Unclutterer: With all the things we want to do (and need to do) with our days, sometimes sleep gets shorted. I’m not talking about a household with a new baby — I’m talking about a household like my own where I’m balancing commitments related to work, family, friends, pets, household maintenance, exercise, etc. So many of us sometimes skip on sleep, but the more I read, the more that seems like a really bad idea.
15 comments:
Yeah sleep!! People always seem to think I'm crazy when I emphasize how important sleep is. And I know this sounds crazy, but I try to always make sure I get 7 to 8 hours of sleep. I'm best at 8, but 7 is acceptable during those crazy busy times. I know that itself sounds crazy -- how does one be crazy busy and still get sleep? Well, like the article says, prioritize it! When I don't get enough sleep my work suffers. I get less efficient, I get sloppy, and I get grouchy and ill…and then I really don't get anything done. When I keep to a schedule, lets say going to bed by 11 and waking up at 6:30 every day…well, I get a lot done. A lot more done than if I had stayed up all night. To me this just seems obvious, and granted, I've been able to learn how my body best functions and stick to it while I know it is much more difficult for some. I guess I just recommend taking your body's health into account first and foremost, and though it doesn't seem possible, or maybe even logical, you'll get everything done faster and better when you're on top of your game.I think people should stop bragging about staying up all night to do work -- did you actually really work all night and if so, how much did you really get done? And so that people don't yell at me, I know that for some people staying up works -- and that's awesome! I'm jealous in fact because I just can't do it. But for those like me who can't function after a certain point in the day, getting on a schedule and getting sleep is the most awesome, best thing I've ever done for myself.
Reading this article just made me feel bad about the amount of sleep I am getting. The article also lead me to believe that it was going to touch on both time management and sleep and it didn't which was a disappointment. I hear all the time that I need to get seven or eight hours a night, I just still feel it is too much and takes up to much of my day. This then leads into the part where I am told that if it was taking up too much of my life then I must not be managing my time well. I still disagree with that though. For first semester of classI had class from 9-4:30 and with all the home work I wouldn't normally finish until 12 o'clock then I used some time to calm my self down and go to bed at a time where I would get six hours. If I spent a little less time on homework or didn't do other things then I could reach a point where I got 8 hours a night however that free time was worth that extra loss of sleep. It was worth an hour less of sleep to do something other than theatre and to expand my horizon in other areas. I think right now I am fine with comprising some of my health to have that extra hour of none school work.
I know that I am guilty of this, not making sleep a priority. I had never thought about the "cultural ethos" behind skipping sleep, but it really does effect the way we think. It seems to be, almost like common knowledge, that a person can put off or replace sleep very easily with coffee or by forcing oneself to stay awake. I know for myself, I tend to try and replace 4 hours of sleep I need with one of those awesome 20 minute power naps and coffee, which I know is not good for my health on a long term basis. Sleep should be a priority because lack of sleep results in higher level of stress and poorer health.
7 is my lucky number of how many hours I need of sleep to function at my best. And quite frankly I think as students this article is something that we should all take very seriously. Healthy life choices is something that I feel that we at Purnell don't prioritize, and that's something that culturally within our community we need to change. Students need to realize that quality and efficiency in which work is done can dramatically increase or decrease based on whether or not you're physically and mentally taking care of yourself. People can make arguments that they can produce the same quality of work or better under time crunches or situations with duress. But when you are operating at maximum capacity chances are you're going to have better output. When I was in undergrad I use to pull the most ridiculous work sessions with the worst possible time management skills. Now I cant even fathom getting less than 6 hours of sleep without really screwing up my day and what I can accomplish. Developing these habits now will help make your professional practices in the future much stronger and suited for success. Because in the industry no one cares if you're sleeping or eating, they are primarily concerned with the quality of work you're producing. So you need to develop whatever life and professional practices that will ensure the quality of work that not only is exceeds their standards but gets you more employment opportunities.
I do my best to make sleep a priority but like most people I usually come up short. This article makes me think of my father who has been stressing the importance of sleep for many years now. When I was running cross country and track back in high school I always got 8 hours of sleep a night. If I didn't then I would really suffer while I was trying to go for a run or even race the next day. I suppose my mindset was because I was doing a very intense physical activity I would allow myself time for sleep. Now that I'm at CMU I really don't have time for sleep, couple this with the mindset that I'm not doing anything really physically tiring like running, and I end up sleeping much less. I know that this is not really healthy and certainly it makes doing quality work much harder, but theres not allot I can do.
I feel like the amount of sleep I get the night before is not proportionate to how awake or how alert and able to function the next day. It's not disproportionate, but it's certainly not proportionate either. Sleep is one factor that affects these, and while it may be the most important one, it isn't the only one. I'd rather get a good amount of exercise and eat well than sleep for 8 hours a day, and it works out for me thus far.
When I have work to do and choose to sleep instead, I usually regret it in the morning. So I always choose to do work instead of sleep. After all, that's what weekends and breaks are for, right? The result of that is that I often run a sleep deficit, and I feel it. I know when I'm on the verge of passing out in class- not in the sense of falling asleep, but in the sense of losing control of my body because of lack of energy. So at some point, I do choose sleep over work. But I often don't, and the four hours a day of sleep I get catches up to me eventually. Do I regret my decision? No, work needs to get done. Will I in the future? I hope I don't get to that point, but if I do, I'll know to take responsibility for it.
