We all need sleep. Period. There is no getting around that basic biological fact; no amount of willpower that will make repeated all-nighters bearable or viable. Experts agree that adults our age need at least seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Habitual sleep deprivation results in more stress, a weakened immune system, abnormal weight gain or loss, increased anxiety and depressive behavior — not to mention overall poorer academic performance. Those all-nighters are not only unhealthy but ineffective in the long run. Although this information is widely known, it seems that sleep deprivation and its consequences continue to be harmfully normalized on college campuses.
Conversations among students often center on bizarre competitions in which one friend tries to prove that she is the most sleep-deprived. We have an irrational pride in being able to function on very little rest. Whether it is intended, there is an underlying feeling among students that if you are able to get seven to eight (or more!) hours of sleep on a regular basis, something is not right. Either your classes are too easy, you are not involved enough or you are a shut-in who rarely goes out and has fun at night. I do not mean to say that these accusations are explicitly or even consciously made, but Dartmouth definitely puts a bizarre stigma on getting a healthy amount of sleep.
But sleep deprivation is to be expected in college, right? It is a seemingly unavoidable part of the territory. I have had professors tell me with firmness that for every hour of class, there should be two to three hours of studying and work outside of the classroom. Whether you agree with the exact numeration, it is undeniable that on the quarter system, a lot of our learning takes place outside of class. Multiply those expectations by three or four courses, and academics alone take up roughly 20 to 30 hours each week. Even that does not ensure an excellent grade, so there is the potential to sink even more time into a course if you are struggling. Furthermore, there are teams, activities, jobs and any other number of obligations that demand incredible time commitments. Add a social life into the mix, and it is no wonder that people put sleep on the backburner. College is only a few years out of our hopefully long lives, so we are constantly reminded that we have to make as much of our time here as we can. So we pile on all of these obligations and more, and call it the college experience.
However, if your schedule is such that you cannot get at least around 50 hours of sleep on average each week, then something is wrong. We hear day in and day out from each other that it is okay to overcommit because that is simply a fact of Dartmouth life, but that kind of life is unhealthy on several counts — physically, emotionally and mentally.
I do not mean to patronize, as students can take care of themselves and we are all mature and responsible enough to manage our own schedules. Obviously, no one actively craves less sleep. Instead, this column is written with concern and consideration. Too often, people talk about getting four hours of sleep because they were cramming for a midterm, or because they were so stressed that they had to go play a few games of pong late into the night to decompress. I overhear people wishing that they could stay in on a Friday night, but suffer from a fear of missing out. While such concerns are valid, by depriving ourselves of sleep we are missing out on something much more vital — a stable, healthy body and state of mind.
So drop that superfluous club, stay in some weekends, take classes that (while challenging) you can feasibly handle; whatever you need to do and however you need to do it, just take care of yourself first and foremost. We have come here for both an excellent education and memories that will last a lifetime, but we need not lose our mind in the process.
