LSA senior Dana Freeman doesn”t mind pulling all-nighters to complete classwork, but she dreads seeing the sun rise after a long night, and morning, of work.
- Paul Wong
- LSA freshman Paul Knupp attempts to pull an all-nighter studying for finals in his Mary Markley Residence Hall Room.<br><br>BRETT MOUNTAIN/Daily
Freeman, like many of her peers, sometimes finds herself working through the night and sleeping the next day.
“It works out better because I do better work when I stay up all night. I do my best stuff during crunch time,” Freeman said.
She added that though she gets tired toward the middle of the night she doesn”t mind all-nighters. “It means I”m in trouble for the next day, but I take naps,” she said.
Interim University Health Service Director Robert Winfield recommended against all-nighters and stressed the importance of being able to organize one”s thoughts, especially during finals time.
“It”s wise to get at least some sleep each night,” he said. “It”s a balance which is different for each individual between how much can be learned during nighttime hours versus how much is lost by not being able to focus during daytime exams.”
He added that although the body can make up for one night of missed sleep, multiple nights without sleep adds up.
“Arbitrarily, people should try to get three to four hours minimum each night during exams, preferably more,” Winfield said.
R.C. freshman Jennifer Chua attributes her all-nighters to a combination of a waiting until the last minute to study and having a busy schedule.
“I have other stuff to do during the day,” she said. “I sometimes don”t see how I could have done it earlier. And some nights you have a lot to do and just don”t expect to sleep.”
Chua said she finds all-nighters a necessary evil because she knows how important sleep is but needs to get her work done.
“I was just always raised with the idea that you don”t go to bed until your homework is done,” she said. “I don”t think it”s a good idea to stay up consistently but every so often I don”t think it”s that bad.”
LSA senior Dan Leonard said he doesn”t pull all-nighters and he doesn”t plan to start. “I just try to organize my time well enough so that I don”t have to stay up all night,” he said. “I think it”s a bad idea because you can”t do anything effectively the day after.”