Disclamer: I haven’t slept in over a day and idk if what I write makes any sense, I will adjust it after I wake up. Sometimes I do dumb stuff and end up not sleeping, other times there simply isn’t time to sleep/rest as needed(assignments and lack of planning ahead). Any advice on how to stay awake for longer periods of time(preferably functional/not in a zombie state, I’m looking for 1 and half day of not sleeping max) and your favourite way of recovering from these sleepless stretches of time(other than sleeping of course).
Edit: thank you for your replies, I woke up a few hours ago feeling better. I am going to try to properly recover today. If you have any sleep deprivation recovery tips, please let me know and remember to hydrate.
As a doctor**, I have some thoughts about this.
If you are a student - sleeping less is a terrible idea. You won’t learn well and performance will suffer. Setting a good schedule - which for me was all about starting in the morning and having a clear finishing time every day - can get you into a groove and have long term payoff. Also remember the perfect is the enemy of the good - don’t keep killing yourself when you are at where you need to be. That being said my academic experience was more about taking tests than writing projects, so it’s possible my advice won’t apply.
If you have to stay up, acting like it’s daytime helps. Bright light keeps my body thinking it’s still daytime. A shower sets me to felling like it’s morning again. People around me who are also awake and active helps.
** not a sleep expert, just someone who’s had to work a lot of nights and 36 hours work shifts