Falling asleep the night before??

[05med05]

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I wrote last august and couldn't fall asleep the night before until 4am (and my score reflected it). It's hard not to feel stressed and that is what probably kept me up, but any good ideas to feel less stressed and more relaxed the night before?

Thanks

 

[ctv1116]

1) sleeping pills

2) a crazy hard run/workout usually does the trick.

 

[Arsenic]

1) sleeping pills

2) a crazy hard run/workout usually does the trick.

DO NOT take the sleeping pills unless you'll get 8 hours of sleep though. It says this on the bottle for a reason, a lot of the OTC sleeping pills have their half lives worked out so that after 8 hours most of the pill will be inactivated or metabolized. What I did the week before was: (a) relaxed starting the wednesday before the test... I mean it... nothing, lots of movies and just glanced at the kaplan formula sheets and (b) got into the rhythm of waking up early, going to bed early... there was still some anxiety the night before but I think I was asleep by 12 and had gone to bed around 10. Just please dont take a sleeping pill at 2AM or something, you'll be incredibly drowsy when you wake up.

 

[Hurricane95]

I did absolutley nothing mcat related the whole week before. I took my last diag the saturday before, reviewed it, and that was it. I chilled the whole week, went to class but did no hw/studying, established a good sleep schedule (go to sleep at 11 and wake up at 6:45), watched movies and worked out. Work out hard the friday before, it's healthy and relaxing and makes you go to sleep better the night of. NO last minute cramming or any nonsense like that.

 

[RUscrewed]

You will have anxiety the night before, and you will get less sleep than you normally do -- that is virtually guaranteed. So what I'm going to do is be really well rested in terms of sleep to somewhat compensate for the probably 3-5 hours I'll get on Friday night. If I get 10 hours of sleep on wed and thurs nights, 4 hours of sleep on Friday may be fine, as my adrenaline should make up for the lack of rest.

I did absolutley nothing mcat related the whole week before. I took my last diag the saturday before, reviewed it, and that was it. I chilled the whole week, went to class but did no hw/studying, established a good sleep schedule (go to sleep at 11 and wake up at 6:45), watched movies and worked out. Work out hard the friday before, it's healthy and relaxing and makes you go to sleep better the night of. NO last minute cramming or any nonsense like that.

 

[Arsenic]

You will have anxiety the night before, and you will get less sleep than you normally do -- that is virtually guaranteed. So what I'm going to do is be really well rested in terms of sleep to somewhat compensate for the probably 3-5 hours I'll get on Friday night. If I get 10 hours of sleep on wed and thurs nights, 4 hours of sleep on Friday may be fine, as my adrenaline should make up for the lack of rest.

premeditated anxiety 😎

hopefully you wont need that buffer and you'll get a nice 7-8 hours

 

[sweetstuff25]

man, i took sleeping pills nite b4 aamc 5r and i was super groggy even after 9 hours of sleep. i say just workout, its muchhhh better.

 

[05med05]

Thanks,

I like the idea of getting a whole lot of sleep a few days earlier, then it won't matter as much if I can't sleep well the night before. Tried sleeping pills last night but became too groggy this morning.

The 'hard' workout sounds good. I might try that tonight, the only thing is that it sometimes backfires on me and I end up staring at the ceiling all night.

One thing I did think of is a 'hard' workout (say 10-12 mile run), followed by a massage and then a hot tub. If that does not work, I might have to just have a beer after all that and hope for the best.

 

[ctv1116]

One thing I did think of is a 'hard' workout (say 10-12 mile run), followed by a massage and then a hot tub. If that does not work, I might have to just have a beer after all that and hope for the best.

10-12 mile run??? Isn't that going to take you like 2-3 hours? I was just thinking like 15-20 minutes on the treadmill LOL.

 

[05med05]

10-12 mile run??? Isn't that going to take you like 2-3 hours? I was just thinking like 15-20 minutes on the treadmill LOL.

I do long distance running. I suppose I could do less, at a higher intensity. I guess it's just a balancing act. 😎

 

[Mister Pie]

10-12 mile run??? Isn't that going to take you like 2-3 hours? I was just thinking like 15-20 minutes on the treadmill LOL.

Yeah... I think if I ran 10-12 miles, I wouldn't make it to the test center on test day. The morning before I'm probably just going to lift some weights as I usually do and supplement it with some light jogging.

 

[Hurricane95]

haha don't kill yourself...a mile run and an hour and a half of hard weights will suffice. Do it in the afternoon too, if you workout too late in the day you will probably get the opposite effect and be restless at night (your body temp stays too high and you can't sleep). Don't do that to yourself. 😎

 

[sweetstuff25]

haha don't kill yourself...a mile run and an hour and a half of hard weights will suffice. Do it in the afternoon too, if you workout too late in the day you will probably get the opposite effect and be restless at night (your body temp stays too high and you can't sleep). Don't do that to yourself. 😎

so if you wanna sleep by 10pm, one should workout by 5pm i presume?

