Sweet dreams ... we could all use more of them

This weekend, I realized my grandpa and I have a lot in common. We’ve both aged since we’ve seen each other last. We were both living in my parents’ house – me for the holiday, and him for health reasons. And we both like to sleep. A lot.

Sleep’s not something I get a lot of. In the mix of college life, it gets sacrificed. There’s so much else to do.

So often I sit, facing the bright computer screen at 11 o’clock at night, its piercing glow glaring in my eyes. My head hurts. My concentration lags. Typing each letter on the keyboard becomes an extreme mental labor. Minutes pass as little gets done. And then, the blessed burst of energy comes. I just get it done and click “Submit.”

It’s the struggle we all face.

Nationwide surveys indicate that American college students on average get 6 to 6.9 hours of sleep a night. And I might even venture to say that the average might be a little lower at an academically competitive, extracurricular-laced, party-hard college like IU.

Yet, scientists assert that teens need about eight hours of sleep each night, which seemed to me to be not only a physical impossibility, but also impractical. I had always thought that, while losing sleep was not helpful to my body, it was ultimately productive. Yes, I’d wake up grumpy and groggy; but, my work would be done. It is worth it. Right?

Wrong.

I was dreaming.

Sometimes, when tasks are piling up around you and the pressure to get everything done seems unbearable, the best thing you can do is sleep. We have to relax our minds, rest our bodies, allow ourselves time to heal. But more important than our physical condition is our individual well-being.

When we don’t sleep, it becomes harder and harder to love. Our patience thins. Our ability to empathize diminishes. Our concentration is consumed entirely with thoughts of our own exhaustion. We’re bad friends. A lack of sleep causes us to be short in our interaction, bitter in our thoughts and generally downcast.

But with sleep, we don’t even look the same. We’re more considerate, more relaxed, more focused and more optimistic.

We’d be better learners. If we all got a few extra hours, there’d be more smiles – and less hoodies, sweatpants and messy buns – on campus.

I must clarify, I’m not advocating laziness or procrastination. That’s not the point. The point is prioritizing.

We need to consider what really needs to be done. And scheduling our waking hours more effectively could allow us more time to recharge. We need to choose sleep.

It’s not easy. I’ll be the first to admit it. But if you need help finding a good place to start, I have just the idea for you. Close the blinds, log off of Facebook, put down the IDS and see if the extra hour can’t make a difference. Sweet dreams.