Should I postpone the sleep I haven't had in days to stay alert today?

June 28, 2009 10:32 AM

I haven't slept in days, and I need to be completely alert for the next sixteen hours. Should I nap or push through?

It's 5:19am Monday here, and I don't know what the hell's going on, but I woke up 7:30am Friday, so it's been a while since I slept. I'm just starting to feel tired - i.e. I wouldn't find it difficult to close my eyes and nap or sleep now.

I have two smallish but important code modules due today and tomorrow, and I need to be alert. I have a game of indoor football at 2pm, and I really don't want to be collapsing at half time from sleep deprivation. I'm also taking French some evenings and have my final test of the course at 6pm.

What should I do? Will a quick nap now leave me worse off in the short term? Is there some sort of over-the-counter-medicine-hack that I could use like, I don't know, mixing paracetamol with honey or something?

I'm going to have to be at work in 3 hours regardless, so my nap can only be 2.5 hours minus Metafilter advice time.

posted by doublehappy to health & fitness (16 comments total)

I vote for pushing through. I've done this more times than I can count, and often a nap is devastating.
posted by greta simone at 10:38 AM on June 28

There's no way you can be completely alert after 48 hours with no sleep. And you aren't able to judge how alert you are after that long, either. You might only feel somewhat tired at this point but your reaction times, judgment, etc are all badly compromised.

Why are you even considering playing a game at 2:00pm. Get as much sleep as you possibly can and maybe you'll be able to take your French final exam. Maybe.

Don't drive, you could kill someone and it'd be your fault.
posted by Justinian at 10:40 AM on June 28 [9 favorites]

Can you get 2 hours right now? A 20 minute nap might be a bad idea, but if you can get 2 hours now and wake up at a normal morning time, you may be glad you did.
posted by originalname37 at 10:41 AM on June 28

Push through? Medicine hacks? This is a terrible idea.

First: Take your 2.5 hour nap. Then, blow off the indoor football to nap some more, and then go to the French exam. Do not take any kind of No-Doz, at this point it would make you a jittery wreck. You might want to eat something, though.

And if you've been up since early Friday morning, there's something seriously wrong. Whether you've just been 'powering through' with coffee and No-Doz, playing WoW, or taking amphetamines, you're playing havoc on your body. You really need to just stop.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:42 AM on June 28 [11 favorites]

Really I haven't done anything differently in the last week. I've had a pretty normal quiet weekend, eaten at the usual times, spent time with my girlfriend, watched a bit of tv, been for my daily walks, &c. It's just when it gets to sleep time I'm lying there staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping.
posted by doublehappy at 10:47 AM on June 28

dunkadunc, there's no need to cast aspersions. Someone with severe insomnia can easily be up for days at a time without taking drugs to do so. It's a miserable experience.

doublehappy, I also think you should skip your game. If you go to sleep now, don't count on getting up in twenty minutes or two hours. One way or another, your body is going to try to repay that sleep debt. If I were you, I'd go to sleep now, get up to take the French exam, and then work on the code later.
posted by sugarfish at 10:51 AM on June 28

Unfortunately I think these kind of solutions are going to be different per individual.

For me, when I've gotten no sleep the night before, 20 minute naps are golden and make me feel like I got 8 hours. It's the 1-2 hour naps that still make me feel like hell afterwards.
posted by Squee at 10:54 AM on June 28

Do you have any other symptoms with the lack of sleep, like an elevated mood, lack of appetite, anxiety, or maybe feeling very distractible?

I also agree with skipping the game and sleeping before the exam.
posted by so_gracefully at 11:17 AM on June 28

I vote for a nap. I do many all-nighters as part of my work, and often find I get nauseous around 7am - even a 1hr nap helps get me past the hump and once daylight hits my daytime wakefulness reflexes kick in and I'm fine until evening.
But, everyone is different, and I can't say that will be your experience.
posted by Billegible at 11:19 AM on June 28

Sleep now.

Don't drive.

Coffee with sugar (I like to take milk as well - insomnia messes with my stomach).

Puzzle games on the way to work - whatever floats your boat, crossword, sudoku, tetris, solitaire.

Is it possible to swap the lunchtime game for a nap? Adrenaline will get you going, the crash afterwards will be unpleasant.

Double check everything you do.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 11:22 AM on June 28

Please don't drive a car, or do anything else safety-critical. Underestimating the effects of lack of sleep on reflexes and judgement is a common mistake.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:27 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]

Eat, a lot. It'll help a lot more than coffee at this point to keep you energetic. And I agree with everyone else here who says for god's sake don't go exercise before your exam.
posted by you're a kitty! at 1:29 PM on June 28

Honestly, the fact you're even thinking of playing football when you haven't slept in 3 days AND you have an exam imminent is demonstrable proof your judgement is impaired.
posted by Decimask at 4:15 PM on June 28 [6 favorites]

Okay so I went with the nap option and got to work about 15 minutes late. Got most of what I needed to do done. Played indoor and wasn't the worst person on the field. Decided against going back to work though. Got French in a couple of hours. I feel okay, but it does feel like someone has been punching me in the face repeatedly for hours. Appreciate your comments and advice so far.

I guess my next question is when will this catch up on me? How does sleep work? I've been wikiing around for the last half hour, but if does anyone know of any particularly good articles?
posted by doublehappy at 9:17 PM on June 28

get off the computer, just sleep. You don't need to know how it works, just sleep, man.
posted by titanium_geek at 9:21 PM on June 28 [1 favorite]

oh hang on, sorry didn't read. Push through to the French, then sleep!
posted by titanium_geek at 9:22 PM on June 28