Pulling All-Nighters?

[Grasshoppaa]

I have a really bad habit of staying up all night (with the help of my meds) on nights before I have an exam or a project due. I honestly can't remember the last time I slept the night before an exam.I know it's supposedly bad to do this, but I get good grades and everything has worked out just fine so far, so I haven't really been too worried about it, until now.

I'd really like to break this habit and get into a good school/sleep pattern, but I just can't bring myself to follow any kind of routine because of my daily schedule. I have classes in the evenings 3 times a week, and that's it. Yep, that's the only thing I have to do all week. The earliest I have to be awake on any day is 1pm and I have 5-day weekends every weekend. Needless to say It's pretty hard to convince myself to go to bed early when I don't have to wake up for anything.

Who else does this? I know I'm not the only one. Any suggestions?

[APSJ]

I'm done with school now, but did this as a matter of routine throughout college and law school. Never started a paper or started studying prior to the day before something was due or an exam was scheduled, and rarely started until that evening or later.

I was terrified waiting for my grade every single period, always convinced that my inability to overcome procrastination had *finally* caught up with me. It never did, and I actually did reasonably well. But, it well might have. I handed in/e-mailed in papers with minutes, on occasion seconds to spare. A slow train or slow internet connection could have resulted in my still being in school now, or having dropped out. And, if I'd had time to proofread papers or really study *and* sleep, I have to think I'd have done a good deal better.

So...yeah, not very helpful I'm afraid. No real suggestions...I still struggle to get to sleep, even when I don't have anything I'm trying to get done...

[Grasshoppaa]

Haha, sounds a lot like me. Thanks anyways. I actually don't have any problems sleeping when I'm not taking any meds, maybe because I get such little sleep when I'm on them lol. The only reason I'm trying to work on my habit now is because I have such a ridiculous tolerance to my medication that I'm afraid I won't be able to keep doing this successfully like I've been able to do. If you can call this "successfully" lol

[giggles26]

I only did that once and it made me have a mental breakdown, but I am busy all day everyday. 7-7 usually.

[anonymouslyadd]

Have you thought about taking a sleep supplement like Melatonin? I've done this at like 11 p.m. and it helps.

[Grasshoppaa]

Originally Posted by anonymouslyadd

Have you thought about taking a sleep supplement like Melatonin? I've done this at like 11 p.m. and it helps.

Like I said before, I don't have any trouble sleeping when I want to sleep. My problem is just procrastinating everything until the last minute, so I end up having to stay up all night to get stuff done.

[casper]

The one time I pulled an allnighter I failed the test miserably. Now writing a paper is a whole different ball game, for me at least. I once had a shrink tell me that staying up all night to study is the worst thing you can do for yourself.

[hypergirl96]

Who else does this?

Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sandy4957]

I am 44 years old. I first recall doing this when I was 6 years old. I made it my New Year's resolution to learn how to stop doing it four years ago. I now finally no longer do it. It took most of the last four years to get to this point.

Here's the thing... If you are in college now, then you are still (believe it or not) in the "easy" phase. You can still compensate for this sort of work habit because you're smart. But one day it WILL catch up with you. Whether it's in graduate school, or a job, or whatever, it will eventually turn out that you can't run on on overdrive (because that's what you're doing, right?) forever.

In my case, I did not write (or study, really) until the last minute because every time I started to do so, I got anxious. I can see now that that was the case. At the time, I just told myself that I was lazy, or a procrastinator.

So let's ask this: what are you doing when you're NOT studying/working on the paper? What happens if you get yourself up at 9:00 am, paper due two weeks from now, and try to work on it?

Describe that process not just from an outsider's view (i.e., what your physical behavior is), but also from the inside. What are you thinking as you sit at your desk at 9:00 am, coffee mug in hand, pen and paper at the ready (or computer at the ready, as the case may be). What goes through your head?

[IhazCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Sandy4957

In my case, I did not write (or study, really) until the last minute because every time I started to do so, I got anxious. I can see now that that was the case. At the time, I just told myself that I was lazy, or a procrastinator.

So let's ask this: what are you doing when you're NOT studying/working on the paper? What happens if you get yourself up at 9:00 am, paper due two weeks from now, and try to work on it?

Describe that process not just from an outsider's view (i.e., what your physical behavior is), but also from the inside. What are you thinking as you sit at your desk at 9:00 am, coffee mug in hand, pen and paper at the ready (or computer at the ready, as the case may be). What goes through your head?

I'm 43 years old, in graduate school, and due to graduate eight weeks from today (if I can quit procrastinating and get all my papers written, projects and assignments finished, books read...). I've been pulling a lot of all-nighters lately, and not studying or doing anything else productive. I spend the nights on the 'net.

