Posts tagged with all-nighter.

Resolutions for 2010 - Part 1

Bryce Warnes, December 30, 2009 at 12:18 PM

In my last post I mentioned that some of the most valuable things I learned this semester were taught outside of the classroom. And while I facetiously sketched out some pointers involving leisure wear and public drunkenness, and endorsed the delicious Korean instant noodle snack Chapagetti (an act for which I await compensation from Nong Shim Co., Ltd.), a few equally important points were overlooked.

Most of them have to do with health. I never worried about physical means of survival until I left home and became responsible for them. By the time midterms arrived I was subsisting on ramen, cheap table wine, and chocolate covered almonds from the Beanery. My sleeping habits were roughly nocturnal and my personal hygiene was the minimum necessary in order to remain a member of society. Doubtless many before me made similar mistakes and doubtless many after will as well. But in the interests of shrinking the second group, it would be worthwhile to go over a few points, some techniques I've learned over the past four months. These may seem obvious to established students, or people who have moved beyond the academic life; but if any university freshbloods out there are wondering how to maintain a steady existence during their first year at school, hopefully this will be of help.

If it's a little late in the year to bring these up, that's only because it took the first semester for me to learn them. In the interests of space I've split this list into two parts. The first deals with some very basic concepts; the second contains some less obvious suggestions, and will follow in a second post. Maybe they will help my fellow students make resolutions for the New Year. At the very least, they might make second term less hectic than the first. So, without further ado, I present some tips to help new university students uphold physical and mental stability in 2010.

1. Eat well.

A couple of weeks ago I got to try Domino's new bread bowl pasta: Noodles, served in a vessel made of dough. It's like the company had a surplus of white flour and oil, and decided to get rid of it by feeding it to people. The only reason I got to sample this gastronomic delight was that my friend had extra points on his university meal card, points which can be used not just to purchase food from his residential cafeteria, but from just about any carb-monger with delivery service to UBC.

Just because you can eat something doesn't mean you should. This is easy to forget, especially if your school's meal plan extends to fast food and take-out. It may be fun only to eat foods whose principal ingredients are salt and cardiac arrest, but eventually it will catch up to you - and not just in terms of waistline expansion. It can hurt your academic aspirations as well. After all, food affects how your brain works. Maintaining some semblance of a balanced diet keeps the cogs turning and decreases your chances of crashing half way through a pop quiz.

If you have access to a kitchen, you may want to consider cooking your own food rather than subscribing to a school meal program. In addition to allowing you more control over what you eat, it can be an opportunity to improve your cooking and budget management skills. And if that sounds like the most boring thing ever, keep this in mind: Romantic partners of any gender or sexual orientation love a significant other who can cook. The path to anyone's heart is through their stomach, so long as you can find the right recipe. That being said, sites like Super Cook can help you put together a meal based on what ingredients you already have - ideal for those situations where you've already blown the dinner budget on apperitifs.

2. Exercise

Often, in the past, I would see people running down the street wearing shorts and listening to their iPods, and wondered why they didn't just take the bus to get wherever they were going. Eventually somebody explained the situation to me. I now realize those people were "joggers," and what they were doing is called "exercise." Will the human species ever cease to baffle?

This novel technique - which involves physically exerting oneself without being paid to do so - is gaining popularity. Indeed, regular exercise has been linked with improved mental health, not to mention the physical benefits of using your body for what it was designed to do. Most university campuses are rife with activities - ranging from ultimate Frisbee to yoga - that are available at greatly reduced fees for registered students. Since availability and cost are more or less taken care of, the only thing preventing you from getting active is your own disgusting laziness.

3. Sleep

At some point during exams this year, I managed to stay fully conscious for 36 hours. While there's a certain sick pride in proving to yourself that you can break free of a regular sleep schedule and go to bed when you want and on your own terms, the experience is anything but liberating. If you force yourself to stay awake for long enough, you eventually realize you cannot get to sleep.

There isn't any need to go into depth here - I think the benefits of a regular sleep cycle are widely recognized enough that it's not necessary to defend them. It should be emphasized, though: Sleep matters. Don't be tempted to make the same mistake I did. There is nothing to do at 3 AM when everybody else is in bed and you are unable to keep your eyes closed. In fact, the isolation may drive you a little mad...

...Which leads into my next point and the second half of this list, with more tips on how to make the next semester of university endurable.


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The all-nighter right of passage

Ian Wylie, October 17, 2008 at 10:57 AM

 

It's midterm season and the brains on the U of T campus are vigorously vibrating in their jelly. Next week the better part of the Canadian Shield will be consumed as thousands upon thousands of papers and exams are written.

 

The nucleus of all this activity is reading room 2053 at Robarts Library, open 24 hours a day. Robarts is U of T's main library as well as the only one that looks like a turkey. It's at Robarts where you can find students studying at 4 a.m. If you're in Robarts early Friday morning as I am, writing this, you might have a serious work-life imbalance. Thursday is the traditional night out on the town for most students. Few people have class on Fridays so, at the very least, if you're not boozing, you're taking it easy.

 

At the moment it's 1:43 a.m. Three hours ago the library patrol came by and checked for student cards: only U of T students allowed past eleven o'clock and only diehards at that. There are around a hundred people here, distributed over cubicles and tables that seat four. The dark faux wood panelling on the walls, the crimson carpeting on the floor and the rows of fluorescent lights up above, illuminating artwork not changed since 1984, disturbs no one.

 

For a room of a hundred people it's remarkably quiet. Perhaps that's the attraction of it. The only sound is a dull murmur that's made by papers shuffling, people coughing and laptop keys tapping away in the distance. The sound is a gentle encouragement; it's nice hearing the sound of collective work. We're all in this together.

 

I don't have any cause to be here. I wrote my first midterm today, I don't have a midterm for another week and I'm well caught up in my studies. I'm here because I'd like to observe that mythical and storied university tradition: the All-Nighter.

 

Committed by many a student over their four years but not always for the purpose of studying or finishing a paper, the All-Nighter holds a sanctified position in university lore. It's what you refer to when discussing your studiousness. The All-Nighter is a badge of honour. To say that you pulled an All-Nighter is to say that you are a good student, committed, a real fighter, one who will excel at life while the other suckers squander away the morning hours on sleep.

 

What makes the All-Nighter so attractive is the excitement and danger of it. In theory, it seems like a brilliant maximization of time. The use of a whole 24 hours with only three of them dedicated to non-essential functions like eating, urinating and mini-naps, with inevitable with sleep deprivation. But productivity during an All-Nighter can be wildly unpredictable. That's what makes it dangerous. You can spend an entire night dazed; the slow glow of diffused light in your eye and molasses in your brain, reading the same sentence over and over again. Sacrificing sleep for nothing.

 

You don't need caffeine to make it work, although for many it's an important component. At the moment, I count 23 Starbucks cups. One man has a half-empty two-litre bottle of generic grape soda. 

 

An All-Nighter requires focus, dedication, and a desperate fear of what will happen if you don't stay up. It's built on stress. Without stress, it's not possible to override the physiological programming telling you to sleep.

 

The All-Nighter demonstrates the physical extremes at which many students operate on during the school year, testing the narrow boundary between total physical and mental collapse and maximum productivity. It's a boundary easily crossed and once crossed it can find you sick with the flu and speaking with the clinical psychologists at Health Services. Still there is something enthralling about being awake in the wee, wee hours. Something about the audacity of defying circadian rhythms and evolutionary dictates. That's what makes the All-Nighter worthwhile, regardless of how productive it is: bringing the last bits of life out.

 

 

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