Hi guys,
I was wondering what your sleep schedules were like to be the most productive but also mentally healthy. (Both in HS and Uni)
EX: number of hours, how the were spread out, etc.
And whether you took naps/for how long! I’m just curious :).
5 hours of sleep -usually-which works with those 12-hour, no crash, energy shots and a Bronkaid.
In high school I had a strictly enforced bedtime because my parents liked to sleep 9-10 hours if possible and claimed they couldn’t sleep knowing I was awake. I had to be in bed by 9pm unless I had work or jazz band/pit orchestra, in which case it was 10. I got up at 6am for school, 8:30am on the weekends.
Last semester varied, as I avoided going to bed with homework whenever possible, so that could be anywhere from 11-2, and I woke up an hour and a half before my first class, which was at either 9 or 10 depending on the day. This semester I only have morning classes one day of the week (my hell day, 8-3:30, and I’ll have to get up at 6am because the classroom is a hike) and tried to sleep in until 10:30, but my room faces east and too much light comes in around 8:30-9ish.
I’ve found that it doesn’t matter how much sleep I get as long as it’s consistent; I feel better getting 6-7 hours every night than 5 one and 9 another.
Also forgot to mention I can’t nap because I wake up disoriented and angry and then can’t get to sleep at night.
Honestly, my sleep pattern has always been deplorable.
In high school, I slept at around 1AM–sometimes earlier, sometimes later–and woke up to a set alarm clock at 6:30AM. I often skipped breakfast because I had my bus to catch at 7AM; but if I did have breakfast, it would be a quick bowl of cereal. So, this adds up to approximately 5.5 hours of sleep on weekdays. Then I frequently had extracurricular tournaments on Saturday, which meant 2-3 hours of sleep on Friday nights due to tournament preparation. Thus, Sunday was my day to catch up on sleep. However, since I held board positions for several organizations, I usually had early Sunday morning meetings/calls, so I took long naps on Sunday afternoons and then tried to be as productive as possible with homework during the evening/ night.
As a freshman at Harvard, my sleep schedule is far more shifty. Nowadays, I’d say I most often sleep at around 3AM and wake up to a set alarm clock at 7AM. I like to start my day early for a number of reasons–to prepare myself for the life of a working adult, to feel active and not sluggish, to feel “hard-working” or “successful” so that I inadvertently become those two traits, etc. I’ll then usually take a power nap for 1-2 hours in the afternoon/evening. However, sometimes I pull all-nighters to cram for tests, sometimes I sleep very early and wake up at 4:30-5AM, etc. Earlier in the year, I experimented a lot with my sleep–like working at night and sleeping during the day, sleeping very little at night and taking spread-out half-an-hour naps during the day, staying awake for 36+ hours and then sleeping a lot the following day, etc. In the end, I found my current sleep pattern to be the best in terms of my health, happiness, and productivity–plus, I have breakfast everyday!
I don’t think I, by any means, represent the typical Ivy League student when it comes to sleep. Some of my friends go to bed very late and wake up very late, and some of my friends get 8+ hours of sleep daily. I think the source of my sleep problems is that I tend to be very unproductive during certain hours of the day, and then find myself having to stay up very late or wake up very early. I also tend to waste a lot of time doing busy work, like spending extra hours color-coating and formatting my notes, even when the ROI is practically null.
It’s mostly a personal choice thing. One of my kids stays up and works all night but doesn’t take any classes that start before noon so sleeps from 4am-11am most days. The other is an early bird and picks all 8am classes but goes to bed by 11 or 12. One works ahead on everything so is always doing the work assigned on the day it is assigned and the other usually does it the day it is due. They both tend to work all weekend taking half a day to do something fun with friends and go out 2 nights a week either to parties or campus stuff. One studies in social groups and the other does not. It really depends on major though. They both are in “hard” majors at the their schools and seem to have more work than friends in the less difficult majors.
I smiled when reading “ROI is practically null”
I’m not an Ivy League student, but I strongly believe that we NEED to sleep, ideally for 8 hours a night. I believe that students at MIT and Podunk U would agree with me. My kid, who attends a rigorous college and earns straight A’s, definitely sleeps every night. In HS, she slept every night for 7-8 hours. She goes to a non-Ivy school though, so perhaps it’s different for Ivy League students.
“I also tend to waste a lot of time doing busy work, like spending extra hours color-coating and formatting my notes, even when the ROI is practically null.”
It’s reassuring to know that even Harvard students do things with 0 ROI.
In high school, I slept 6.5 hours pretty much every night. Bed at midnight, wake up at 6:30, 7:17 start time. This worked pretty well for me. On weekends I wouldn’t need to sleep in later than 10a.m.
At Princeton, my sleep schedule has gotten a lot worse, probably due to a combination of more work and later classes in the morning. I try to sleep by 1a.m., although I’ve slept as late as 2 or even 3a.m. (never pulled an all nighter though). I wake up around 9ish most days, since most semesters I’ve had 10a.m. classes. I’ve actually found that when I had an 8:30a.m. class two days a week last semester, my entire schedule just felt better, so I’m gonna chase that feeling. When I’m home for breaks during college, I pretty much sleep until noon every day.
I always like to block out eight hours whenever possible. If you don’t sleep for eight, great! Now you have a bonus hour or two which you can use to exercise, pleasure read, or relax in some way. If you do need all eight, make sure you are getting it or you will suffer over the long-term.
Not to be sounding like an alarmist (I am!), sleep deprivation is considered a carcinogen now. And sleep deprivation could not be made up by sleeping in on weekend.
Try not to be too stressed? Try to sleep at least 7 hours in a 24-hr cycle. Good luck our future politicians/doctors/scientists/lawyers/bankers/moms and dads!