College, Caffeine, and All-nighters

[Maverick]

Proper time management negates the need for all nighters. An all nighter is an exercise in sleep deprivation which is the worst thing you could do before an exam. The history paper should have been done prior to exam time so you could allocate time for study then proper rest so that you are at your best at the exam rather than at your worst. Not knowing the material before the finals is another example of improper time management.

[Anaxogoras]

Wow, that much caffeine intake is a symptom of serious procrastination!

[druski85]

Curlew as an individual recently endowed with a shiny Bachelors degree, I feel your pain.  I understand everyone will tell you "space out your studying" or something along those lines, but realistically thats not enough.  When you've got 4 300 level history exams and a 400 level poli sci exam in a period of 3 days, you NEED to do some level of cramming.  For one of my classes for example, I had to know specifically how the growth of railroad affected 20 select US cities, 5 of which would then be randomly picked for the test.  This sort of material has to be crammed pre-test, in order to reinforce what you may have hit earlier in the semester.  That being said, in some cases I would encounter some books/info that I didn't hit earlier in the semester, but I digress...

Now there is plenty of science + advice that will tell you "get 8 hours of sleep, caffeine doesn't help, etc etc"
I've read the journals, I understand the science, but when it comes down to it grabbing 2-3 hours and pounding caffeine got me a 3.7 with a double major and intense extra-curricular load.  You have to find what works for you.  Of course, its extremely dangerous and can definitely kill you.  As for my poison, I generally stayed away from energy drinks (no need for all the crap that comes with them) and either drank A. lots of coffee or B. some sort of juice/beverage with crushed caffeine pills in it.

I only had to REALLY cram for 4/8 semesters, so not too bad.  Just be careful, and if you find yourself shaking uncontrollably for the love of god put down the red bull and drink some water

I'm a turrible role model   turrible.

[MORAY37]

Curlew,

There is a reason that the side of the can has a warning not to consume more than a certain amount per 24 hour period.  With energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster, each can consumed strips off a layer of protective cells which line the inside of your stomach, and keep the acid you use to digest contained within. These are known as epithelium, and without them, you can quickly develop ulcers.  In an absolute worst case scenario, you can actually cause the stomach wall to fail as the acid eats through.(through prolonged large intake of these drinks...and it takes ALOT)  Should that happen, you would most likely die, unless very near a high grade emergency facility.

This is in addition to the problems caused by over consumption of caffeine, which you may easily look up for yourself.

I consume no more than 2 Monsters per day, and even then that puts me on the threshhold for problems.  

Your study habits indicate that you've done one of two things...

1)Procrastinated the entire semester..(something I saw often as a biology instructor)
or..
2)Taken too many credits or are completely over your head in the subject matter

Only you can figure out which it is.  All nighters at the end of a semester is a sign of poor study habits. Your brain will only take in upwards of 20-30 minutes of new information and convert it into formation of synapses.  After that, it runs out of "steam", and needs at least 15 minutes of downtime.  Studying all night gives you absolutely zero reward, in the end.  You should look to learn your required material during the semester, not at the end.  As an undergrad, I used to laugh at how everyone disappeared the week of finals.... and at how they marvelled at my 95 without seeming to study...while they were ruining an entire week for high 70's. College (at least academically) is all about pre-planning and goal setting.  I found that after I started doing that, I found alot more time to do more "interesting" things.

[druski85]

Yea thats why I avoid energy drinks Moray   Of course caffeine is still dangerous in it's own right,but again your eliminating some of the superfluous danger. 

Also in some cases I was cramming for procrastination purposes, but in many others I had kept up with my studies throughout.  It was a reinforcement in the last couple of days which was absolutely essential to remembering many of the details required.  The semester I was referring to was indeed a mistake, and I made a policy to take no more than 4 300/400 level courses per term after that   All the same, you need to learn what works for you...and try not to kill yourself.   

[BoilerDown]

I love how nearly everyone is telling him to have better study habits just before the exam.  Hello, its too late now, tell him how to best cram for the exam, at least that's useful information.

[Rich46yo]

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  

Do you really know what killed the kid or are you guessing? Either way I agree energy drinks and sports are bad news together.

But your general, out of the box, 16yo is tougher then a Tex-Mex chicken fried steak. Ive seen em get chopped,shot, banged to pieces and a month later they are back on the corner like it never happened. When I was a bit older, as a young troop, we'd go for 3 days straight drinking, fist fighting, ho'ing, and then we'd drink unending pots of coffee to get thru mid-shifts. I could fill up 3 Queen Marys with wiz from all the caffeine drinks Ive ingested in over 30 years of shift work.

I say pound the caffeine and get the work done. When you start talking to people that aren't really there then its probably a good idea to back off some.

