Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Prepare
• Method 2 of 3: Stay alert
• Method 3 of 3: Following the right diet
• Tips
• Warnings

Whether you want to stay awake at a sleepover or block out all night for an exam, staying up all night is a daunting task. If you really want to stay up all night, you need to prepare well, follow the right diet and stimulate your body and mind. Do you want to know how to stay up all night? Then read on and follow these easy steps.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Prepare

1. Get plenty of rest the night before. It is much easier for your body to be one night without sleep than a night without sleep and a night with little sleep. So make sure you sleep as long as possible the night before.
   • Sleep late on the previous day. If you don't wake up until noon, you will be much less tired when the night starts.
   • Try not only to sleep in, but also go to bed late the night before. If you go to bed at 9 a.m. the night before, your body will get tired around that time.
   • If you have time, take a nap a few hours before you want to stay awake. That gives you an extra boost of energy.
2. Eat well during the day. If you want to get through the night, you should eat three healthy and balanced meals the day before. Otherwise, your body will feel tired from unhealthy eating or exhausted from malnutrition. This is the best food to eat on the day in question:
   • Have a big and healthy breakfast. Eat healthy carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or cereal, proteins, such as lean turkey or ham, and some fruits and vegetables. Also add some yogurt or cottage cheese to the meal.
   • Have a healthy lunch. Eat a sandwich with whole grain bread, a hard-boiled egg, or a meal salad with avocado, carrot, cucumber, and tomato. Your diet should give you an energy boost and not make you feel weak.
   • Eat the right dinner to stay up all night. This is the last meal before staying up all night, so make sure it's good. Avoid fatty foods that make you feel bloated and heavy. Instead, you can eat some chicken or turkey, couscous, whole wheat pasta, and vegetables or fruit. Make sure the meal contains carbohydrates for more energy, as well as proteins, such as soy, chicken or ham.
   • Avoid foods high in caffeine or sugar.Drinking coffee or snacking a lot all day will leave you exhausted after dinner.
3. Prepare healthy food for the night. Prepare a package of some healthy snacks to eat when you get hungry at night. In case you spend the night at home, have healthy food ready in your fridge. Here are some products you can prepare before the night starts:
   • Healthy vegetables. Carrot or celery sticks are a tasty snack and won't tire you out. You can even eat the celery with some peanut butter.
   • Healthy fruit. Apples and bananas are easy to carry and give you energy.
   • Nuts. Almonds, walnuts and cashews are a tasty and nutritious source of protein.
   • If you stay at home, have some chicken, tofu, or turkey in your fridge. Also provide healthy pasta or couscous, which you can prepare quickly.

Method 2 of 3: Stay alert

1. Stimulate your body. There are tricks to stimulate your body that can help you keep yourself alert all night long. If your body parts are active, you are less likely to fall asleep.
   • Stretching. Stretch your forearms, calves and wrists. This ensures that your body is active and feels less stiff.
   • Roll your shoulders back and forth, making circles back and forth with your head.
   • Give yourself a short hand massage.
   • Tap the ground with your foot.
   • If you're really in danger of falling asleep, you can pinch yourself or bite your tongue.
   • Gently pull on your ear lobes.
   • Chew on gum or chew on peppermint to keep your mouth active.
   • If your eyes get tired, give them a rest by looking out the window or looking at a different point than before.
   • Stimulate your senses. Turn on a bright lamp and play loud music to awaken your senses.
2. Stimulate your mind. Keeping your brain alert is just as important as keeping your body awake. To keep your mind awake, you need to switch activities every so often and stay focused on what you are doing. Here's how you can stimulate your mind:
   • Stay attentive. Keep a close eye on what's going on around you. Ask questions if you don't understand things. If you are studying, ask questions about the parts of your textbook that you don't understand.
   • Start a conversation. If you study in a group, you can easily keep talking to the people around you. If you are home alone and fight to stay awake, you can call a friend who is also awake or have a short online chat with one of your friends.
   • Stay focused. If you're watching a movie, ask yourself questions about the movie to see if you really understand what it's about.
   • Don't get lost. If you're watching TV or having a conversation, make sure you stay focused on your activity. Don't start daydreaming.
3. Alternate. If you want to stay up all night, you should alternate your activities every now and then to stay fresh and to keep your body from going into a trance. There are a few measures you can take to stay awake:
   • Change your activity every half hour. If you are watching a movie at a slumber party, take a break from time to time to go to the bathroom or to eat something. If you are studying, alternate between studying notes and using memory cards.
   • Change your surroundings. If you can change your surroundings, it will be easier to concentrate. If you are studying for an exam, you can move to another part of the library or your room. If you're at a slumber party, you can try moving all of them to a different room from time to time.
   • Sit in a different part of the room. When you doze off at New Year's Eve party, move from the couch to the kitchen and keep chatting with people. If you have to stay seated, choose another seat.
4. Do some light exercise. If you start an intensive workout when you are tired, you will only get more tired. However, if you only do some light exercise for 10 minutes, you wake up your body and tell your brain, "Hey, it's not time to sleep yet!" Here are a few exercises you can do:
   • If you're at a party, you can take the stairs to the upstairs toilet instead of using the downstairs toilet.
   • Take a 10-minute walk, indoors or out, to awaken your senses.
   • If you are alone in the room, you can do thirty jumping jacks or run in place for two minutes.

