Rather similiar to my other thread
. But yes, losing sleep is painful, and the more your accustomed to sleeping in late, the more painful it is. It is less painful for me to go off 4 hours sleep now then it would be for a person with 10 hours as their natural state to suddenly try to make it off 7.
On the day after something major like that, make sure to use sleep as a main goal for later in the day. Repeat the following mantra, "all I have to do is make it through these classes and then I can go to bed." after that, unless you're living some insane scheduale, get back to forming a normal sleep pattern with a bit of effort. You don't want to pull a 180 on sleep cycle. Living off less sleep while forming that as a natural part of your cycle is better then flipping it 180 and having your body try to keep that rythm.
I have admittedly only pulled 2 all nighters (I generally at least get 2 or 3 hours sleep, this semester has been my worst) one was for a numerical analysis class and the other I think was on my 18th birthday as an undergrad. In both cases, the homework I spent all night working on got postponed because all the other students were having the same trouble I was completing it... and so they asked for an extension and got it >_>... But you might not be so lucky or if you work hard at it, unlucky! Work hard!
As I said in the other thread though,
Carpe Noctem!
-Pascal