# Over 40 peeps, last time stayed up all night? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840 "2006-09-23T11:12:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/21 "2006-09-23T23:02:30Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] TV after 9 p.m. is a complete mystery to me. [/QUOTE] DOn’t worry - They just play the Star Spangled Banner. It’s all static after that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/22 "2006-09-23T23:06:04Z")
If I don’t have to work first thing in the morning, I quickly devolve to a schedule where I’m up reading until 6 or 7 AM, then nap until noon. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/23 "2006-09-24T01:50:59Z")
39 and 3/4’s here - the latest I’ve stayed up in many, many years was 3 am last May, which was very unusual for me. I get physically sick when I stay up too late - I start to feel like barfing at around 11:30 - 12. Even when I was younger I couldn’t work night shifts without feeling truly awful. My body knows what it likes and when it likes it. Sleep is between 11 pm and 9 am (with some leeway on each end), and that’s that for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/24 "2006-09-24T02:13:31Z")
I’m 39 1/2, so I thought I would go ahead & answer. I love to sleep…I don’t remember ever staying up all night voluntarily. The only time I remember doing it was the night my daughter was born. She was sleeping in the bassinet next to me, but I was so freaked out by the whole thing, I couldn’t sleep at all. I finally took her out of the bassinet and just held her & looked at her all night. I don’t remember feeling all that tired, either, which is pretty weird considering all the hard work I did that day! Must have been pumped full of adreneline or something. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/25 "2006-09-24T02:21:04Z")
If I’m not already sleep-deprived, when I do pull an allnighter these days I feel fine up until sunrise, then get sorta winky and crash hard. I also seem to sleep best in the couple hours prior to sunup, strangely. Maybe connected somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/26 "2006-09-24T04:35:15Z")
Ooops, in my post, I forgot to say that I just turned 48. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/27 "2006-09-24T05:33:39Z")
What the hell? Am I the only Cowboy Angel around here? Yeah, I like to go out drinkin’, dancin’, and listenin’ to third-rate bands until daylight. I’ve done this five or six times in the past few months. It’s been my habit to hang out in low-life bars since I got my first fake ID at age 16. I’m 63 now, and I ain’t tired of it yet… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/28 "2006-09-24T06:35:54Z")
I’m 39 and stay up almost alnight very often, including frequent international flights. Most often, it will be because of marathon computer gaming sessions when I realize it is getting light out, sad. I’ve always been a night owl an if I had my way, I’d stay up until 1.30-2.00 am and go to work around 10. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/29 "2006-09-24T07:01:53Z")
I am over 50, and I do it three or four times a year. No ill effects if I get my sleep in the next night. BUT… A couple of years ago I took my kid to New York. I had a meeting with my agent and some other stuff to do. We flew out on the red-eye, me thinking the kid would get some sleep and I could read (since I can’t sleep on anything moving). He didn’t. We got to NYC at 7:30 am, dropped our stuff off at the hotel, met my other son for breakfast, did some sightseeing, then I took the kid back to the hotel and suggested he take a nap (so I could take one) and he said he was too old for naps and resumed jumping on the bed. That night my publisher took me out to dinner, then I met an old friend and we went to a bar, where we stayed until closing. New York bars close at _4 a.m._ I caught about three hours of sleep and then the kid woke me up wanting to get going–We went sightseeing, I met with my agent, then I went to a couple of bookstores and signed books, and at 7:30 pm we got on a plane back home, where once again the kid and I did not get even so much as a bit of a doze. (Although the kid had not closed the bar the night before–he and his big brother went to a Yankees game and got back to the hotel at a reasonable hour and went to bed.) After this bout with The City That Never Sleeps we got home around 1 a.m. I slept until noon, and then went back to bed and basically slept the rest of the weekend, and was still a bit foggy on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/30 "2006-09-24T07:41:55Z")
I’m 44 and pulled an all-nighter three weeks ago. I was very nervous before a presentation and couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to take any tranquilizers because I didn’t want to feel all loopy. Went to work, gave the presentation, came home and went to sleep at 3:00 PM. The secret (for me) is to drink lots of water – don’t ask me why because I don’t have the faintest idea. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/31 "2006-09-24T12:53:10Z")
