As Dance Marathon 2007 dragged later into the afternoon, more and more dancers looked exhausted. Many participants stood around barely shaking, others tried to lie down on the ground, only to have Dancer Relations force them up. Whereas several hours ago The Foundation’s “Build Me Up Buttercup” probably would have sent dancers into a frenzy, but now all it inspires is a weak cheer and zombie-like swaying back-and-forth.

Staying up for 30 hours is hard enough to begin with, but trying to pull off the task also may cause health concerns. DM’s day-plus-six-hours probably isn’t enough to cause any serious problems besides sore feet, but sleep deprivation can lead to legitimate concerns.

According to The BBC, pulling an all-night leads to lack of concentration. Seventeen hours of no shut-eye leads to a decrease in general performance equal to 2 glasses of wine. Staying up even later can prompt hallucinations, clinical depression and weight gain.

With all these potential health problems, one might wonder why so many college students pull all-nighters (let alone dancing for 30 hours straight). Freshman Anastasia Milgramm said a nocturnal lifestyle helps her immensely.

“I personally think I work better at night,” the Weinberg sophomore said from the back of the Louis Room. “I get more done.”

Even though she said she frequently stays up late into the night, Milgramm said she has only pulled two all-nighters in her entire life, and neither of them lasted for 30 hours. But she said DM hasn’t gotten the best of her yet.

“Once we got past the halfway point, I felt a lot less tired,” she said.

Freshman Meg Ryd said she too stalled during the middle of Dance Marathon. The SESP student said she has only pulled one-nighter in her entire life, for a class project. Ryd said other students probably had an advantage over her due to their late-night schedules.

“Students are so busy with so many activities,” she said, “late at night is the only time to do things.”

Chris Byrum falls under the after-hours work club.

“I’ve probably stayed up somewhere around 35, 40 hours at a time,” the Communications sophomore said. “I was doing work.”

But Byrum said a lot of university students don’t necessarily pull all-nighters for educational benefit.

“I think staying up all night is a chance for students to do something,” he said. “It gives them a sense of accomplishment.”

The dancer said DM isn’t the same though.

“I think this takes a little more,” Byrum said. “It shows dedication, and strength for the cause.”

Byrum said he was trying not to fall asleep, and that he felt very sore. But he couldn’t say which pain was worse.

“It’s a split decision,” he said with a laugh. “They are both so bad.”

Tom Hines, a class of 06 graduate and former DM exec board member back to dance in 2007, said he trumps them all when it comes up to not sleeping during DM.

“Last time I did DM [as an exec member], I was awake from 8 a.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Sunday,” he said. “I had a midterm on the day of DM. That was terrible.”

Hines said his experience with the philanthropic event has taught him how to fend of sleepiness. He said approaching it psychologically is the key, knowing which blocks of time are going to be worst. He did admit dancing during DM is more taxing than actually running the event.

As to why college kids are so restless and prone to putting off sleep, he said he has a hypothesis.

“College kids don’t do work before play,” Hines said. “We like to have fun, no matter what time.”