College student or not, you need sleep. More than that, you need a full night’s rest, and that means those three hours you may have squeezed in last night do not count.

I know all too well how detrimental having sleep debt is to my health and to everyday life. In high school, I eventually went from getting nine hours to eight hours, then to seven, then six, then five, then four, then three, and so on. You can supposedly recover your “sleep debt” (the hours you have lost), but if you have accumulated as many hours as I have, it will be nearly impossible. Think about it. Every day one would need to sleep my required nine hours and then an additional two hours or so. With work, school, and everything else happening in our lives, how can anyone afford to sleep for nearly half a day every day for an indefinite number of months or even years?

Unable to ever truly make up my sleep debt, I have clearly observed the terrible effects of not getting enough rest. I used to pride myself on my memory; now, I can always count on forgetting what someone said right after they say it at least once a day. I have poorer study habits than I used to, mostly because I tend to take long naps when I could be studying for exams. The bags under my eyes don’t seem to go away anymore, which means I look as tired as I feel all the time. And of course, I am tired all the time. I used to play many different sports when I was younger, and even then, I never felt as energy-drained after practices as I do just trying to concentrate in lectures.

The main reason for most students’ lack of sleep is putting way too many things on their plates. In other words, the combination of units we take as well as all the extracurricular activities, including work and clubs we are involved in, can really take a toll on us. Rather than performing our best in just a few things, many of us end up doing the bare minimum to accomplish a battery of résumé-worthy activities.

My excuse has always been: “As long as I love and am passionate about what I’m doing, then I don’t mind losing a few hours tonight.” But at Berkeley, the interesting things to do and the hours lost stack up. I am sure most of you are familiar with the dreaded triangle whose angles represent socializing, studying, and sleeping. Choose sleep now, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to enjoy doing the things that used to be so fun.

Article by Lydia Hu

Feature Image Source: Sleepzoo