Thursday, February 12, 2009

4 am and I meet far too often - I think it is time to end the relationship

I have never turned to sleep aides to help me sleep. Still, I find myself having trouble going to sleep at regular hours when I'm not swamped with work. I used to think it was just me and the other 6 hallmates still in the lounge at 3am who had a problem, but after reading this article from collegenews.com, I'm starting to see the trend.

The other night, I unfortunately didn't complete my comm paper until approximately 4am. It probably wasn't my best work. It definitely wasn't my best work, but I accepted the fact that a 4am revision workshop wouldn't be much help in my sleep deprived state. I hit the hay, got 31/2 hours of sleep, and booked to my class at 8:45am where I struggled to stay awake. Like my the quality of paper, my performance in class left much to be desired.

One thing this article mentions is that once the schedule of college students normalizes, they are likely to have trouble adjusting to normal sleep patterns. This concerns me because, although I do procrastinate occasionally, I'm pretty dedicated to getting my work done. Unfortunately, my workload doesn't allow me to have a normal sleep schedule. Being an RA usually disrupts my sleep patterns too. Conduct incidents and rounds don't really allow for sleep.

I wouldn't turn to prescription sleep aides to solve my problems because I don't think that's the solution, but I do wish there was someway to explain to my professors that 120 pages of reading and an essay in one night could be considered student abuse.

...I hope to write more later, but I'm in need of a pretty solid nap.

Until next time, Sweet Dreams.

--The Sleep Deprived Student

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Cranky

"There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscious."
~French Proverb

I am exhausted. I am stressed. The combination to the two equates to the fact that I am cranky. Very cranky. Not to mention, the four hours of reading in front of me certainly isn't the mood enhancer I'm looking for. Now that you've read my disclaimer, please move to the next paragraph.

I'm finding so many disappointments in my university community. Maybe it is the early onset of Senioritis. Hopefully not, because no medication could possibly cure that (and even if it could, health insurance certainly wouldn't cover it.) Still, my sense of disenchantment and lack of motivation is astonishing to me because I have never faced it before.

This was brought about through my entry into the honors program of my university. I've been assigned mountains of extra work for three words on my diploma - three words that after I enter the workforce, no one but my first employer and myself will remotely care about. And, somehow, graduating Suma Cumlate sounds cool anyway, even without graduating through the honors program. Why do I need the extra three word addition to validate myself.

The truth is, I don't. I know it will only matter for a bit, and will become insignificant when I enter my first job. The truth is, I need it to prove myself - to prove that I'm more intelligent than your average student. I'm doing it for a shallow reason. For that, I am embarrased.

Still, when I think about the reasons, I'm sure very few people do it for self-betterment. Focusing on the course work alone would provide that. So is it really that bad?

Short entry today, I know. I'll be back with a vengence when the homework and two jobs ease up a bit.

Until next time, sweet dreams.

--The Sleep Deprived Student