3-5AM: magical time or better to sleep?

One of my fondest memories of college—and one thing that always struck me, was all the people staying up in the CIT working on projects throughout the night. I used to love being in the lab when there was a deadline the next day—all these incredibly smart people working late and stretching themselves. Eating to stave off sleep.

One of my hypotheses was that there’s something magical about spending time awake with people during that time—some sort of ultra-late-night bonding that goes on, be it between lovers or work partners. This goes double if it’s winter.

It’s that time when it’s totally unreasonable to be up, but before the birds have started to chirp and you really regret pulling an all-nighter.

Have you noticed the same thing? Or are those witching hours between 3 and 5AM best reserved for deep sleep?