Voluntarily, was one of our last nights in Germany where I had the delight of watching my husband and his cousin get completely shitfaced. Nothing like coming in when his other cousin is just getting in from her shift as a baker to see me push my listing husband up a set of stairs smelling like beer and cigerettes. Involuntarily, take prednisone and discover the joys of never sleeping and hearing your mundane thoughts 24/7. For about 3 weeks. (This was the weeks prior to zee German trip mentioned above.) Now, its just insomnia. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/32 "2006-09-24T13:06:07Z")
Last night and the night before. But you said for fun and that was for work. Because I work a couple overnight shifts a week I tend to stay up until 3 or 4 am the rest of the week when I’m not working. But a few weeks ago I was doing 3 overnights a week and I’d have a tendency to stay up until 5 or 6 am on my days off because I was used to that schedule and I tended to stay awake longer when I was playing a new computer game, so I guess that was for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/33 "2006-09-24T16:34:52Z")
[QUOTE=groo] \ The secret (for me) is to drink lots of water – don’t ask me why because I don’t have the faintest idea. [/QUOTE] That’s my husband’s cure for everything, and he’s right more often than not. Have a bad headache? Drink a glass of water. Bad tummy? Drink a glass of water. Unless you’re drinking gallons a day, I guess a little more water never hurt anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/34 "2006-09-24T17:52:47Z")
Yahh, I’ve been doing that for a while now, works better than anything else I’ve tried. ---
**Author:** ![indecisive1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/41988e/32.png) [@indecisive1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indecisive1)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/35 "2006-09-24T21:34:37Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD] DOn’t worry - They just play the Star Spangled Banner. It’s all static after that. 😉 [/QUOTE] Ha! It has been so long since I’ ve been up late that I really don’t know if anybody still does that. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/36 "2006-09-24T23:50:39Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] Yeah, I like to go out drinkin’, dancin’, and listenin’ to third-rate bands until daylight. [/QUOTE] I _knew_ there was a reason why I like you 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/37 "2006-09-25T00:21:25Z")
I frequently stay up all night, watching TV, surfing on the net, reading… I work odd hours, I go in anywhere from 5am to 3 pm and get off anywhere between 2pm and 12 midnight…needless to say my sleep schedule is as eratic. I also have a very hard time falling asleep. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/38 "2006-09-25T03:53:35Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] What the hell? Am I the only Cowboy Angel around here? Yeah, I like to go out drinkin’, dancin’, and listenin’ to third-rate bands until daylight. I’ve done this five or six times in the past few months. It’s been my habit to hang out in low-life bars since I got my first fake ID at age 16. I’m 63 now, and I ain’t tired of it yet… 😉 [/QUOTE] Next time I come through Alabama, which I do a couple times a year, I’m calling you. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/39 "2006-09-25T05:26:41Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt] I _knew_ there was a reason why I like you 😉 [/QUOTE] Ain’t it nice to be loved! Or liked, even. So you got in just as your husband was getting up to cut hay…Y’all got a farm? My farm’s way back in the sticks. Got some cattle here, a few horses, like that. The missus and I love livin’ out in the boonies. > [@jackelope](#): > > Next time I come through Alabama, which I do a couple times a year, I’m calling you. Bring it on! There’s this dive called the Rodeo Club… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840/40 "2006-09-25T11:39:28Z")
Voluntarily, probably never. A few months ago, I was having a bad night - I just could not fall asleep. I went to the family room to watch TV (man, is the selection bad at 3AM!!) and I think about 4:30 I gave up and showered (since I normally get up at 4:45 anyway) and went to work. That was one _looooooooong_ day. I think I pulled one all-nighter in college and that’s only because back in the old days, before PCs, you had to sign up to use a computer terminal on campus and my team was only able to get one at a ridiculous hour in the middle of the night. Yes, children, we also had to sign up to use the card punch terminals. Yes, I wrote Fortran IV programs on punch cards. Now get off my lawn, you kids!! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-40-peeps-last-time-stayed-up-all-night/373840.md?page=3)