Why do I feel good after staying up all night?
We are talking a short period of clear mind for two hours versus a long term clear mind with regular sleep. I have been sleep deprived many times in 16 years of general practice. Doing shift work in the emergency hospital of a community hospital, doing deliveries any time of the day or night for my pregnant patients and doing nighttime surgical assists for surgical emergencies. After one night of staying awake all night my pattern of recovery was that I felt not too bad on the first day except late in the afternoon. The second day I felt an extreme lack of energy, which was worse in the mid afternoon to the point where I needed a coffee or black tea to carry on. From the third day on I was OK. The last 16 years of my career I had a daytime job as a medical advisor (WCB), which allowed me to have a regular night's sleep. Since then I have equal energy, I was able to wean myself of caffeine (drinking only decaf coffee now). Coffee consumption with regular coffee stimulates your adrenal glands too much. My experience was that I did not notice this for several decades, I just had 4 or 5 cups of regular coffee per day. But eventually my adrenal glands got weak. So, you may be in the beginning of this long term cycle where your adrenal gland fill in for a lack of energy after a night without sleep. But 20 or 30 years down the road your adrenal glands will be sluggish and various degrees of adrenal gland weakness can set in (adrenal fatigue when mild, adrenal gland insufficiency when severe). This can potentially become a whole new problem set that you may have to face, if you insist on staying up all night. You may experience a 1.5 to 2 week withdrawal with a lack of energy when you wean yourself off all coffee and you may need adrenal gland tests and if found weak build up your adrenal glands over 1 or two years. My advice: sleep 7 to 8 hours per night where you start going to sleep between 10 PM and 11 PM. I described how to do this here: Ray Schilling's answer to What are the effects of going to bed late every night?
Why do depressed people often stay up late at night and sleep throughout the day? My roommate has a major depression disorder even though he's a pHD.
Depression and anxiety both have symptoms of insomnia and fatigue. Often it's due to the fact that they’re overwhelmed with their responsibilities during the day and it makes them exhausted, and at night, the anxiety from what they did not accomplish or what they did wrong during the day haunts them at night, keeping them awake. Also, being a PhD has nothing to do with mental illness. You can be a billionaire and a genius and have depression. In fact many great people do. There’s no surefire way to avoid it.
Despite sleeping for 7-8 hours every night, I feel extremely sleepy each morning. How do I change this?
You can get 7–8 hours of sleep but not get quality sleep. Getting an extra hour or two of sleep is a big deal, and some people need more than 7 hours of sleep. People who are depressed tend to oversleep, and that can cause further fatigue.If you don’t have depression, you should track your sleeping patterns to see if you are actually getting deep sleep. If you keep waking up at night you are not getting enough deep sleep. Also try to sleep 8–9 hours instead of 7— an extra hour or two can make a huge difference.It’s also normal to wake up feeling sleepy, even if you slept well. Our beds are comfortable and we don’t want to start the day. It’s more enjoyable to stay in our warm bed. It also takes time for our brain to wake up. Taking a cold shower, having coffee, forcing yourself to move fast and get your blood flowing, getting a morning workout in— can help you to wake up faster. Doing cardio, strength and flexibility exercises helps you to wake up in the mornings without feeling stiff. Having good circulation and a strong body helps you to jump out of bed quickly. Not eating the night before and having an early dinner, can help you to wake up more easily. You feel more motivated to wake up when you are in bed and your stomach is grumbling for food.I need 8–9 hours of quality sleep to function at my best. I usually don’t get that much quality sleep, so most of the time my mind and body is not functioning at optimal levels. At 6–7 hours of sleep I am moody, forgetful and have slower reaction times. At 5–6 hours I am very irritable and get very little done, even when I try to get as much done as I can. My mind is just not working. Sleeping 4–5 hours or less per night for more than 2–3 nights in a row, is dangerous for me. I’ve almost fallen asleep driving during weeks when I couldn’t get much sleep.I wish I was one of those people who are productive and healthy when they get only 5-6 hours of sleep every night, but I need at least 6–7 to remain sane, 7–8 to be healthy and 8–9 to have optimum mental and physical health.
Adderall and an all night study binge.?
I'd say, it all depends on how adderall effects you personally. It's different for everyone. For example, I have to take twice the dose than what my friend takes for it to actually have an effect on me. If you've taken it before and you know what your body can handle and how it reacts, then you should be the judge on it. Like you said, the 930 shouldn't be a problem, its the 430 that will give you problems. Maybe you can try taking a nap in between exams? I personally wouldn't do that during finals because for me, my memory turns to mush when I stay up all night and I can't remember the simplest things. I usually only pull all-nighters just for fun with friends or if absolutely necessary.
Can taking sleeping pills every night be bad for you?
I have to take 2 Unisom sleeping pills every night before bed or else I would never be able to fall asleep, and I have to wake up early for school. Everyone has been telling me that 2 is too much for someone my size (5'2" 108lbs) and that I could have a seizure or go into a coma, but I need 2 because just one doesn't work for me. During the summer it was fine because I would just stay up all night and sleep all day, but I can't do that anymore. Are they really bad for you?