Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
And we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
The podcast aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills, along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you a look at how a super native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions, using gorgeous grammar and quality vocabulary.
Rory, are you tired and sleepy today?
Just a little bit.
I stayed up quite late last night.
Interesting, because today we're going to be talking about staying up late.
Yes, dear listener, in Speaking Part 1, the examiner can ask you questions about staying up late.
Romi, do you stay up late?
Actually, unlike the joke that we told at the very beginning, I don't usually stay up very late.
I usually go to bed at like 11ish in the evening.
So you never stay up late?
No, I'm not much of a night owl these days.
I used to stay up quite late when I was at university, for example, or when I was in high school, but then I would be out with my friends, so I'd have to stay up late because I wouldn't be at home to go to bed.
How do you feel when you've stayed up late the night before?
I used to be quite knackered, but now, even though I don't do it very often, it's not so bad for me.
I don't know why.
Maybe it's a sign of getting older that you just get used to these things.
But yeah, usually when I pull an all-nighter it's not so bad.
I can wake up like normal or the traffic outside will wake me up even.
What do you usually do when you stay up late?
Well, normally it'll be because I'm working, but I also speak to my friends on social media, for example, or on Zoom, or something.
To be honest, aside from work, it's usually something social.
But I try not to do it so often because, first of all, the blue light from the screen is bad.
And it really disrupts my circadian rhythms, I suppose, for lack of a better word.
How do you stay awake if you stay up late?
Um...
Well, if I stay up late, then I'll usually be drinking energy drinks, for example.
But if it's not too late, then I can usually just stay up late quite naturally.
Then the other thing is that it's usually I'll be focused on doing something or I'll be quite caffeinated, but one way or the other I'll manage to stay awake as long as I need to.
Is staying up healthy for you?
I suppose not if you go beyond your natural limit very often.
You could probably really mess up your sleeping patterns actually, because then you'd want to fall asleep during the day and most people work during the day, so it's probably not a very good idea.
What do you do to fall asleep?
For me, it's quite simple.
I just have a normal bedtime routine and then I'm quite busy during the day, so I'm already quite sleepy.
So I think the combination of these two things helps me get to bed quite nicely.
I promise.
Thank you so much for your answers.
No problem.
When you talk about staying up late, first of all, what is it?
Stay up late.
What does it mean?
No, staying up late is usually just when you're awake past the normal time you go to bed.
Normal time?
What do you mean normal time?
After 3am?
Depends on the individual.
I think most people probably go to bed at 11 or 12.
So if most people stay up past that time, then it's staying up late.
But you could also define it as staying up past your normal time for going to bed.
So say that you're a night owl and you go to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning normally, and maybe you stay up until 6 o'clock in the morning.
Then that's going to bed quite late.
Yeah, yeah.
A night owl or a morning person, if I prefer getting up early, I am a morning person, yeah.
Yeah, but if you're a night owl, then you like to work at night or do whatever it is people do at night.
Some other verbs we can use, we can say like go to bed or fall asleep or get to bed.
Yep.
Yep.
When we stay up late, we can say that we pool an all-nighter.
Pool an all-nighter.
Rory, tell the world what's going on here.
So if you pool an all-nighter, that means that you stay up basically through the night until the next day.
This is really not a good idea.
But a lot of students do it.
For example, if they have an essay due the next day and maybe they didn't prepare for it well enough then they'll write the essay through the night.
They'll pull an all-nighter and then they'll hand in the essay the next day.
It's really not a good idea, though.
It makes you really tired.
I think it's...
It really affects how you behave as well, actually.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
If you do pull an all-nighter, it takes a toll on your body, on your memory.
Yeah, it's not really good.
But it's a nice expression like pool and all nighter.
Yeah, we'll stay up late.
Especially when you cram for exams, for example.
Yeah, although again, you shouldn't be cramming for exams.
That's not what you're meant to do.
You're supposed to learn things properly.
