I am going to preface this article by saying I love sleeping. Sometimes I literally wake up and think about when I can go back to bed because I’m so excited for it.

But, that doesn’t mean that I think “all-nighters” aren’t good for you. I’ve pulled many all-nighters. In fact, I remember my first one like it was yesterday. Here are three reasons why staying up all night can be beneficial.
First, we’re night owls.

Most college students are late risers (unless you’re my friend Erin who gets up and cooks breakfast in the morning).

We attempt to schedule our classes as late as possible, we go out until 2 a.m. or later, we are in Cook Library until they practically make us leave and we are in the Taco Bell drive-through line right before they close. Night time is prime time for us.

The way I look at it, we’ve all kind of trained our bodies to function better at later hours than earlier ones. So, by staying up all night, we’re able to be more awake, focus better and function better.

Consequently, our work isn’t really suffering just because we are doing it at 3 a.m. instead of 10 a.m.

Second, we really don’t have enough time in the day.

This article came at a perfect time for me. One of the most important days for broadcast journalism majors was yesterday. I had to be at school from 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. for the Mississippi Assocation of Broadcasters Day, then we had the MCJ banquet at 6 p.m., then I had a birthday dinner at 8 p.m. and I still needed to find time to finish other homework and take out my dogs.

I knew I didn’t really have enough time to do all the things I needed to yesterday. So Tuesday, not only did I stay up all night preparing for my day ahead, but I was able to eat breakfast because I was up so early to take a shower and make myself look pretty decent.

I was also able to take my dogs out and finish the homework I had due that night. Even though I was tired, yes, I got through it, and I can guarantee I’ll be sleeping the majority of today. Third, there are less distractions.

If you try to do homework or projects during the day or early night time hours, you are usually more distracted.

Your friends want to go get Connie Cones and you can’t refuse. You want to play sand volleyball because the weather is so nice. Your favorite TV shows come on at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. and of course you’re not going to miss them. The list goes on and on.

The point is, from 12 -9 a.m. not much is going on. Unless you’re grabbing a coffee to help you stay awake or stuffing your face for extra energy, you’re able to really crack down and focus on your work in those late night/early morning hours.

So there you have it. All-nighters are beneficial because you’re already awake anyway, you have more time to do everything you need to and you can focus more on your work.

Not to mention: if you pull an all-nighter and are absolutely miserable, it teaches you not to procrastinate so you never have to do it again.

I don’t recommend pulling an all-nighter every night, but there are some instances when staying up all night is not only appropriate but helpful and maybe even the best thing for you at that time.