Tiredness, motivation & sleep +7REP

[RandomManJay]

Personally I think attempting to stay awake for a long period of time is a terrible idea. What you should do is establish a fixed sleeping pattern that you stick to weekday and weekend. By staying up for long periods of time you are mucking with your body clock which could have a negative impact on your sleep later in the week.
However it's up to you as apparently it's worked for you, but I would suggest that it is a bad idea.

Your sleep cycle is based off your usual sleep times, so if you keep awake for a long period of time, your sleep cycle is distroted which means that your cycle is easier to change. Also staying awake for long periods of time doesn't influence how many hours you sleep so the only problem you would have is trying to stay awake, technically sleep isn't as required as we're meant to believe, humans can function normally with only 4 hours of sleep a day, and the absence or presence of natural light can actually alter your body's internal clock and keep you awake longer. Also just to be safe, I did suggest to do it over the weekend (as I've always done), so he isn't doing anything which could be influenced by him staying awake, and I did tell him not to do it more than three times (in a row :S), that's when your body clock would get really messed up and effect your judgement and basic sleep cycles.

[Nixt]

I am aware the human body can go for long periods of time without sleep - the army taught me that . Nevertheless we were encouraged to follow a fixed sleeping pattern where possible (i.e. while not on exercise and just normal training) so we are prepared for the day ahead which was always going to be rigorous and tough. We would therefore go bed at 11 and wake up at 5AM and this was plenty of sleep, however we were told to maintain this sleeping pattern otherwise it would be difficult to follow on weekdays while "working", although in basic you were working every day. I trust what I was told in army training implicitly, and it worked because we were working extremely hard but still managed to be quite refreshed.
Additionally when I was suffering mild depression and my sleep was therefore impacted, my doctor offered similar advice telling me that a well maintained sleeping pattern is a key way to improve sleeping problems. Staying awake for long periods of time is not part of an appropriate sleeping pattern. If you're tired, you should be sleeping where possible.

[Xoim]

Get to sleep slightly earlier..
or!
You can take power naps.
Apparently they can have some very beneficial effects

1. Less stress.

Curling up in a sunny patch on the floor or even lying your head down on your desk for a quick snooze brings relaxation. Research found that stress hormone levels were lower in those who took stress-reducing actions such as napping. Take a break each day from the stresses and reduce your risks, find a quiet, comfortable spot and take a nap. Even a short power nap can leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and more focused.

2. Increased alertness and productivity.

If you have the opportunity for a power nap, particularly after a poor night of sleep, by all means, take one. You will feel more alert and energetic afterwards, and once rested after your mid-afternoon nap, your mood, efficiency, and alertness level will improve greatly. Scientists have even proven that taking a 20-minute nap approximately eight hours after you have awaken will do more for your stamina than sleeping another 20 minutes in the morning. Of course when you first come out of your afternoon nap, you will feel a bit groggy for around ten minutes, but once your decline in motor dexterity dissipates, you will reap the rewards of being well rested and ready to go for the rest of the day.

3. Improved memory and learning.

Naps aren’t just for the very young, old, and sluggish. Daytime dozing may enhance a person’s capacity to learn certain tasks. That, at least, is the eye-opening implication of a new study in which college students were challenged to detect subtle changes in an image during four different test sessions on the same day.
Participants improved on the task throughout the first session. The students’ speed and accuracy then leveled off during the second session. The scores of the participants who didn’t nap declined throughout the final two sessions. In contrast, volunteers who took a 20-minute power nap after completing the second practice session showed no ensuing performance dips. What’s more, 1-hour power nappers responded progressively faster and more accurately in the third and fourth sessions. It looks like napping may protect brain circuits from overuse until those neurons can consolidate what’s been learned about a procedure.

4. Good for the heart.

Taking 40 winks in the middle of the day may reduce the risk of death from heart disease, particularly in young healthy men, say researchers. They studied 23,681 individuals living in Greece who had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke or cancer when they first volunteered, and found that those who took a 30-minute siesta at least three times a week had a 37% lower risk of heart-related death. The researchers took into account ill health, age, and whether people were physically active. So go ahead and nap — a short daily snooze might ward off a heart attack later in life. It is known that countries where siestas are common tend to have lower levels of heart disease.

