Fact: on average, a person needs to sleep for a minimum of 6 – 8 hours a night!
Reality: on average, a student struggles to sleep for a couple of hours on a normal college day!
That’s the harsh reality of college. There are only two things the average college student absolutely cannot find time for – studying and sleeping! The irony is that these two activities are diametrically opposed in nature. For different students, its different permutations of performing and not performing both activities: for some it’s no studying, only sleeping; for others it’s no sleeping, only studying; and for yet others, it’s no sleeping nor studying!
Paradoxically, sleeping for a college student is easiest during class. On one hand, you can’t really blame the students because lab work, weekly tests, projects, assignments – the avatars of our massive workloads – make sure that we only get to nap during hours we’re not supposed to. On the other hand college life is said to be the period of unlimited fun and adventure – parties, late night conversations with friends, last minute cramming, jamming sessions…so you just can’t blame the students for not being able to sleep or study or both.
For some, the lack of sleep causes a episodes of mental stability. In other words, they just become sheer crazy, albeit for a little while. A cranky sleepless person with bloodshot swollen eyes is not an uncommon sight in colleges. Students try to make up for lost sleep in between classes, in the library, prayer rooms or anywhere they can get a few minutes of peace.
Doesn’t all this say something? Sleep is an essential part of our life cycle; college is an essential part of life. And yet, there doesn’t seem a way to peacefully incorporate the two. The only resort we college students might have is our vacation. Indeed time away from college becomes our Ultimate Nirvana with everyone eagerly awaiting holidays to run away from college and do a whole lot of fun things – starting with getting lots of sleep.
And yet…come holidays we find ourselves barely sleeping! With a limited number of days in hand to do everything we’ve been deprived of during the semester, we cramp in so many things into our holiday agenda that sleep is yet again ignored. Whether it is working a temporary job, meeting friends, driving lessons, extra courses or watching a backlog of movies and serials…sleep takes the back seat, yet again. Caution: I said “most” of us. Some people (like me) place sleeping on top of the agenda in the holidays and treat all other activities like fillers!
Anyhow, the moral of this story is that we should all be getting the minimum required hours of sleep (and at the appropriate times, I must add). So go on, and sleep happily. These 500-odd words of my diatribe should have hit you with a wave of drowsiness. Bonne nuit!
By Mugdha Sunil Polimera
