We've all been there: it's 1 a.m., the essay is only halfway done, and you can barely keep your eyes open. Don't resort to desperate measures, but don't lose your resolve either. Here are a couple things you can do to get through the struggle without making the night and the next day harder than it needs to be.
1. Avoid Coffee and Energy Drinks.
This is every college student's first resort. Don't do it. Coffee will keep you up all night and keep you from sleeping, and the burst of energy from energy drinks won't last you long enough, and you'll crash before you get that last conclusion paragraph in or that last chapter read. Instead, try something like tea or chocolate milk. Tea doesn't have nearly as much caffeine as coffee and energy drinks, so it won't disturb your sleep as much, but the boost will be just enough to get your mind running a bit faster. Even better, add a tiny bit of honey to it. The natural sugar will kick into your system quickly. Chocolate milk (not hot chocolate) will do the same thing as sugar, but this time, it will have no caffeine at all.
2. Get Up and Move.
When you start to feel the first pulls of sleep, get up and walk around the room, do ten jumping jacks, five push ups, or any quick exercise you feel compelled to do. The movement will wake up both your body and mind, and doing that periodically throughout the night will give you a much needed mental break.
3. Tackle It In Small Spurts.
Speaking of mental breaks (and hopefully not mental breakdowns), every now and then, you need to give your brain a chance to switch gears. If you are working on a bunch of different subjects, try switching topics between reading chapters or completing sections to make your brain wake up and refocus. If you are working on one long assignment, such as an essay, try the Pomodoro method and take a five minute break after every 15 or 25 minutes of work.
4. Stay Away from the Bed.
Avoid temptation! Get yourself far away from it! If you study in your bed, you are setting yourself up to fall asleep. If you are dedicated, then you need to go somewhere you can comfortably work but not comfortably fall asleep.
5. Change Your Scenery.
Since you are now moving far away from your bed, keep yourself moving. If you've been studying at your desk for an hour or two, try setting yourself up on the floor for a bit. If you study at your desk all the time and find it harder and harder to focus (or if your desk is in a teeny, tiny dorm room and is too close to your bed and too strong of a temptation), go to the library and find a nice corner. A change in scenery can reboot your mind just like those five minute breaks we talked about earlier.
6. Grab A Friend.
Sometimes it's hard to hold yourself accountable when you are locked in your room by yourself, or the quiet of the library could start to put you to sleep, so go grab a good friend that will support you but not distract you. Work together on a project, or just work individually right next to each other to hold each other accountable. (And bonus: when you have that late night breakdown, you won't have to have it alone...)
7. Don't Hurt Yourself.
Finally, there does come a point where you need to be kind to yourself. Set a time limit, and if you think you can handle it, allow yourself to go to sleep and start again early in the morning. The rest might actually allow your brain to make those final connections you need to get the work done.
Also, don't feel ashamed to ask for an extension. It shouldn't become a habit, but everyone needs to recognize that they are human and they have limits, and professors understand that too. Once in a blue moon, an extension will not ruin your college career so long as it is done with the right intentions, and not at the last minute with the risk of your professor not being able to give you one in time. Take a minute to carefully consider your situation, the consequences of your decisions, and the recognition that if you don't finish everything, you have not failed; you are farther than when you started, and that is an accomplishment in itself.