Yeah, but we all pulled an all nighter or all nighters, or actually we went on late night binges.
Is that for something drink?
Is that drink related?
Oh dear.
No, it's not drink related.
No, it's like late night binges.
It's the same as pulling an all-nighter.
Like you go on a binge of a week of all-nighters.
No, a week, that's too many.
Maybe like three days in a row if you don't sleep.
That's a binge.
Is it?
Because where I'm from, that means that you just drink until you pass out.
No, but it doesn't matter what you do, right?
You might be on Netflix, right?
So like binge watching Netflix.
Maybe it's just in Scotland where they talk about binging in terms of drinking.
I've never heard this expression before.
Oh, really?
Hmm.
No, but can we use it about other things rather than drinking?
Like binge-watching, for example?
You can, yeah, but not for staying up and studying.
That's usually pulling an all-nighter.
Anyway...
I was reading an article about staying up late and they said like late night binges disrupt your sleeping patterns.
So we can use it kind of like late night binges.
Well, I don't know.
But yeah, pulling an all-nighter, that's a more common expression.
When you do pull an all-nighter, you feel naked.
Yes.
What does it mean, naked?
Well, actually I think originally it meant knackering was something that you did when you killed horses when they got too old.
I'm pretty sure.
But now it just means that you're very tired and you want to go to bed.
Is it British?
British English?
Sounds British, doesn't it?
Usually we say I'm exhausted.
You can say I'm worn out or I'm naked.
Yeah, we spell it with a K. You stay caffeinated, right, Rory?
Yeah, that's just a way of saying that I drink a lot of coffee or too many energy drinks.
It's again, not good for you.
Go to bed at normal sensible times, people.
Seriously.
And you said that if I stay up late, I'll be drinking energy drinks.
So why this structure?
Why not say I drink?
Well, you can.
I suppose.
I'll be drinking.
It's cool.
It's a nice structure to use.
Yeah, but the other thing is, I suppose you could argue that if you use continuous this way, it's like you see it as a temporary situation, don't you?
Because I don't do it that often, you see.
Does that make sense?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
You're not making eye contact with me, Maria.
That means I've made a mistake.
No, no, no.
Everything's fine.
Maria is the grammar guru.
You are.
Rory, you've mentioned some rhythms.
What did you call them?
Something circadian?
Kardashian?
Circa?
What?
Circus?
Oh, no.
Circadian rhythms.
I know how to say it, but I don't know how to spell it.
Oh, circadian rhythms.
Yeah.
Oh, gosh, what on earth is that?
They're like again.
I'm going to make this very simple because you know, and if you're a scientist, then please don't yell at me.
I'm just making it simple for people to understand.
But it's basically how you behave throughout your daily cycle.
So usually when you, when it's nighttime, your body is like this is the time for sleeping and going to bed.
And during the day your body is like oh, it's time to wake up.
You can see this when you, for example, when the sun comes up and people wake up because their body is reacting to the sunlight, and then when there's no light, people feel tired and they want to go to bed.
But you can disrupt these rhythms by engaging in behavior that's not in line with these rhythms and cycles of behavior.
So that is the very oversimplified version.
To find out more about this, please consult a doctor, Not me.
All I know is this very simple version of it.
Rory the doctor.
Yeah, so we can say staying up late messes up your sleeping patterns.
Yeah, if you're not comfortable with circadian rhythms, then just say it messes up my sleeping patterns.
Circadian rhythms.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, but that would be a very specific word to use, though.
So would sleeping patterns, though.
And to be honest, most people say sleeping patterns.
Blue lights.
You've mentioned also blue lights from the screen, right?
So blue light's a special kind of light that comes from screens, like we both said there.
It's an important thing to be aware of, because if you're looking at screens and blue lights coming off it at night, or maybe if you leave your screen on Even if you're asleep, that can disrupt your sleeping patterns because your body can think that you're well, it's the daytime, when actually it's not.
