Hi ArchiHacks fam, as we have abundantly shared, all-nighters or late-night studios are unsustainable work methods. Although we don’t recommend it, we know things don’t always go as planned. With final exams and crits fast approaching, we are sure that your plate is stacking up. And to balance everything, you stay up late – really late – which is why we are sharing our late-night survival guide!
1. Sustenance
It’s no surprise that food is one of the most important aspects of living, and staying hydrated is the key for long nights in the studio! Any amount of liquids on any given day keeps your mind and body functioning, but it’s even more crucial if you’re taxing your bodies and not getting enough sleep. Now, the beverage of choice is up to you, but we strongly urge you to avoid high-sugar content or energy beverages to avoid crashing later!
Is it really a late night without some good snacks on standby? Of course not! And you can’t go wrong, but we recommend non-messy snacks unless you want flavorful fingerprints on your physical model, drawing, or messes on your laptop. If snacks aren’t enough, eat light meals only to avoid getting sleepy or entering a food coma, which we can safely say you’ve experienced at one point or another! A random tidbit of information – the technical term for food coma is called postprandial somnolence. With that in mind, what is your go-to snack to help satiate hunger and keep you focused on work? Let us know in the comments below!
2. Action Plan
Once you have the essentials of keeping your body from slipping away into the night, it’s crucial to create an action plan of what you hope to achieve – keyword is “hope.” Late-night work sessions can bring all sorts of unexpected things, but having an item list will help you track milestones and close the gap between you and your bed. There are typically two tips to generate an achievable task list: rank them from easiest to most challenging or vice-versa, and rank them by priority. With this, you have a game plan to optimize the time and visualize what is achievable within a given time, so no time is wasted! It’s crucial to give yourself a few days to make the action plan anticipating how many late-night sessions you need to achieve all the milestones by final crit!
3. Comfy Clothes
We hope that you are outfitted with warm and comfy clothes when burning the midnight oil! Although it’s essential to be comfortable, don’t be too comfortable that you fall asleep. An ideal clothing bag can consist of one set of comfy clothes, another set in case you need to change, and a thin jacket. This way, you can survive the lower temperatures of the studio, and you are prepared for everything else!
4. Sleep
Sleep may be counter-intuitive to the reason for staying up all night and working, but it’s not! Sleep is necessary for healthy brain activity, so before going into the night, get some rest before stepping into the studio!
Now it’s late night, and you are reaching peak fatigue. Should you call it quits or take a nap? The answer is your call. However, if you decide to trek forward, we recommend taking a power nap or a cat nap. An effective power nap is typically between ten to thirty minutes providing you with a much-needed energy boost. We can’t fully explain the science behind it, but here’s a great article on power naps!
One of my favorite alternatives to taking long naps to avoid feeling sluggish when waking up is a caffeine nap. This is for our caffeine lovers! The termĀ caffeine napĀ orĀ coffee napĀ is defined asĀ drinking coffee before a short, usually 20-minute nap.Ā It is believed that this can increase energy levels more than just drinking coffee or just taking a nap. It happens because the caffeine kicks in at the moment you wake up from a short sleep.
5. Group Sessions
As the famous adage by John Ray goes, “misery loves company.” What better way to spend a long night than with good company and suffering together? Before the night begins, check in with your friends to see if they need to work too and get together. Find a big table or an empty row to sit or stand around together, and go at it! Group sessions can help you be accountable to the action plan and make it more enjoyable too.
6. Electronics
It may sound obvious but double-check your electronics and chargers on you or at the studio! You don’t want to be stuck in a situation where a device is low on battery, and there’s no one around to borrow a charger from. The other most important thing is a pair of good headphones that can block out noises to help your focus on the task at hand. If you don’t mind occasional noises slipping through, any headphones will work. But if you are an individual that gets easily distracted, maybe noise-canceling headphones will be a good investment for you. Wireless headphones can also save you from dragging your laptop off the table when you forget you’re connected. Not being tethered to a fixed point is not only liberating but also productive when you need to move around a lot, like when you are making a physical model.
Electronics can be a double-edged sword. Laptops and headphones can make you more productive. However, we highly recommend avoiding scrolling through social media or any streaming services a little too long with all your electronics! We understand that motivation can be tossed out the window after midnight, but this is where we recommend checking your action plan. Can you afford a more extended break, or does your mind need a longer break to reset? Whichever scenario you find yourself in, set a hard limit to stop or ask a friend to remind you to get off your phone!
7. Physical Activity
One of my favorite things to do during a long work session is taking a short walk outside to get some air and your mind off of things. Walking around can inspire you, allow your mind to reset by taking in a few deep breaths, and indicate whether you should or should not continue working. Remember, productivity levels can fluctuate, so instead of staying up for a few hours to complete a task, get some sleep and complete the task in an hour. Stretching is another great option, too, when you’ve been sitting hunched over your work!
If walking around or stretching doesn’t work, you might want to do a light exercise like a few pushups or jumping jacks to increase the blood flow and wake your system back up.
8. Breaks
Like sleep, this might be an obvious point that we can overlook! Our brain can’t be functional endlessly, and there will come the moment where you start to lose focus or run out of ideas. If you’re ever wondering how many breaks you should take, try looking into the Pomodoro technique. It involves working in bouts of forty-five minutes followed by a fifteen-minute recess. The exact number of minutes between duration and break can mold to fit your work style and concentration to work at an optimal level continuously. What’s also very important about this technique is that you have to make sure you don’t end up scrolling social media during these breaks! Instead, these are great opportunities to enact tip #7 above.
Well, that’s all we have for you today, and if you’ve made it this far, you deserve a cookie. I hope you found this article interesting and took something from it! Sharing is caring! We hope to provide you with valuable insights and share them with someone who might find this helpful. Make sure to follow our Youtube and Instagram for more content!