I think for the vast majority of people sleep IS a priority. Our problem is just our list of priorities and which is the highest on that list. For most of us its work. We've been taught that our work is our utmost priority, followed by food then sleep then social lives. I know for me that sleep wins as far as priorities ( most of the time) having said that I will always sacrifice sleep at the expense of a project that needs to get done. This whole issue also brings up the touchy subject of time management. In theory if we managed our time better then sleep could be achieved however I find myself with a schedule that im okay with where i might wait to more along the lines of slightly last minute when it comes to a project and maybe ill sacrifice some sleep for it but the time i spend not doing the project is generally time that i need to take for myself in order to keep my sanity. So i guess i could add that to my priorities list, "my sanity".
This article seemed like it was going to be more on how to manage your time so you can get more sleep and it was not so that was a little bit of a let down. Personally, I do my best to make sleep a top priority but sometimes there are just more pressing things that need to get down and sleep happens to get pushed aside. As students we have a rigorous course load and we just need more hours in the day so the only way we can get that is take away some of the hours we had set aside for sleep. Hopefully, I can start working on getting more sleep and still having enough time during the day to get everything done.
Sleep is extremely important and I will be the first to say that I hate how important it is and I don't get enough of it. I use to (and still do) wish there was 36-48 hours in a day because I'm just slow and don't mind working for longer and then I would probably also have enough time to sleep. I know that I pile way to many things into my day that sometimes, I go insane. It's definitely not healthy but last year, there was 1 or 2 weeks where a friend and I would sleep every other night in order to "prioritize our time correctly". Our bodies had adjust to a 48 hour day and we both did really well on our assignments but I don't think it helped us health wise in the long run. Sleep is important but sometimes I wonder if I need sleep if I want to get to where I want to be... then I remember, if I want to even make it there, sleep is kind of a requirement.
It doesn't help that I can't sleep past 10 AM Sure, it's great to have an internal alarm because I'm never really late for anything and I never sleep through a day but it also really sucks because every time I have the chance to sleep in past 10, my body wont let me no matter how little sleep I might have gotten.
Needing to prioritize sleep is absolutely true. My time management skills are something that I pride myself on. Generally on crew nights I can get a good eight hours in, and without crew it is usually a few more. Everyone works slightly differently but I know that personally if I do not get enough sleep then the work that I do manage to get done the next day will happen much slower and come out at a lesser quality than it could have. Honestly I think getting more sleep is such a more effect use of time because you can be so productive when well rested. Granted there are special circumstances that require missed sleep every once in a while, but skimping on sleep chronically can be seriously detrimental.
I find it great that people are realizing more and more how much sleep they actually need. I realize it's some times hard to keep up with sleep in the vigorous program at Carnegie-Mellon University, but it's still absolutely possible to get 8 hours of sleep every night. This article still is great at bringing the point back up that students need sleep to keep their lives in order and to keep a sound mind.
Sleep? I guess we've had a bit of a rocky relationship this past week, but we're settling our differences now and can honestly say that I think it is going to workout between the two of us. It seems that in the past I spent a little more time on it and now that I'm here and there is so much work to do our relationship has started to slip from about 8 hours a night to about 5-6 a night. In fact some nights I neglect it all together, I know its not good for either of us but really, who has time these days? After reading this article I think that I am ready to work a little harder at my relationship with my sleep, I just wish that it would understand that I can't always prioritize it ahead of my work a little more and quit trying to make me tired all the time.
I think this article is one of the first that mentions the "Cultural ethos" of sleep so specifically, and I think it's really important. At my undergrad, there was absolutely the mentality that boasting about how little sleep you'd gotten that week, and how many all-nighters you've pulled and how many pages you were able to write in 8 hours was something to be proud of. I was absolutely guilty of it, and for a lot of people, it became a point of pride and something they were "known" for in the department. It seems stupid (and it is), but I think that's a culture that pervades a lot of universities as well as parts of the professional world. It might not be to such a huge extent, but there is still the mentality that taking time to rest or take personal time or vacation days is something that shows you're a slacker. There have recently been a few articles about the European system vs. the American system and how many vacation days and paid leave and how long the work day is in each place. It's absolutely true that in American, the number one priority is always work and showing others how productive you are, and that's what has caused this cultural sleep mentality problem.
Sleep is something I always make a priority. However, I will say that even though I get sleep I do wish I was able to get significant;y more than I do. I knew coming into a program like the one that I'm in that chance of getting a full nights sleep (8-9 hours) is a rare occurrence. With that in mind I came up with some sleeping rules. First, no project is worth pulling an all-nighter. The way I look at an all nighted is as killing your body in the hope of being productive. Second, aim for getting enough sleep that you can count the number of hours on two hands. Finally, when scheduling out your week factor in your sleep time instead of assuming you will get it. It is with these rules I have been well reseted every day for class.
I'm personally really big on sleep and I'm also a person who needs a lot of sleep to feel good (at least 7 hours a night).
What I found out was that if I don't prioritize my sleeping hours, I just find myself miserable through the whole day because I am cranky and tired and not my best. A few years ago I decided that I'm not going to live life like that, and for me at least sleeping is really of the highest priority.
I think a lot of drama students make the mistake of not sleeping enough in order to get hw done, however it doesn't make sense to me, because I don't think you can do quality work if you are sleep deprived.
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