, sometimes you cannot push yourself any more, and it IS unhealthy to lose sleep; do it only when needed.