Your palms are sweaty. Your eyes refuse to stay open. Your brain seems dead and unresponsive. Then you ask yourself, “Why oh WHY did I leave this assignment to the last minute?!” Most of us have been there - in the wee morning hours - in front of the computer typing away the essay that’s due in about three and a half hours, one that’s usually worth 20% of the term.

IB and normal high school students are no stranger to all-nighters. In fact, some of us boasts about them. “I pulled two in one week.” “Oh yea? I had eight hours of sleep in the last three days!” All-nighters are a mental, physical as well as emotional battle. I’m not here to chastise you for going on Facebook while you knew perfectly well that you have a due date coming up. The truth is, once you’ve finally settled yourself in front of that cursed blank Word Document, the internal war starts. I’m just the trusty steed that leads you into battle but I will bring you out alive and grateful, hopefully.

There are three things that you absolutely do not want to happen during your burning of the midnight oil
1. Doze off, wake up, and curse as you seen the sun poking its head above the horizon
2. Not finish all the work when morning comes
3. Give up

The following methods will help you avoid that. Ready? Put your game face on and let the agony … er… work begin.

Mentally prepare yourself during the day time. I can’t stress how important this is. Knowing you’ll probably have to pull an all-nighter puts you in the right mindset and avoids the “I’m just going to take a 5 minute nap” mentality. Knowing what you’ll have to face and tackle is like heading into something with a map. You’ll know how much you have to cover and how quickly you have to do it. Writing a time table helps as well. Mental preparation also gives you the option of choosing nap times, mentioned below.

Designate a wake-up buddy. If you’re like us mainstream students, chances are you’re not alone in pulling this all-nighter. Exchanging cellphone numbers is probably the best bet as it doesn’t wake up the whole household. A simple “Hi, you awake? Okay!” every hour will do. With the two of you in it together, you will get motivation to catch up if you fall behind, and a good warm and fuzzy feeling inside if you’re ahead of your unlucky buddy.

Take short breaks. Regular breaks spare you from the tenseness and the monotony of long hours of typing and reading. If you’re finding yourself reading the same passage over and over again with out absorbing anything, then go for a walk, stretch a little, take a 2-3 minute break.

Turn your worst enemy into your best friend: naps. Yes, I admit, I did once experience that horrible gut wrenching feeling inside when I woke up with the sunrise, stared at my unfinished project and began to panic. Maybe it’s your third all-nighter this week. Maybe you just had a tough day. But sometimes you just KNOW you won’t last till morning. This method almost guarantees a successful, and sometimes even HYPER, all-nighter experience. When you get home from school, get as much done as you possibly could. I usually get drowsy at around seven. That’s when I take a nap, positioning myself in the room with the most commotion and setting an (or several) alarm(s). I get up two to three hours later, refreshed and energized, and start working. Why does this work? One, you’re not napping RIGHT after school when you’re quite awake after walking home. If you get up at five or six in the afternoon, that’s another fourteen hours you have to stay awake! Secondly, naps at midnight or two in the morning usually don’t turn out to be the half hour naps you promised yourself.

The second type of napping are those little fifteen minute snoozes on the keyboard. THESE AREN’T FOR EVERYONE. They do a great job of refreshing your mind, but if you don’t set/hear the alarms, you’ll sleep till dawn!

Have a reward system. Divide your work into little chunks and work through them while sticking strictly to the time table you set for yourself earlier. Every time you accomplish one of these mini-goals, give yourself a small reward, such as playing your favourite song, watching a SHORT video on Youtube, or eating some ice cream.

Find a variety of mental stimulants. Coffee and Red Bull are always good choices. Personally, for some reason coffee put me to sleep (I drink it anyway because I love the smell).

Choose exercises that help (see a more extensive list in the mini article). Massage your brain, either with your fingers or simply brush your hair girls (this method was scientifically proven to be stimulating). Turn your head in a circle. Stretch. Pray. Yes pray, you need divine intervention. Screw up your face and scream silently.

Take a shower. Always effective, unless you fall asleep in the shower. Make sure it’s a quick! Don’t be scared to turn the tap to a colder water temperature. I usually take showers at one a.m. because that’s the make or break point.

Figure out the right working environment. Get some fresh air and circulation. If you haven’t realized by now, warm temperature makes you drowsy. Open the window a little so you can feel the breeze. Don’t have the fluorescent lights glaring in your eye but don’t work with a dying bulb either. Clean the table of all clutter save the work-related material.

Eat the right food. Having messy-free munchies nearby is great! I’ve lost count of all the brilliant inspirations I’ve gotten while chewing on licorice. Eat a small dinner and don’t try to fit in a whole meal in the middle of the all-nighter for a full stomach makes you sleepy. Whole grains is one of your best bets. If you’re really craving sleep, drink some water and pop an Excel mint or some Listerine. Gum is all personal preferences.

Talk things out, to yourself. This one might feel a little silly, but it nevertheless is very effective. When something doesn’t make sense, read it out loud in a comical voice. When you want to give up, say to yourself something like, “Crystal! You’ve came this far, just give it a few more hours and you’ll have a fabulous paper!” or “Think of all your peers currently working on this. Wait till I show them my perfect work tomorrow!”

Play the right music. Ah, the great music debate. I won’t argue each of your individual cases because yes, I know, some people need music to work while others absolutely demand peace and quiet. Personally I usually have a few good songs with non-distracting lyrics but lively tempos playing all night. I also adjust the volume periodically just to have a little change. For those of you working on foreign language assignments, playing songs in that language tend to subconsciously make your work better. Give it a try! I still hum Isabelle Boulay every time I think about my French Journals.

So there you are, twelve useful tips to effectively get you through all-nighters. I’m sure there are many more obscure family remedies out there that will help you. Feel free to share. When the birds start singing and the sky lights up, you’ll say to yourself, “I’m NEVER going to do this again”. Of course you won’t… for half a week maybe. Okay okay you’re not all as bad as I am! But at least, you can feel like you’re part of a community (of procrastinators), of something large, something beyond the daily monotony, something that binds millions of young and old people together around the world. Your final reward is holding the neat, freshly printed, long-ass paper in your hands, and having that smile of satisfaction spread across your face.

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