Cracking under pressure

<p>Anyone else out there? I'm so sleep deprived I can hardly function --- but on the plus side my grades are beautiful. Chuckle. Insane chuckle.</p>

<p>Sleep is important. Take a nap!</p>

<p>At least you are not getting any sleep and getting good grades. I’m getting no sleep and have horrible grades. ■■■.</p>

<p>I’m getting no sleep and my grades are ok… </p>

<p>I just got back an AP Calc test, class average was a 74 and I got below the average. Junior year is fun!</p>

<p>Teachers have commented on how sick I look. This is so unhealthy. And guys, this is junior year… imagine when we have to be dealing with college apps AS WELL as maintaining our GPAs :(</p>

<p>I wake up around 5am everyday to complete my h.w before going to school. I have like 3 major breakdowns every night.</p>

<p>oh, and the more you get tired, the more you procrastinate, right?</p>

<p>Um, it sounds like you guys have a really unhealthy cycle going on … I mean, everybody gets stressed out, but you need to put things in perspective. Being happy and healthy is most important. </p>

<p>If you can, I would drop a class, or ask for help whenever possible, or even just stop procrastinating so you can sleep more …</p>

<p>wait, isn’t this just standard junior year? this is basically what everyone (with an ounce of motivation) does at my school. the most important thing is not giving up :)</p>

<p>@retrohippo I am going through the same exact thing. My doctor told me to get nine OR more hours of sleep every night because sleep deprivation was making me get sick more often. I cracked up laughing and when I told my friends they cracked up too. I regularly get three or four and getting six or seven is a good day. Nine would be like a dream. Unlike you I get bad grades so the sleep deprivation isn’t worth anything… I am dying to be a second semester senior so I won’t care when I get B’s. :)</p>

<p>^not quite. junior year is stressful, and there can be a few breakdowns, sure. but if you’re getting like 5 hours of sleep EVERY night. no. major problem right there.</p>

<p>I have a different approach. Getting a lot of sleep helps me focus and finish my work/learn more efficiently, so I make an effort to go to bed at 10-10:30 (wake up at 6). That’s an average of 8 hours of sleep every night. I wake up refreshed and ready to do work. The couple of days I’ve had to stay up to midnight to finish a project, I felt like crap when I woke up the next morning. </p>

<p>Less sleep = less efficient = more to do = less sleep <- repeating cycle</p>

<p>Agreed, but how do you break out of it? Plus I can’t work in the morning :frowning:
When I can’t handle it, I take power naps. 10mn’s sleep for every hour’s work?</p>

<p>you break out of it by just… missing a few math problems? not doing SAT prep that week? I don’t know, it depends on how busy you are and what’s in you schedule. you could take a break from EC’s for a week? that probably won’t do much harm</p>

<p>Procrastinate much, ppl? To break this cycle you would have to force all your work into weekend and use your breaks. But I’m a junior more then half my break will involve some forms of hw or studying…</p>

<p>I was up until 5 on Sunday night and 1 last night. I’m pretty sure I’m at an all-time low in terms of stress. Thing is, I only have 3 classes and I don’t really do much with my life at the moment. Meh.</p>

<p>I used to be like this as a junior. I guess things have finally cooled off second semester senior year compared to junior year. Actually there are still a bunch of things to do (I’m in IB), but I feel less stressed even though college decisions are still coming out. I would advise you guys to just sleep anyway even if you have a lot of hw to do because my grades actually improved that way. But I completely understand if you’d rather just lose sleep to do everything because that’s what I did as a junior, but I was completely miserable everyday. Went to sleep regularly at 4 am and had to wake up at 7 am each day…really sucked. Don’t worry, you’ll get through it, though. End of senior year is slightly better.</p>

<p>Some days I just want to leave school and become a hobo. Or fly out the window and onto the interstate so I don’t have to deal with learning anymore. The only thing that’s keeping me sane is doing things outside of school – research, volunteering, scioly, sports. :/</p>

<p>This thread speaks to me :-’)</p>

<p>I can definitely relate. If you need time to release yourself from that vicious cycle of sleep-deprivation, try taking a “mental health day”. Just call in sick and exuse yourself from classes that day (or get your parents to vouch for you) and catch up on work and sleep early that night.</p>

<p>The trick is to not fall back, otherwise the “mental health days” start becoming regular occurrences…</p>

<p>I try not to procrastinate. This week is just bad due to midterms, applications, and tests. I haven’t done any homework yet because of TASP, and it’s almost one. I just need it to be Friday and I can get back into some normalcy.</p>

<p>Just wondering, how do you guys break down? If I’m at home, I just cry. If I’m at school or in public, I do this really creepy half crying/half laughing thing…</p>