 

[jon0013]

i would go with cardio...something like running or a couple of hours of basketball (2-3)...i'm gonna be at the gym friday afternoon and play some ball...then i'll get some dinner, watch tv and hopefully sleep by 1130.....

are any of yall gettin up early this wk just to get in the routine

 

[gotgame83]

ive been waking up early. ranging between 530-630am. the next few days i am definitly going to be waking up at 530am. I cant function when im tired. Besides its so much easier to go to sleep early when u wake up early.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

DO NOT take the sleeping pills unless you'll get 8 hours of sleep though. It says this on the bottle for a reason, a lot of the OTC sleeping pills have their half lives worked out so that after 8 hours most of the pill will be inactivated or metabolized. What I did the week before was: (a) relaxed starting the wednesday before the test... I mean it... nothing, lots of movies and just glanced at the kaplan formula sheets and (b) got into the rhythm of waking up early, going to bed early... there was still some anxiety the night before but I think I was asleep by 12 and had gone to bed around 10. Just please dont take a sleeping pill at 2AM or something, you'll be incredibly drowsy when you wake up.

that's exactly what I was going to say. i'd even allow more than 8 hours if you're not used to sleeping pills. I wish i had taken some as i was up the whole night literally.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

i would go with cardio...something like running or a couple of hours of basketball (2-3)...i'm gonna be at the gym friday afternoon and play some ball...then i'll get some dinner, watch tv and hopefully sleep by 1130.....

are any of yall gettin up early this wk just to get in the routine

i did the exercise thing and it didn't make me sleep; even if my body was tired, my anxiety was wide awake. i also was used to getting up early since i had been going to classes and doing volunteer work all summer.

 

[NilamPatel]

on friday im going to get a manicure and a pedicure, go out to eat and sleep at 10..i can't wait!!!!!

 

[Psycho Doctor]

on friday im going to get a manicure and a pedicure, go out to eat and sleep at 10..i can't wait!!!!!

don't eat anything too heavy or food you're not used to eating, that too could keep you up, but otherwise that sounds like a great idea

 

[NilamPatel]

don't eat anything too heavy or food you're not used to eating, that too could keep you up, but otherwise that sounds like a great idea

yeah i won't, probably going to eat a salad or grilled vegetable stuff (ohhh its so much fun being a vegetarian)

 

[Psycho Doctor]

yeah i won't, probably going to eat a salad or grilled vegetable stuff (ohhh its so much fun being a vegetarian)

well if that's what you're used to eating it's great, but for someone not used to eating lots of fruits and veggies it could actually cause stomach or intestinal cramps

 

[Bhavesh]

I got up at 6:50 today! Tomorrow: 6...

 

[jon0013]

tried to get up at 730 but woke up at 8....tomorrow gonna aim for 7...friday 6:00...


i actually heard from a few friends of mine that its better to get a lot of sleep thurs night to compensate for any lost sleep friday....but im thinkin if i sleep in thursday then im definately screwed friday night hahaha...

 

[Kimka83]

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 7:45a. That is sooooo early for me, during the summer anyway. I just can't wait to sleep in on Sunday!

 

[sweetstuff25]

yay! i woke up at 7am today and then got raped by aamc 8. infact, i'm prolly gonna have anxiety attacks all nite cuz of aamc 8. way to ruin my life b*tch a$$ aamc. if i offended anyone, good! cuz i don't give a F**k anymore. 😡

 

[gotgame83]

yay! i woke up at 7am today and then got raped by aamc 8. infact, i'm prolly gonna have anxiety attacks all nite cuz of aamc 8. way to ruin my life b*tch a$$ aamc. if i offended anyone, good! cuz i don't give a F**k anymore. 😡

hahaha. Dont worry i verbally abused aamc 8's verbal section enough for everyone. If it makes any difference i really think that verbal was an outlier. I took Kaplans verbal sectional test 11 today and i scored a 42/60. Im guessing thats a 10 by kaplan stardards so that made me a lil bit happier. But then again the passages i did today where mostly understandable, and there was even an artsy passage and i did rather well.

ok to give you confidence. Dont have anxiety attacks because of that test. It was a hard test and i think the verbal just wasnt fair. Rest up. Wake up early. I expect everyone to be on SDN at 6am or 630 the latest. Study your weak area and sweetstuff im sure ull do just sweet on the exam.

 

[NUKid]

I find Ambien to be a pretty good little pill without the drowsiness effects.

 

[sweetstuff25]

hahaha. Dont worry i verbally abused aamc 8's verbal section enough for everyone. If it makes any difference i really think that verbal was an outlier. I took Kaplans verbal sectional test 11 today and i scored a 42/60. Im guessing thats a 10 by kaplan stardards so that made me a lil bit happier. But then again the passages i did today where mostly understandable, and there was even an artsy passage and i did rather well.

ok to give you confidence. Dont have anxiety attacks because of that test. It was a hard test and i think the verbal just wasnt fair. Rest up. Wake up early. I expect everyone to be on SDN at 6am or 630 the latest. Study your weak area and sweetstuff im sure ull do just sweet on the exam.

thx for the advice gotgame. i just needed to vent. good luk to ya too. imma try some kaplan vr for practice.

