Forced to stay up late? here's a healthy way & bull; hello healthy

Final exams, school assignments, campus projects, and office work deadlines all have one thing in common: they all force us to work late and stay up late.

Cutting back on sleep isn't healthy, no matter a little or a lot. The effects range from bad mood, cognitive function and suboptimal decision making, to obesity or diabetes. Then, what is the solution? Don't stay up late. However, this is not always the best way out. Sometimes, staying up late all night is the only option for you to be able to complete all tasks on time. However, you must always remember that lack of sleep will have a bad effect on your body.

If indeed you are forced to stay up late, why not just do it in a healthy way?

1. Save sleep before staying up late

Although when you have to stay up late cannot always be anticipated, if you happen to know in advance of your busiest schedule or times when stress will peak, you can prepare your body. If you are already lacking sleep and will still stay up late, the bad effects of lack of sleep will accumulate.

Try to fill up your sleep time in installments in advance so that when you stay up late, your body will quickly adjust its system to keep you awake all night long.

If you can steal about 15-20 minutes of free time during the day, use it to take a nap. During the first 15-20 minutes of falling asleep, you will wake up in the early stages of your sleep cycle, not in the dream stage (REM sleep), so you will feel more refreshed about staying up late.

If you wait for a quick nap in the middle of a night out, chances are that you will end up sleeping until morning.

2. Turn on the bright lights

There is science behind why we get sleepy earlier at night. Just as the body produces vitamin D in the morning with the help of sunlight, the body will produce the hormone melatonin which makes us sleepy, with the help of darkness at night.

If you want to stay up late, make your work environment as bright as possible. Light has a powerful effect on the body's internal clock. Bright rays can manipulate your body's systems and make them think it's not time for you to sleep yet.

Your body's circadian clock has a direct connection to your eyes, and bright light can reset your internal clock. This internal body clock can tell you when your body is awake or when you are tired.

In addition to room lights, you can also put study lamps, desk lamps, or any light source (your laptop or cellphone screen) as close to your eyes as possible to give your body an alert signal.

3. Can have coffee, but …

It's tempting when in the middle of the night staying up late to brew a cup of hot coffee or downing an energy drink to keep the eyes on literate. However, drinking more than two cups of coffee when staying up late does not increase concentration, but it will actually make you restless and lose focus.

The trick is to settle for drinking coffee at least a week before the D-day staying up late, if you already know when you will stay up late. During the day before staying up late, you can drink a cup of coffee before taking a nap. Drinking coffee before nap will eliminate the effects of sleep inertia, aka drunk after waking up. While staying up late, replace your warm coffee cup with a large glass of water.

Caffeine has real and sometimes helpful effects on your brain. However, if you consume caffeine regularly and repeatedly, over time your body and mind builds immunity to caffeine, so the effect will not be optimal when you need it at an important time.

4. Snacks high in protein

Your body needs something to burn so you can stay up all night, especially if you are doing work that requires intensive brain work, such as writing a thesis or an office project. Snacking is a good idea.

But, don't make the wrong choice. Candy, chocolate, and fast food are included as foods that contain sugar and simple carbohydrates. Simple sugars and carbohydrates can help provide extra energy, but they won't last long, and will actually make you sleepy. Eating high-carbohydrate foods has been shown to make you feel sluggish due to the release of high levels of the hormone serotonin into the brain.

Choose snacks that can provide long-lasting energy that contain pure protein, such as protein shakes, greek yogurt and fruit toppings, or apple slices covered with peanut butter.

5. Don't sit still, be active!

If you're working at a desk, get up often and take a walk. Reporting from WebMD, a 10-minute walk increases the energy needed for the next two hours, when compared to just consuming it energy bar or chocolate bars. So, take a short break whenever you start to feel sleepy and walk to the kitchen to pick up a healthy snack from your late night friend.

Not only walking, you can also do light exercise (for example, jumping rope, push-ups, or sit-ups) or just stretching for 10-15 minutes every 45 minutes to help the body carry oxygen to the blood vessels, brain, and your muscles.

When you exert physical energy, your body sends signals to your brain to remind you to keep it focused and alert, not drifting off to sleep. In addition, the continuous intake of oxygen to the brain will help your brain's ability to learn and retain information, as well as increase creative thinking.

6. Set the room temperature

The most suitable room temperature for you to fall asleep is 18-20ºC. If you wantliterate throughout the night, adjust the room temperature so that it is not too cold but also does not make you sweaty. Raise the air conditioner temperature to 23-25ºC, or wear clothes that are a little thick. This temperature is suitable for keeping you alert and also preventing fatigue from overheating.

It's okay to stay up late every now and then to do what it takes. But, don't make staying up late a part of your daily routine. Get enough sleep at night to achieve optimal productivity so you don't have to stay up all night all night again.