5. Increased cognitive functioning.

In a recent study, researchers at NASA showed that a 30-minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by approximately 40 percent! Tests carried out on one thousand volunteers proved that those who continued working without rest, made lower scores in intelligence tests like the IQ test. More importantly, their capacities to work and memorize decreased in comparison to those who napped after lunch.
In concordance with NASA’s work, biology students at Berkeley determined that the nap must be short in order to produce maximum effectiveness. Over forty five minutes, the beneficial effects of napping disappear and it is therefore suggested to take a fifteen to thirty five minute “power nap”. This is the time necessary for the organism to rest and enables brain neurons to recuperate.

6. Get motivated to exercise.

Sufficient sleep and naps help motivate exercise. Some 28 percent of adolescents say they are too tired to exercise, due to sleep. As adults, let’s not let tiredness ruin our jogs. You’re guaranteed to run longer, faster, more efficiently and mindfully when your body has it’s required amount of zzzz’s. So, store-up, shore-up and build-up your energy reserve with a power nap. It’s easy (free!) and proven effective.

7. Boost your creativity.

Rest and relaxation isn’t only vital to your health — it might also make you a more creative person. People tend to be more imaginative after a good night’s sleep. Other experts agree that taking a nap or stepping away from a problem or project refreshes the mind and could lead to better ideas later. Power napping allows your brain to create the loose associations necessary for creative insight and opens the way for a fresh burst of new ideas. So if you feel stuck, then you might want to take a nap. Return to the problem after diverting your attention for a while. The best part is that there’s no need to feel guilty, because taking some “me time,” in this case, could help your business in the long run.

8. Make up for midnight tossing and turning.

Some of the most recent research suggests that a bad night’s sleep can stress the body as well as the mind. One such study, suggests that missing sleep throws the body’s metabolism off kilter. Scientists at the University of Chicago studied physical changes in 11 young men who slept four hours per night for six nights in a row. They found that sleep deprivation seemed to trigger a diabetes-like condition, harmed hormone production, and interfered with the ability to use carbohydrates.
According to some studies, power napping is clearly beneficial to someone who is a normal sleeper but who is getting insufficient sleep at night. Researchers still don’t understand the underlying neurobiology, but it looks like sleep time is cumulative. They compared the alertness of people who slept eight hours a night to that of people who slept less but took a nap during the day. Both groups were equivalent.

9. Protect yourself from sleepiness.

Scientists had also found benefits in the “prophylactic” nap for people who have to stay up late. It can protect you from sleepiness. If you have to be up all night, a two-hour or a four-hour nap does provide additional alertness the next day. Research conducted by NASA produced similar results. Naps are clearly useful for some people, including shift workers, students, and anyone doing long-haul work, such as pilots on transcontinental runs.

10. Better health.

Napping in general benefits heart functioning, hormonal maintenance, and cell repair, says Dr. Sara Mednick who is at the forefront of napping research. A power nap, says Mednick, simply maximizes these benefits by getting the sleeper into and out of rejuvenating sleep as fast as possible.

I think It would be a good idea to trial it
But yeah I'm getting into bad habits in school.
I keep coming in late and got a formal detention

[Wyked]

I really wouldnt go for the use pills to keep you awake > better sleep > fresher the next day method... I think that could become lethal very quickly.

[Spy,]

go sleep earlier if u find that hard dont do anything that will stimulate your mind much before trying to go to sleep and it will make it alot easyer.

before going college try having a breakfast that is a slow energy relaser like porriage or weatabix or somthing like that and during college try to stay away from things that would give u a fast eneergy boost because u crash after and its hard to come bk from a crash with out giving anohter boost. just have slow realseing energy food like a flapjack or somthing healthy try keep ya self doing somthing u like or maybe take a mp3 player with u and play some music that should keep ya mind abit more active.

dont try any sleeping pills or any of them pro plus pills they are the worse thing u can do to try and fix the problem