 

[Bhavesh]

Thursday Morning: My eyes opened at 5:50AM! But then I fell back asleep until my alarm went off at 6:50.

Nevertheless, I forced myself to post just so I'd stay out of bed.

 

[Nooro]

WOW thats a really good idea..... force yourself to post and you'll get out of bed.... perhaps that will be my key to get up, as thinking GOD I GOTTA GETUP NOW otherwise I wont get up on Saturday doesnt seem to work =(.

 

[jon0013]

WOW thats a really good idea..... force yourself to post and you'll get out of bed.... perhaps that will be my key to get up, as thinking GOD I GOTTA GETUP NOW otherwise I wont get up on Saturday doesnt seem to work =(.

im still waking up an hour after im supposed to be up....damnit...i will be up by 630 tomorrow morning 🙂

 

[sweetstuff25]

wtf?? i put my alarm at 8am this morning but i woke up like 2wice during the nite, once at 4am next at 6am. what the hell is wrong with my body? i can't feel refreshed if i don't sleep full 8 hours.

 

[amberm4]

Some advice - do NOT take ambien unless you are familiar with what it will do to you. I had a friend take it on an overseas flight to London and she has no recollection of anything, along with the fact that they had to wake her up when she arrived at the gate. She was groggy for many hours after.

Also, Calcium Citrate (Citrical) has been shown to increase consistent sleep for those experiencing frequent "wake-ups" in the middle of the night. Take 2 tabs around 5 pm and 2 tabs around 9 pm.

If you feel you won't be able to sleep, and want good effects, take 1 Tylenol pm with 400 mg. of Ibuprofen around 9 pm. Relax in your bed watching TV/leisure reading (or whatever you like to do), and you'll be out by 10 without ANY side effects by 5 am. The benadryl in Tylenol PM lasts only 4 hours, so that is plenty of time to flush from your system.

Also, do NOT eat spicy food, i.e. pizza, taco bell, etc. For supper, eat a salad, protein such as fish or chicken, rice or potatoes, and fruit for desert. Before taking your "meds", have some vanilla pudding (not chocolate) or yogurt.

Good luck to all!

 

[Bhavesh]

Friday morning: Eyes open at 5:50ish, out of bed by ~6:45. But contrary to yesterday, I was rubbing sleep out of my eyes this morning.

 

[FutureDoc2010]

Hmm... I Tried a melatonin/ambien combo last night. Dear god, I don't think I’ve ever fallen asleep that fast in my life. I don't even know if sleep is a good word to describe what happened, it was more like being comatose. Felt a little groggy this morning, not sure if I should do the same sleeping pill cocktail tonight. I Might just stick with melatonin, I’ve never experienced any grogginess with that one.

 

[gotgame83]

I love SDN. Its the only place where we can discuss how to have every advantage on the MCAT. Whether its how to rip the seal, bubbling technique, PS section strategies, and pharmaceutical mixtures to give us the best night sleep to inspire an award winning performance. Well ok, im not so sure about the award winning part but the not failing aspect would be nice.

 

[aung]

I'm going to watch the Arrested Development marathon until 10pm and then close all the lights and listen to some ambient songs to help me sleep.

 

[cosmicstarr]

I remember when I took the MCAT (a loooong time ago), I could barely sleep the night before. I think I only got a couple hours of really light sleep. I was so worked up and by the exam, there was still a lot of adrenalin running through me. I didn't feel tired at all during the test.

By the time it was over, I was so relieved but very drained. I remember going to bed at around 6 PM and didn't wake up until 8 the next day.

Now, 12 years later, I'm thinking of applying to medical school since I never applied way back then and I get to go re-live the entire MCAT thing over! fun! 😱

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I remember when I took the MCAT (a loooong time ago), I could barely sleep the night before. I think I only got a couple hours of really light sleep. I was so worked up and by the exam, there was still a lot of adrenalin running through me. I didn't feel tired at all during the test.

By the time it was over, I was so relieved but very drained. I remember going to bed at around 6 PM and didn't wake up until 8 the next day.

Now, 12 years later, I'm thinking of applying to medical school since I never applied way back then and I get to go re-live the entire MCAT thing over! fun! 😱

wow, no celebration??


I was totally drained when it was over; i literally got zero sleep the night before, but i still had so much adrenalin running through me. i also was convinced i bombed it and was too upset to sleep. in a rare occurence i got totally plastered.

 

[cosmicstarr]

wow, no celebration??


I was totally drained when it was over; i literally got zero sleep the night before, but i still had so much adrenalin running through me. i also was convinced i bombed it and was too upset to sleep. in a rare occurence i got totally plastered.

I was pretty drained to celebrate. Actually after the test, I thought I had done pretty well, but when I got my scores a few months later, I saw that I didn't do nearly as well as I thought.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I was pretty drained to celebrate. Actually after the test, I thought I had done pretty well, but when I got my scores a few months later, I saw that I didn't do nearly as well as I thought.

mine was just the opposite; did much better than i thought i did, but on par with my practice tests.