Method 3 of 3: Following the right diet

1. In an emergency, drink some caffeine. Caffeine can cause you to collapse and end up feeling more tired than you were. However, when the night is drawing to a close and your eyes are getting really heavy, drink some caffeine as a last resort.
   • Start with a cup of black tea. The side effects of tea are less intense than those of coffee.
   • If you're normally already a big coffee drinker, have two cups.
   • If you are really desperate, you can take an energy drink. That's guaranteed to give you a boost of energy that lasts for an hour or two, but you run the risk of relapse. Before using one to last through the night, make sure you have experience with energy drinks.
2. Eat the right foods. If you're trying to stay awake all night, eat enough to keep your energy levels up, but not so much that you feel heavy. If you've already eaten three healthy meals, you shouldn't feel as hungry during the night, but here are a few snacks that can help you if you do get hungry:
   • Eat a hard-boiled egg or make an omelet quickly when you get home.
   • Eat a handful of cashews, pecans, or almonds.
   • Eat a juicy apple or celery or carrot sticks. Just the feeling of this in your mouth wakes up your mouth and keeps you alert.
   • Have some toast with peanut butter.
   • If you're really hungry for a fourth meal, you can eat healthy carbohydrates, such as brown rice, and proteins, such as turkey. If you absolutely have to order or take out food, try to choose a dish that is not greasy.
3. Drink lots of water. It's much easier to stay awake when you're hydrated. Drink a glass of ice water to shock your body and keep you awake. Continue to drink water regularly to hydrate your body and keep you feeling fresh.
   • Drinking water also means that you often have to go to the toilet. That, in turn, keeps you awake.

Tips

• Throw a splash of cold water on your face. When it's cold outside, you can let cool air into the room or take a walk in the garden. When you are tired, the cold makes you wake up again.
• Don't forget to drink ice-cold water. Dehydration can make you tired.
• If you have a phone, you can download a game to play, such as Temple Run or Subway Surfers ......
• Get out into the fresh air. That really wakes you up, makes your headaches go away and gives your body a boost.
• Think about why you would like to stay awake. Do you want to be able to brag? Do you have to complete an essay? Stay motivated.
• Find ways to keep busy.
• Move yourself and get plenty of exercise.
• If you have Netflix, you can watch tons of movies and series to keep yourself awake. I recommend watching a foreign horror movie as fear keeps you awake and if the movie is in another language you should stay awake to read the subtitles
• Eat healthy foods. Fast food and unhealthy snacks make you feel sick.

Warnings

• If you stay awake for too long, you can experience side effects. You confuse your sleep patterns and you miss your REM sleep! You run the risk of hallucinations. So don't do this too often.
• Do not take energy drinks. They are bad for your heart and cause you to collapse after a few hours.