So it's important to make sure that you put your phone on night mode, if you have a night mode, and make sure your screen is covered up and everything's turned off and nice, so you can sleep like a normal human being.
Yeah, and it should be like pitch dark while you're sleeping.
Absolutely.
You need to get some blackout curtains.
Yep.
So we can also say that staying up late disrupts our body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
So we've been talking about sleeping patterns, these rhythms.
Circadian rhythms, yeah.
So, sleep-wake cycles also.
But on a positive note, Xenoplate and Creativity are connected.
Are they?
Yes, creative people usually stay up late and create stuff.
Rory, you are an author.
You don't do that?
You don't stay up late to write your book all night?
He used to with the first three, but this latest one has been less, I suppose, work intensive.
So no, I make sure that I go to bed like a good boy at a decent time.
Yes, Rory, you're boring.
What's wrong with you?
What's wrong with you?
I've had my party time.
It's time to be a sensible adult now.
Hmm.
We can also speak about sleep deprivation.
So I'm sleep deprived, sleep deprivation.
Are you?
No, I'm okay.
Today I'm okay.
You don't have bags under your eyes, which is another thing that you talk about when we have sleep deprivation.
Bags under your eyes.
When we stay up late, we also can go down a rabbit hole of YouTube viral videos.
We crave food at night.
So actually, staying up late is not really good for us.
No, no.
So um, but we do do that and um, i well, sometimes i do stay up late, i'm on some i don't know, i watch a movie, or go down this rabbit hole of youtube videos and instagram and social media.
Rory, how are you on social media?
I'm quite good on social media, unless it's Reddit.
I've discovered Reddit.
I feel at home there.
And I sometimes spend hours just going through the newsfeed.
Rory has gone all online, dear listeners.
Staying up late.
No, but he doesn't stay up late.
Thank you very much for listening.
We hope that it was useful and you've learned some good language, vocabulary and had fun.
Now you can listen to Rory's answers again and notice some good vocabulary and grammar he's just used.
We'll see you next time!
Sleep well!
Bye!
Rory, do you stay up late?
Um, actually, unlike the joke that we told at the very beginning, I don't usually stay up very late.
I usually go to bed at like 11-ish in the evening.
So you never stay up late?
No, I'm not much of a night owl these days.
I used to stay up quite late when I was at university, for example, or when I was in high school.
But then I would be out with my friends, so I'd have to stay up late because I wouldn't be at home to go to bed.
How do you feel when you've stayed up late the night before?
I used to be quite knackered, but now, even though I don't do it very often, it's not so bad for me.
I don't know why.
Maybe it's a sign of getting older that you just get used to these things.
But yeah, usually now when I pull an all-nighter, it's not so bad.
I can wake up like normal or the traffic outside will wake me up even.
What do you usually do when you stay up late?
Well, normally it'll be because I'm working, but I also speak to my friends on social media, for example, or on Zoom, or something.
To be honest, aside from work, it's usually something social.
But I try not to do it so often because, first of all, the blue light from the screen is bad.
And it really disrupts my circadian rhythms, I suppose, for lack of a better word.
How do you stay awake if you stay up late?
Um...
Well, if I stay up late, then I'll usually be drinking energy drinks, for example.
But if it's not too late, then I can usually just stay up late quite naturally.
Then the other thing is that it's usually I'll be focused on doing something or I'll be quite caffeinated.
But one way or the other, I'll manage to stay awake as long as I need to.
Is staying up healthy for you?
I suppose not if you go beyond your natural limit very often.
You could probably really mess up your sleeping patterns actually, because then you'd want to fall asleep during the day and most people work during the day, so it's probably not a very good idea.
What do you do to fall asleep?
For me, it's quite simple.
I just have a normal bedtime routine and then I'm quite busy during the day, so I'm already quite sleepy.
So I think the combination of these two things helps me get to bed quite nicely.
