I down a few bawls/energy drinks and listen to fast (175_BPM) music via headphones (so i don't wake anyone up. How do YOU stay up (if you need to force yourself to lets say, meet a deadline.

If I have to actually do something while I am staying awake (meaning I can't pick random things to do, I have an actual task and that's why I am staying awake) then I will usually listen to music, nothing specific, just whatever is on the cd. If I find myself really dozing off, I will toss some cold water on my face, or go for a short jog around the neighborhood.

If I am staying up because I am switching schedules or whatever, I will play on my computer usually as this keeps my attention the best

Cool

I usually get 4 hours of sleep a night, so unless I have to stay up
for more than 20 hours straight, I'm fine. If I've got to stay up, I
usually have some random music in the background, and
oscillate between being really focused on what I need to get
done and some other activity that has nothing to do with that. i.e.,
if I have a paper or abstract that needs to be submitted, I'll focus
on that for an hour or so, then leave it for a few (10+) minutes to
play a computer game, play racquette ball, or whatever. That
way I don't end up losing my mind trying to keep focused while
I'm tired.

Coffee!! And lots of it.

Well, for some reason or another....I have never had to pull an all-nighter in my life. I usually find myself doing things before they are due, so the necessity of such abuse on ones' physical may not happen. Sure, I've stayed late up...3, 4, 5am...but then slepted till 2, 3pm of the next day,
I completely refuse to drink any sort of "energy" drink i.e. Red Bull...there was a case of some idiot american football player who drank 3 before a game and died during the game. So, I'll try my best to not contribute in giving myself a heart attack.
I dispise coffee, I have nothing against it...but I just don't like the taste, sorry
I'll drink hotchocolate/hotcocoa every once in a while,

Otherwise...to stay up, I just stay up and then go to bed to rest.

A open window, some fast music, and tea. Doesn't hotchocolate make you sleepy? Everytime i drink a cup i just can't stay awake anymore
-NSKL

that's one thing I always expected to be doing loads of at uni, but actually i only ever stayed up all night once on an assignment, and that was only because I was worknig on a group project at someone elses house and had nowhere to go to sleep anyway. That "day" was 55 hours long..... BUT other than that i've never even come close. I would just get bored, tie up lose ends and leave it wherever it was.... worked out fine for me...

Usually I have the ability to push myself for hours, so I don't need any sort of extra drive... though not eating helps because then I don't get sleepy, also music as everyone helps if its something heavy like Korn or something along those lines.

I tend to be a night owl myself, can function on very little sleep usually averaging around 4 a night. But when I want to stay up its easy for me, if my mind is occupied then I stay awake, don't need anything else to keep me going.

What's the longest anyone stayed awake straight without dozing off ?

I went about 52 hours once and 11 of it was driving from Dallas to Indianapolis.

i tend to get around 6-7 hours a night... but i usually function pretty well without.

and... 72 hours straight .

I've got a little over 3 days straight as a no-sleep record. I guess it isn't really fair though because there were other influences at work.

ok, so rather then making a new thread lemme ask ya this...


whats your avg. amount of sleep per night?

I get about 6 on avg. weekends i can get up to 12hrs but i feel even more tired when I sleep that much what gives?

what about you guys?

I have such a dorked up schedule being in the Military that I don't regularly get a "standard" amount of sleep. Some days I can get 8 full hours, others it's like 4. Sometimes on my days off I will get upwards of 10, but then just like you Ben, I feel groggy and sore all day.

I actually studied sleep for a while during my ever long stint on nights, and in my offtime. They do still suggest between 7-9 hours of sleep per night for the average person, however if you are extremely active in sports where you are putting your body through rigorous activity, it is suggested to get between 8-10. The flip side is not the same. If you are lazy and do nothing all day long, they don't suggest getting less sleep, the 7-9 still stands.

If you oversleep, you body will begin the next "sleep cycle". This means your body thinks it's going to sleep another 7-9 hours. You stop in the middle of the cycle, or just after starting (say 11 or 12 hours) and the body takes a long to recoupe from this.

So if you miss sleep one night (say you only get 4 or 5 hours) you CAN make it up, but only for 3 more days after the missed night. After that the body cannot recover the lost sleep, and cannot rejuvinate from more sleep. This simply means, you lost the chance to have adequate sleep and have your body recover, and rebuild during that cycle.

Some people can get away with 4-6 hours a night, this is fine, however this is not the norm. If the average person (which would normally need 7-9 hours) got only 4-6 hours a night, after a short time of this, the body would go into hybernation. It would function only necessary functions, and the person cannot think clearly, or comunicate well.

I might be a little off, it's been a good 3 or 4 months since I looked this stuff up, but AFAIK and can remember, that's about right.

Cool

I used to typically work about 40 hrs straight drinking coffee. After the boat ride back to the living quarters boat I would usually be unable to fall asleep for a while. Maybe two hours to get to sleep.

Driving 600 to 800 miles or so seems to make me very sleepy. Even driving a boat for 8 or more hours has the same effect. Eating while driving is like taking a sleeping pill. If I stop driving I'm not sleepy anymore.

I stay up sometimes two days.

But normally I sleep four to five hours a night.

coffee and pixy sticks...there's nuttin' else like it