Pulling an all-nighter to finish Quantum Mechanics homework really makes you think about the physiology of thought. Allow me to detail the process of not sleeping:
Preface: You check the clock and realize that you will not be finishing your work anytime soon.
Postponement: After you pass through the region where all you want to do is sleep, your body quickly adapts by going into a cruise-mode. You have diminished thought capability and frequent yawning, because your body is kinda postponing your sleep cycle for what it still assumes will be a short while.
Chemical warfare: Around this time you are fighting a losing battle, as you once again start to feel sleepy. It is hard to resist giving up in your work and crashing hard. To get over this hump, one typically requires the assistance of stimulants—-such as caffeine.
The long tail: Caffeine product of choice in hand, you are now equipped to coast into the region of non-sleep that feels much like any typical part of the day (except everyone else is sleeping). This is when you can actually do the work you intended to do, since your brain has just about given up trying to force you to go to bed. Though you tend to think a little slower, and make illogical conclusions more frequently, this is a fairly interesting mode to work in.
Whiplash: When you start to closely approach your standard wake-up time, that’s when the strange aches and pains set in. You feel as if you’ve just fallen down a short flight of stairs and there is strange “pressure” coming from behind your eyes. The frequency of yawning greatly increases and your balance is a bit off. The ability to focus on the task at hand is lost. This is the point where your body is now telling itself to go to sleep. Now you have a case of The Alamo with you locked in a standoff against your body for the rest of the day. And when you go home at the end of the day, you will lose the fight.
Resolution: When you wake up from your stupid decision to not sleep you will draw some conclusions. You will examine all the good and bad it did to and for you and many of you will make a resolution to never pull and all-nighter again. I just want to tell all of those people something.
You are lying.
F’n right we lie. Stamps are for licking, but envelopes are for pushing. Also, Tanzanian Peaberry is a coffee cousin with more kick per cup than off the shelf arabica beans. Something to do with drought and protection from insects…let’s hear it for biodiversity!