We’ve all been guilty of it at least once. Pulling an all-nighter because you haven’t studied and you need to cram. Maybe it’s an exam you’ve been putting off studying for. Perhaps it could be that project that you’ve had an entire semester to finish. Or that 15-page paper that you don’t even have a title for. At the end of the day, we’ve all been tempted with the infamous all-nighter. And it is the worst thing you can do for yourself.

The All-Nighter: Bad for Your Grades

Listen, I get it. The temptation to just put everything off until the end of the semester is huge. Who goes to college to study anyways? Everyone knows it’s not about getting the degree your paying tens of thousands of dollars for. It’s about babes, booze, more babes, and even more booze. But the problem is if you flunk out, so do the babes and booze. So what you need to do is man up, do your work, and get your life together. Because college is that last little bit of freedom from the scary “real world”.

If you want to make it out on the other side, you need to get some good habits. Because relying on all-nighters constantly means you’re relying on procrastinating. And if you procrastinate on paying your bills? They turn off the lights. Procrastinating getting your work done at your job? They fire you. Procrastinate on calling your grandma? Better explain why you were too busy to call at the funeral.

I can give you a first hand example on why all-nighters are a bad idea. I pulled an all-nighter to finish a paper, knowing that I also had exams to study for. Instead  working beforehand, I didn’t do anything until the last minute. I wound up getting my paper done at 5 in the morning. Oh by the way, I had an exam at 8 in the morning.  I fell asleep halfway through the exam and got a 20%. Want to know what I stopped doing after that? I stopped putting everything off and got my damn work done. And I’ve got more than anecdotal evidence as well.

In a study at St. Lawrence University there were several issues that came about for students and their grades. The average GPA for students that did not do all-nighters throughout the semester was 3.2. Those that consistently did? 2.95. A difference of nearly 10% in overall grades. An all-nighter is the symptom of bad work habits.

The All-Nighter: Bad for Your Health

It’s never a good idea to not sleep. Sleep deprivation has a lot of risk factors involved in them. Not only will you start to hallucinate and suffer memory loss, but you also increase your risk of things like diabetes, heart disease, obesity. And with the… Less than sanitary living styles of many college students you really shouldn’t worsen your immune system.

That all-nighter that I pulled trying to get that paper done? I was useless for the next three days. I was lucky that it was during the weekend and I was able to sleep as much as possible during that time, because if it was during the middle of test week I would have failed everything.

Pulling an all-nighter, it’s a stressful thing for the body. Especially if it’s to do something already stressful like studying. And let’s be honest, college is stressful enough as it is. Between the different classes, clubs, balancing your social life, and that existential dread of what’s after college, it’s rough! So if you try and add not sleeping enough as well? You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’.

How to Beat the All-Nighter

Well it’s all well and good to say not to pull an all-nighter. But how exactly do you make sure that it’s not a problem in the first place? It’s said time and again that it’s all about making and breaking habits in college. That is oh so very true. If you’re able to put in the work, you’ll never have to worry about cramming again. Here are a few key strategies for successful study habits that I’ve used and succeeded with.

1.  Know when all of your deadlines are: If you stay mindful of when everything is happening it’s a lot easier to prepare for them.
2.  Set aside time for studying everyday: It sucks I know. Studying is boring as hell. But even if it’s only 15 to 30 minutes a day, it can be the difference between passing and failing.
3. Get enough sleep: A lot of college students are constantly sleep deprived. And because of that, they feel that an all-nighter is fine. It’s just a little bit less sleep,so it won’t do them any harm. So if you make sure you know how important sleep is you’ll be a lot less tempted.
4. Stay focused: College is the ultimate distraction. There are way too many things to do and it makes goofing off way too easy. That’s why you need to pay attention in class now more than ever. Your professors will spoon-feed the information you need to know to you if you pay attention.
5. Talk to your professors: 99% of the time your professor is not going to be that evil asshole from the movie you once saw. They’re regular people who want their students to succeed. And if you show the initiative to go and talk to them after class or during office hours it can mean a world of difference. They have those hours for a reason so use them.
6. Set aside time for yourself. It may sound counter-intuitive but having goof off time is important. Because if you just work work work work work you’ll go nuts. So schedule yourself some time and follow that schedule. You’ll feel refreshed and recharged and ready to get back to work.

Final Words of Wisdom

So the next time you think that you want to put everything off until the end… Don’t. It really just isn’t worth it to pull an all-nighter. The work that you put forth will not be as good as it could be if you just put the work in beforehand. It’ll stress you out, can make you sick, and make you fail. It’s better to just have good habits, do the work, and enjoy yourself. College is a stressful time, so don’t make it any harder on yourself than it already is.