The Struggle for Sleep

As a very involved engineering student who works part time while maintaining my duties at home, I find it hard to find sleep. Coffee, Monsters, a quite place to study and all-nighters become my best friend and sleep becomes the enemy.

The average full-time student takes 12-18 credit hours, when taking 12 credit hours one is recommended to study at least 24 –36 hours per week. If we are also working a part-time job, we may be required to work 20 hours a week. With all this going on in one week where do we, college students, find the time to sleep?

However, with a little organization and time management it can become possible to squeeze some sleep in.

Studies show that the average college student needs 8 hours of sleep. Trying to get those sleep hours is possible with a heavy load if done in time increments. First, you need to make a schedule of your day/week. Make a list of what you plan on accomplishing that day or week. What you want to include are: classes, study time, and any other extra curriculum activities that will be taking place on that day or week. Lastly, this is the most important of the steps, make sure you squeeze sleep into your schedule.

Say you finished your homework the night before, don’t have any tests or quizzes until the next couple of days, this is the perfect time to squeeze it in. If your next class isn’t until the next 15 minutes, those 15 minutes that you spend talking to a friend or going to get coffee so that you can stay up in your next class, those minutes could be used for napping instead. If you leave right after your first class, go to a place near the next class and nap there. Its easy, you just got your first 15 minutes. Every minute of sleep counts and it’s much better than falling asleep in the next class. Any free moment you have can be used for sleep, you don’t have to wait until your finished with everything to get a little cat nap. No, you can do it when its most convenient to your schedule. Yeah, this may sound like common sense, but many students don’t use that time wisely. If you’re friends I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if sneak a quickie with them by. Another way you can get in some sleep is while you are studying or doing homework. Complete half of your assignment or notes and then take a 30-minute nap, you know that break you would normally take to watch a TV show you are trying to catch up on, use that time to sleep and then go back to being productive. I’ve sure have done it many times with my friends and they understand. Its all about time management and using the time wisely, don’t do pointless things when you could be getting your rest.