stay up all night working or not- pros and cons

[memyselfandcoffee]

okay I have essay due on friday- its way out of my comfort zone and i doubt my ability to do it, as a result i procrastinated all day yesterday, couldnt sleep till 4 am then today, read some articles and couldnt really understand them, wanted to cry ect.

so now I've given mysefl a pep talk, decided to simplify everything down, only use what i understand for essay, even if it means i get less than stellar grade and the module leader thinks i'm stupid- which he will

so now i'm thinking of having coffee eventho its 9.30 pm here, and staying up till 5 a.m

i'm afraid if i leave it till tommorrow ill be too panicked to start , particularly when it daunts me already

good idea or no??

advice, words of encouragement

thanks

[bedmas]

I think some people can stay up all night to study, and some can't. I'm the second kind. What I usually end up doing is going to bed as early as I can (maybe only work until 11) and then waking up at 5 or 6 and working. Sleeping a little bit helps to calm me down, and any anxiety that has built up usually dissipates  even if it's only by a bit! 

 

I would say try to do a little more work now then let yourself rest for a few hours and pick it up early in the morning. All nighters have never, ever worked for me (I don't even try anymore).

 

Best of luck! you can do it

[Pitangus]

Do you have other deadlines this week? Maybe I'm jaded by my own procrastination, but starting an essay on Sunday that's due on Friday sounds pretty good.

 

I work similarly to bedmas when I need to work late at night. I'll work until 12 - 1 AM, sleep either 3 or 4 1/2 hrs, then get up early and finish. This works for me because I don't work in this way constantly: I usually only have to do it on occasions when I have two deadlines the following day. I don't worry or guilt myself about my procrastination anymore, and I am feeling and working better because of that. 

 

I think often the worst part of procrastination is worrying/feeling guilty about it, so if working hard tonight will make you feel better, then I think you should do it this time. 

It sounds to me that maybe the anticipation of getting started makes you feel the most anxious, so in your case perhaps it would be helpful to start things as soon as possible, even if you need to start with what seems to be a "simplified" approach. Good luck; you'll get it done.

Edited March 24, 2013 by Pitangus

[ak48]

Staying up late never really worked for me, as I'm so destroyed the next 2-3 days that it's not worth the extra 4-5 hours of productive work i'd get from not sleeping.

[Kadisha]

Unless you're working on a next day deadline or the paper is 40 pages long it really makes no sense to stay up all night. You get diminishing returns on your productivity the longer you stay up.

 

You can either stay up for an extra 6 hours and do work, or you can get 6 hours of sleep and actually be productive the next day instead of sleep in.

[Panama Slim]

For me, the more I stay up, the loopier I get.  I make more mistakes, understand less and waste a lot of time going over the same terrain and fretting.  I like to recharge and attack with a fresh mind.  But if the deadline is the next morning, then I push on through to completion.

[pears]

personally, i do my best work under pressure, but i learned by the end of my undergrad classes that it's a lot healthier for my mind and body if i create self-imposed pressure, rather than truly waiting until the last minute. i constantly set small but doable deadlines for myself: e.g., getting 5 more pages written daily, even if the deadline seems far away, or getting a smaller assignment finished and turned in at least 24 hours before its deadline. the longest i've stayed up was 40 or so hours, and i was completely out of my skull by then. i can pull off 25-30 with a power nap here and there, but i always crash after all's said and done. but, that's just me.

[katerific]

Oh man, I remember. As an undergrad, back in the day, I could stay up in the computer lab all night, fueled by nothing but coffee. I think I also walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to my office, and there were saber-toothed tigers all along the way.

 

uh, I guess at this point you only have 24 hours or so left, but uh... good luck. If you aren't done, work like hell. You can do it! [/Rob Schneider]

[Queen of Kale]

I think some people can stay up all night to study, and some can't. I'm the second kind. What I usually end up doing is going to bed as early as I can (maybe only work until 11) and then waking up at 5 or 6 and working. 

... All nighters have never, ever worked for me (I don't even try anymore).

 

This is totally me.  I'd rather wake up early, eat a huge breakfast, and get down to business vs. try to stay up all night and get progressively more grumpy/sloppy/strange.  But I know people who feel strongly that they work best at the last minute or at night.  Part of me feels perhaps it's a bit like self-professed great multi-taskers who actually tend to be worse at multi-tasking.  I'm a skeptic when it comes to all-nighters.  

[juilletmercredi]

I can't do it anymore.  My first two years of grad school I used to routinely stay up until 6 in the morning working on something and then go to sleep afterwards.  Nowadays, I can't.  My body won't let me.  I start to feel sleepy at 11 pm and I am ready for sleep by midnight (like right now, my eyes are doing the cha-cha!)  My internal time clock simply will not let me stay awake past 2 am; even if I try, I inevitably fall asleep around 2 am and usually wake up fully clothed in the middle of the night, looking bewildered, with work scattered all around me.   I've even tried coffee to make the all-nighters work on the rare occasion I need them and nope, can't do it.

 

I used to be such a night owl but I am really an early morning person now.  I feel most productive between 9 am and 2 pm and my best days are when I make a 7 am workout class and am working on something by 9 am.  After about 6 pm I'm ready to settle down and read a book or prepare dinner and veg out with TV.  And anyway, I've made it a personal resolve to always get at least 6 but more optimally 8 hours of sleep a night.  I feel so much healthier and happier that way.  I've actually stuck to that pretty well.

 

I used to think I did my best work under pressure until I started doing work not under pressure.  My work is SO much better when I have time to outline it, think about it, work on it steadily and proofread it.  SO. MUCH. BETTER.

 

I feel like a real adult, y'all!

Edited April 4, 2013 by juilletmercredi

[michigan girl]

Give yourself at least three days (with no other commitments) to work on the paper. That is how I have been able to write consecutive 10-page papers per week (!). I make sure I have the readings/sources finished by Friday, start writing the paper on Saturday, and finish the awful thing by Monday evening (if it's due by Tuesday). This leaves time for me to take breaks and do other required errands throughout the day. It's cruel, but that's the only way I can keep my sanity and receive good grades. I write 3 pages per day. All nighters simply do not work. You will feel crashed and burned the next day.

Edited April 4, 2013 by michigan girl

[ruru107]

I like the idea of sleeping for four hours or so and then getting back to work, but I never try it because I'm afraid I'll just sleep through my alarm, sleep the whole night, and have no time left to work on the assignment!

[CageFree]

 All nighters simply do not work. You will feel crashed and burned the next day.

 

That may be true for you. I do my best work in the middle of the night.

[Pitangus]

[nehs]

I would say just start something now, and sleep in ab hour or two. You will have something to continue for tomorrow once you wake up