College, Caffeine, and All-nighters

[Curlew]

Last night (15-16) stayed up all night studying for my chem final, I consumed 2 small redbulls, 1 medium redbull, 2 large redbulls, 1redbull cola, and 1 monster erergy drink. Stayed up till 10am right throught the end of my final.

Consumed: 72 ounces of energy drink, roughly 700 mg of caffine in around 6 hours.

I got 2 hours of sleep after the final then woke up to keep studying

This night (16-17) I am staying up all night writing my History paper and studying for history and political science. I have consumed 2 small redbulls, 1 medium redbull, 1 5 hour energy, and am currently working on 1 large redbull, I have 2 monster energy drinks at the ready. I plan on trying to catch a nap around noon, then waking up for the final at 3, or possibly pushing through to the test.

If all is drank I will have consumed: 74 ounces of energy drink, and roughly 850mg of caffeine in arround 10 hours


PS: the 16th was my birthday, and i speant it all awake and studying...lame

I am doing it for the grades, but I am currious about at what level caffeine becomes dangerous, any doctors in the house?

[Xasthur]

Don't worry about the caffeine, cramming on no sleep is a bad way to prepare for an exam.

If you've done any work this semester, you're probably going to do better if you just turf the books after you've made some concise notes and focus on getting an uninterrupted 8 hours sleep before your exams.

No stimulants and plenty of healthy food. Lots of water, a solid breakfast of carbohydrate (wheat, oats, grains... whatever) and plenty of sleep are a big part of any good preparation for an exam.

Caffeine will not make your brain work, it will just stop you from falling asleep should you choose to lie down. If you're anything like me, energy drinks will do little to actually make you alert and certainly will not make you think clearly. It won't sustain you, mentally, it will just make you on-edge enough to make you a poor thinker.

You're better off going for a quick run in the fresh, night air if you need a boost when studying. Just enough to get the blood pumping and your body's natural stimulants working.

Do that every half an hour or so and you'll get better results than you ever will with caffeine.

[mbailey]

We just had a young man (14)die from a combination of energy drinks and sports. From what the paper said the kid drank energy drinks and collapsed on the field while playing soccer. Apparently suffered a heart attack. Ill try and see if i can find the Morning Call newspaper article. It happened in Quakertown Pa.

Anything in excess is bad, just be careful  

[Spikes]

You'd be better off not studying and sleeping rather than studying and drinking energy drinks like that.

[Curlew]

You are all under the impression that I know most of the material in the first place...sadly i do not know a majority of the material
 

[moot]

It's hit and miss for me. Sometimes just 2 red bulls will keep me wired all almost day, sometimes no amount seems to make any real difference.

You should study less, more often. You get to take it much more easily and have a clear conscience the whole time. e.g. I slept 12h+ the day/night before each exam, with a couple of hours doing almost nothing before showing up for the exam. I don't even look at any notes in the last 24/48h. The only thing that's fun and/or seems to help at that point is re-writing/organizing the class material in totaly different ways from how I learnt it so far.

[LLogann]

See now that is your first problem.... I know it's easy for us older folk to say study all semester and then it wont be so bad when you get to this point....  Real easy for me to say it in fact, even though, I was in your shoes a bunch of times....  BUT IT'S TRUE BRO!!!  So, next semester you will see a more clear path on getting great grades!!!   

You are all under the impression that I know most of the material in the first place...sadly i do not know a majority of the material
 

Good Luck with your Finals!!!

[RTHolmes]

Oral Caffeine Dosages
Threshold   10 - 20 mg
Common   50 - 150 mg
Strong   150 - 400 mg
Heavy   400 + mg
Lethal   3-20 grams oral (depending on the individual)

check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6944026.stm
and: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/7255306.stm
 

[Spikes]

It's hit and miss for me. Sometimes just 2 red bulls will keep me wired all almost day, sometimes no amount seems to make any real difference.

You should study less, more often. You get to take it much more easily and have a clear conscience the whole time. e.g. I slept 12h+ the day/night before each exam, with a couple of hours doing almost nothing before showing up for the exam. I don't even look at any notes in the last 24/48h. The only thing that's fun and/or seems to help at that point is re-writing/organizing the class material in totaly different ways from how I learnt it so far.

Very good method here, works well for me too. I study study study, then sleep for at LEAST 10 hours. When I wake up I eat a healthy breakfast, usually eggs or something. I try not to worry about the test at all, and right before the test...usually 20 minutes before I look over my notes to refresh my memory and then head into the test.

[Curlew]

See now that is your first problem.... I know it's easy for us older folk to say study all semester and then it wont be so bad when you get to this point....  Real easy for me to say it in fact, even though, I was in your shoes a bunch of times....  BUT IT'S TRUE BRO!!!  So, next semester you will see a more clear path on getting great grades!!!   
Good Luck with your Finals!!!

Lol thank you

and thanks for all the advice, unfortainitly it is really useless this semester but thanks anyways 

[Getback]

I once studied 48 hours straight. I was working 50 plus hours a week on a loading dock handling 100lb bags of feed and farm chemicals. Fell behind in my studies by something like 32 chapters. Amazingly enough I managed to pass both classes with B's. You know my ex-wife said I was lazy. After the tests I crashed for about 20 hours. I've done 16 hour studying marathons a bunch of times.

Of course what Llogann is saying is correct but not always possible. Make a schedule and stick to it.

[Banshee7]

I am doing it for the grades, but I am currious about at what level caffeine becomes dangerous, any doctors in the house?

I know, as I am a big Monster fan, that it says limit yourself to no more than 3 Monsters in one day.  So I'm assuming all those energy drinks have the potential to cause some harm to your body. 

[texasmom]

Happy belated Birthday 

[DMBEAR]

My brain read that subject as College, Beer, Hangovers, Caffeine, and All-nighters.

Aah yes.  I remember not remembering some of those all nighters.  Getting home and cramming in 20 min of deciding which subject to study.  Next deciding to grab a brew to steady the nerves.  Slowly realizing that this isn't that hard of a subject...and so on to Beer #?. Wondering why the water is boiling.  Waking up on the cold kitchen floor in a pile of cans.  Stumbling to the bathroom to find an unflushed toilet of Ramen noodle puke.  Finally getting that sweet black gold hull O' Vitamin Caffeine to wake me up.  Getting advice from a student that's failing Intro Psychology, but remembers something about taking the test in the same state as you are in when studying.  Downing a few, boarding the crappy bus into Baton Rouge.  Aah Yes, higher education.

[SoonerMP]

I feel your pain man, I just pulled an all night redbull and tobacco induced (enduced?) study session for Sociology of Law myself. Thank god the test was no where near as bad as predicted. One more to go!