No one messes up their sleep schedule on purpose, but sometimes you lie down and immediately lose hope for a good night of rest. There comes a point in the night where you know it's hopeless, and suddenly you're wide awake with a lot of energy and nowhere to put it (because of the fact that all the sensible people you know are sleeping). Something about being awake in the middle of the night makes bad ideas seem wonderful, so you'll probably think you can just entertain yourself all night, get up the next morning, and be perfectly fine. Who needs sleep, right?
No. Wrong. You need sleep. Believe me.
But you can make your own mistakes and learn the hard way if you really want. Here are some things to do instead of sleeping through the night.
1. Watch Netflix for a while.
Or all night. The first all-nighter I ever pulled was to binge-watch "Full House." The second was to binge-watch "Friends." There might be no easier way to waste hours of your time than watching television.
2. Read a book.
This one is especially good if you're actually holding onto the hope that you might get some sleep before sunrise. Reading will tire you out.
3. Write a book.
There's no pressure in the darkness of late night/early morning. For some reason, I find inspiration best when it's least convenient, like when I have nowhere to write down my ideas, or when I'm supposed to be asleep.4. Play with your dog.
Wake your dog up and give him or her some attention. At the very least, tomorrow you can both suffer exhaustedly together. Misery loves company.
5. Cry about how tired you'll be in the morning.
Because you might feel like you have enough energy to run around your house 20 times right now, but you know the second your alarm goes off in a few hours, you'll be ready to pass out.
6. Panic over every single thing that causes you stress.
There's nothing to keep you up at night quite like the crushing anxiety of every single thing ever to worry you about life! Can't change it now anyway? Would be better equipped to deal with it in the morning after a good night's sleep? Too bad! Time to panic about it right now!
7. Plan out your whole future.
Plan your career goals. Plan your lunches for the next week. Plan your future children's names. Plan out conversations you'll have the next day. There's no better time to figure it all out than at 2 a.m.!
8. Solve life's most unanswerable questions.
Everything makes more sense in the early hours before the sun comes up. Too bad you won't remember it later.
9. Design the layout of your future home.
I hope I'm successful someday or marry for money because I've got big plans for my future home library, courtesy of my 3 a.m. brilliance.
10. Cry because you're still not sleeping.
Hope is lost. There's no going back. You have to wake up in an hour. Sleep is useless now. You are doomed.
11. Make yourself some coffee.
And try to tell yourself it's a good substitute for sleep. It's not, but you've got a long day ahead of you. Good luck; it's going to be terrible!