I agree, it's anxiety. If I even think about an assignment I can feel a desire to run, to avoid, because I feel completely inadequate to begin, or focus, or to be able to organize and retain the information. This has absolutely nothing to do with past performance, because I've been doing really well. But it doesn't matter what I tell myself, the anxiety isn't based in reality. Sitting at my computer, or in front of my notes, coffee mug in hand, all I see is a blank page or screen. I can't write until I'm able to "see" the paper in my head, to conceptualize it, to see its skeleton, its bones. This has gotten much worse this semester as graduation draws near...no more Incompletes that I can finish next semester. Aaargh! A year ago, I just blamed this process on being lazy, foolish, etc. Now I can blame it on my ADD.

On one YouTube video, Dr. Russell Barkley talks about ADHD being a "Motivation Deficit Disorder." I'd never really thought about it, but I couldn't figure out why I would always wait until the last minute to do things, when I really hate feeling rushed, and filled with adrenaline. But what Dr. Barkley said makes sense in my case: I need to be motivated from the outside, unless it's something I really enjoy doing. Hence the mad scramble to meet deadlines, with the motivation being a need to get good grades, I guess.

I'm currently taking five classes and working five days a week at my internship sites, generally working around 30 hours per week. Even knowing I really, really need my sleep, I've been staying up all night one or two nights each week for the last five weeks I think. Yeah, definitely anxiety.

[Grasshoppaa]

Originally Posted by Sandy4957

I am 44 years old. I first recall doing this when I was 6 years old. I made it my New Year's resolution to learn how to stop doing it four years ago. I now finally no longer do it. It took most of the last four years to get to this point.

Here's the thing... If you are in college now, then you are still (believe it or not) in the "easy" phase. You can still compensate for this sort of work habit because you're smart. But one day it WILL catch up with you. Whether it's in graduate school, or a job, or whatever, it will eventually turn out that you can't run on on overdrive (because that's what you're doing, right?) forever.

In my case, I did not write (or study, really) until the last minute because every time I started to do so, I got anxious. I can see now that that was the case. At the time, I just told myself that I was lazy, or a procrastinator.

So let's ask this: what are you doing when you're NOT studying/working on the paper? What happens if you get yourself up at 9:00 am, paper due two weeks from now, and try to work on it?

Describe that process not just from an outsider's view (i.e., what your physical behavior is), but also from the inside. What are you thinking as you sit at your desk at 9:00 am, coffee mug in hand, pen and paper at the ready (or computer at the ready, as the case may be). What goes through your head?

Sorry for the late reply, It was spring break last week and I wasn't around.

Ok, so what happens if I try to work on something that's due two weeks from now? I would probably be pretty relaxed about the assignment, even too relaxed because I know it's not due. I might open the assignment on my computer, but I'd probably also open Facebook and this site in other windows and focus most of my attention on that.

Besides waiting until the last minute and pulling all-nighters, I really don't have any problems getting stuff done (I don't get anxiety or anything like that to prevent me from doing my schoolwork). I just don't even feel any sense of urgency or the NEED to do things until the last minute, since it's worked out pretty well so far.

[anonymouslyadd]

You are far from the only one. I went one stretch where I didn't sleep for 3 days straight. Two more, and I would have been hallucinating. What has worked for me is to study really hard and then cut it off at about 11 or something and then take a melatonin.

It's not the worst thing in the world though. However it certainly isn't the most fun. The best part is that it doesn't last forever.

[Grasshoppaa]

Originally Posted by anonymouslyadd

You are far from the only one. I went one stretch where I didn't sleep for 3 days straight. Two more, and I would have been hallucinating. What has worked for me is to study really hard and then cut it off at about 11 or something and then take a melatonin.

It's not the worst thing in the world though. However it certainly isn't the most fun. The best part is that it doesn't last forever.

Yea, I know a lot of people do it (especially students), but every time I do it I tell myself "I really need to stop doing this". I get plenty of sleep most nights when I don't stay up, I'd say on average I get a good 10hrs of sleep per night, or more.

I usually stay up all night studying before a test, then go take the test, then go home and sleep for like 14hrs. Hey, on the bright side, no sleep for one night and then 14hrs of sleep the next night is an average of 7hrs per night, not too bad!

[anonymouslyadd]

Originally Posted by Aald4x4

Yea, I know a lot of people do it (especially students), but every time I do it I tell myself "I really need to stop doing this". I get plenty of sleep most nights when I don't stay up, I'd say on average I get a good 10hrs of sleep per night, or more.

I usually stay up all night studying before a test, then go take the test, then go home and sleep for like 14hrs. Hey, on the bright side, no sleep for one night and then 14hrs of sleep the next night is an average of 7hrs per night, not too bad!

Aald, good way to think about that. You're balancing it out.

[ILADHD]

I'm doing it right now. 12 hours to go on my paper and I haven't started yet.