To Sleep or Not to Sleep?

It is 11 p.m. the night before one of the biggest exams of my junior year, Dr. Kugler’s French Revolution midterm. I did the outline Sunday afternoon for the two questions I was assigned for the group collaboration on the eight possible essay questions she gave us a week ago, and I have not looked at the questions since then.

As if things could not get better, it was also deadline night for The Carroll News. I had told myself that I had to study Monday night because I knew that tonight was going to be shot productivity wise. But, as studying typically goes in college, I got distracted and never actually got around to putting any effort into my studying.

I was sitting at work that afternoon looking at my planner and realizing that it was finally going to happen. I was going to have to pull my first all-nighter of my college career. I heard the voices of all of my professors and my mother ringing in my ears telling me not to do it, that staying up all night to cram never did any good. But I had no choice, if I did not stay up and study all night, I was going to fail the midterm.

According to a study done by the Journal of Adolescent Health, 68% of the college students surveyed said that their sleep was adversely affected by school stress.  I was now going to become part of that statistic, much to my chagrin.

I did as much preparation as possible for the exam as I could during my already packed day. I even looked up “how to pull an effective all-nighter” on Google and found an article from Wake Forest University’s student newspaper, Old Black & Gold, that gave a breakdown of exactly what to do during each block of time. Their timeline started at 10 p.m., but I knew that I was not going to get started until 3:30 a.m. at best. So I slightly adapted their strategy to my time constraints.

After a very interesting deadline night that consisted of lots of productivity on the newspaper but no progress on my studying, I finally walked in the door of my home at 4 a.m. and proceeded to prepare for a night –well, morning– of studying.

All of the articles I had read said to avoid any kind of carbohydrates because they make you more tired and to try and steer clear of caffeine because it can sometimes hinder your productivity during the wee hours of the night and morning.

As difficult as it was, I walked past my coffee maker and went to the fridge to find the apple juice. I poured myself a large glass and sat down at my kitchen table trying to be as quiet as possible lest I wake my sleeping roommate. I dove into my studies and was surprisingly productive. After indulging in a Cottage Doubles of the strawberry variety and finishing the of the question outlines, I decided that I had earned an hour long nap.

It was 5:45 a.m. and I hopped into bed after setting my alarm for 7:45 a.m. (okay, so maybe I wanted a two hour nap, but I had been awake for almost 20 hours at that point.) I woke up to my alarm and dragged myself to the shower, hoping that it would wake me up as the article suggested and surprisingly worked.

I got myself dressed and ready, made a protein packed breakfast of sunnyside-up eggs and reviewed my outlines. I waked to class feeling a little bit like I was intoxicated, but that is a symptom of exhaustion, feeling drunk. I was kind of amazed that I did not walk into traffic or something like that.

I went into the exam feeling fairly confident and prepared. After Dr. Kugler handed out the exam and I looked over the questions, I realized that I miraculously knew all of the answers.

I finished the essay in 45 minutes and went about my day as normal. I took a three-hour nap...or tried to. (My housemates made so much noise that it was more like a series of pass outs than a nap.) But other than that, I was able to function fairly normally.

I want you to understand that I am in no way condoning all-nighters as an effective studying method. It is far smarter to break your studying up over a few nights and make sure that you are getting plenty of sleep so you are well rested and prepared come exam time.

But as a last resort and when your normal schedule does not allow you to study using that method, all-nighters can be an alternative if you are willing to take the correct steps to do them effectively as in avoiding carbs and caffeine, getting a nap or two in so your brain can process the information, taking an early morning shower, and eating a good breakfast.

As far as I go, I am not planning on pulling another all-nighter anytime soon. I felt terrible all day and it took me a week to feel normal again. But it was a good way to get my studying in for that one exam. Oh and just for the record, I did get an A on that exam also the highest grade in the class…but, don’t go by me, I am convinced that I had a guardian angel or something.