Student in need of advice on sleep schedule

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges of managing sleep schedules for students, particularly those who feel more productive at night but need to wake early for school. Participants share personal experiences and strategies regarding sleep patterns, productivity, and the effects of sleep deprivation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a strong preference for studying at night, citing increased productivity and successful outcomes when staying up late, but acknowledges the negative effects of sleep deprivation.
  • Another participant challenges the assumption that studying at night is necessary, suggesting that consistent sleep patterns may be more beneficial and sharing their own experience of waking refreshed after early bedtimes.
  • A participant mentions their grandfather's sleep schedule as a potential model, which involves going to bed early and waking up in the early morning hours to work, but questions the feasibility of such a schedule for a college student.
  • Some participants note the difficulty of adhering to strict sleep schedules due to class timings and the demands of student life, suggesting that flexibility may be necessary.
  • One participant reflects on their own experience of napping in the afternoon and staying up late, indicating a preference for this approach despite its challenges.
  • Another participant highlights the importance of finding a sleep schedule that accommodates the realities of being a student, noting that those with more flexible careers may have different experiences with sleep management.
  • A participant shares their struggle with being a night person and the challenges of adjusting their sleep schedule, indicating a sense of resignation to their natural tendencies.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions on the best sleep strategies, with no clear consensus on whether studying at night is beneficial or if consistent early sleep is preferable. The discussion remains unresolved, with multiple competing views on sleep management.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention various personal experiences and anecdotal evidence regarding sleep patterns, but these are not universally applicable. The discussion highlights the complexity of sleep management for students, with individual differences in productivity and lifestyle influencing opinions.

victorhugo
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I just thought, who better to ask than those who have been through this phase and deal with students on a regular basis?

Anyway, I'm just a lot more creative and productive at night, but need to get up at 8AM for school. How do I get enough sleep so that I'm not a sleep deprived zombie after a week of 4-6 hours of sleep and am able to use my night time productivity?

I'm strongly convinced that I need to find a way to study at night, because:

-My average studying was 1-2 hours a day, but when I started to nap for 1 hour in the afternoon and sleep at 2-3am, I was able to do 25 hours in 1 week! Although later I started feeling the effects of sleep deprivation...

-I'm terrible at English, but when I stayed up all night writing my essay, I ended up coming first in the year!
-I was doing a practice multiple choice for a topic in biology I have only just started studying, and I got 23/25. I was able to figure it out with logic and the power of my 3am brain...

So, what do?
 
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I think that your assumption that you need to find a way to study at night is flawed. There could be many other factors involved in the few examples that you've given such as lack of distractions, previous sleep during those events, etc. I personally find that consistent and regular sleep patterns helps me the most with respect to work and study. I have been going to sleep between 8 and 9pm for years. I wake refreshed between 3 and 5am without an alarm clock. This schedule has the added benefit of helping me to fall asleep very quickly. Try finding a sleep-study schedule that doesn't involve showing up for class half-asleep. If you really feel that you can only study at 3am, then go to bed earlier so that you can get up at that time.
 
Borg said:
I think that your assumption that you need to find a way to study at night is flawed. There could be many other factors involved in the few examples that you've given such as lack of distractions, previous sleep during those events, etc. I personally find that consistent and regular sleep patterns helps me the most with respect to work and study. I have been going to sleep between 8 and 9pm for years. I wake refreshed between 3 and 5am without an alarm clock. This schedule has the added benefit of helping me to fall asleep very quickly. Try finding a sleep-study schedule that doesn't involve showing up for class half-asleep. If you really feel that you can only study at 3am, then go to bed earlier so that you can get up at that time.
I've been thinking of doing that. My grandfather who is the principal at a university said he slept at 7pm and wake up at 1-2am, did his stuff until about 5:30am and took a nap till about 8. What do you think of that?
 
victorhugo said:
I've been thinking of doing that. My grandfather who is the principal at a university said he slept at 7pm and wake up at 1-2am, did his stuff until about 5:30am and took a nap till about 8. What do you think of that?
That sounds reasonable though I would err on the side of more sleep for a college student. consistency is key. You have to find what works for you over a long period of time.
 
victorhugo said:
I've been thinking of doing that. My grandfather who is the principal at a university said he slept at 7pm and wake up at 1-2am, did his stuff until about 5:30am and took a nap till about 8. What do you think of that?

If you only have 3.5 hours of work, sure! But the difficult part is - can you discipline yourself to go to bed at 7pm every night? Especially in university, some classes don't even start until then!
 
Dishsoap said:
If you only have 3.5 hours of work, sure! But the difficult part is - can you discipline yourself to go to bed at 7pm every night? Especially in university, some classes don't even start until then!
Yeah exactly haha. I've tried a few things and decided that it's just better to sleep a bit late and nap in the afternoon when there's time :)
_
 
victorhugo said:
Yeah exactly haha. I've tried a few things and decided that it's just better to sleep a bit late and nap in the afternoon when there's time :)
_

That's all fine and dandy and usually what I resort to, but then if you don't get time for a nap, you're useless. There are plenty of people who boast about having sleep schedules like that, but they're generally well enough adjusted in their careers that they have flexible schedules - as a student, you don't have that luxury. What I usually do is head home in the evening (say, 6PM) and then nap for a couple hours, and then stay up later.
 
Well, there you go ... I guess I always had a sneaking hunch that I was a damn .....:mouse:
The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night in diurnal species (such as humans) and in the day in nocturnal organisms (such as rodents).

I'm a night person and it doesn't seem there's a thing I can do about it.....:thumbdown:

I can easily get my days and nights completely switched around... I really don't like that, either.....:oldmad:Anyway, there is a bunch of reading on the subject, → here .....:sleep:...lol

Awakening can mean the end of sleep, or simply a moment to survey the environment and readjust body position before falling back asleep.

That's me in a nut shell.....:frown:
 
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