[Shuffler]

I love how nearly everyone is telling him to have better study habits just before the exam.  Hello, its too late now, tell him how to best cram for the exam, at least that's useful information.

OK..... accept your lack of preparation and go get some sleep. If you were to pass you would not do well anyway as you put off the important things all the time.

(Magic pill still unavailable..... scientist were out partying late every night and did not get the pill prepared in time)

[Anaxogoras]

I love how nearly everyone is telling him to have better study habits just before the exam.  Hello, its too late now, tell him how to best cram for the exam, at least that's useful information.

Says the guy from the University where Wednesday is the only day for studying.

[MORAY37]

I love how nearly everyone is telling him to have better study habits just before the exam.  Hello, its too late now, tell him how to best cram for the exam, at least that's useful information.

What part of "cramming does not work" didn't you understand?

Retention of "crammed" information is exceedingly poor and is generally stored in synapses designed for short term retention, which generally "dump" the information contained within to make room for the next round of "mundane" stimulus.  Meaning, when you get in the car and read a stop sign, you're already losing what you just crammed.  You may end up remembering one or two questions and feel you were successful at preparing for the test, but you will miss many more.  Long term retention (more than 8 hours) and solid formation of specialized synapses requires re-examination of the information at least three times, and is better facilitated by re-enforcement by more than one sense. (ie. hearing AND reading)

There are a blessed few that have picture perfect photographic memories.  If our young friend was one of those, he wouldn't be pulling an all-nighter to begin with.

[Curlew]

What part of "cramming does not work" didn't you understand?

Retention of "crammed" information is exceedingly poor and is generally stored in synapses designed for short term retention, which generally "dump" the information contained within to make room for the next round of "mundane" stimulus.  Meaning, when you get in the car and read a stop sign, you're already losing what you just crammed.  You may end up remembering one or two questions and feel you were successful at preparing for the test, but you will miss many more.  Long term retention (more than 8 hours) and solid formation of specialized synapses requires re-examination of the information at least three times, and is better facilitated by re-enforcement by more than one sense. (ie. hearing AND reading)

There are a blessed few that have picture perfect photographic memories.  If our young friend was one of those, he wouldn't be pulling an all-nighter to begin with.

dude, crammin does work, just have to cram all night,

yes it is true that you loose that information, but by repeating studiyn the information 30 times as well as creating study guides for the hour before the test in one night, it is enough to pass my test, i dont really need to remember chem in 3 weeks, plus i was working on a paper last night so i dont see how I could loose this by looking at a stop sign.

and  soonermp for rockin the allnighters with me, anyone else rockin allnighters?

[Hawker25]

Happy birthday Curlew.  You were born on a great day.  The same one as me.  I feel your pain in college my birthday was always right in the middle of finals so i always had to have a delayed party.  I wont even go into what i had to do sometimes to stay up and study.  So how old are ya now?
Rabbit27

[mbailey]

Do you really know what killed the kid or are you guessing? Either way I agree energy drinks and sports are bad news together.

But your general, out of the box, 16yo is tougher then a Tex-Mex chicken fried steak. Ive seen em get chopped,shot, banged to pieces and a month later they are back on the corner like it never happened. When I was a bit older, as a young troop, we'd go for 3 days straight drinking, fist fighting, ho'ing, and then we'd drink unending pots of coffee to get thru mid-shifts. I could fill up 3 Queen Marys with wiz from all the caffeine drinks Ive ingested in over 30 years of shift work.

I say pound the caffeine and get the work done. When you start talking to people that aren't really there then its probably a good idea to back off some.

Newspaper article attributed the death to cardiac arrest resulting from over exertion and the high caffeine levels. They ( the paper mind you ) reported that the autopsy and tox report associated the death to the consumption of the energy drinks and the physical exertion. The young man collapsed on the field and died at the hospital a little while later. I would be more than happy to email you the young mans name, I'm sure you could find out the backround info.

I would NOT be so callous as to make a statement like that on a "guess". I am just passing along to Curlew what i have read on the subject, as he had asked the question if what he had done was bad for his health.

[Rich46yo]

Naw I wast just wondering if they autopsy found some kind of congenital defect of some kind, or abnormality in his heart. Ive never heard of energy drinks being a cause of death. I agree they have no place in sports from the dehydration alone.

[vorticon]

"i dont really need to remember chem in 3 weeks"

then why are you wasting your time and money taking the class? if its a prerequisite course for something else then chances are you're going to need to know it...shorting yourself on the foundation knowledge is stupid. even if you don't need it further down the road...again you've spent a considerable amount of your money and time taking the class. That should be more than enough incentive to learn it.