Zombie Students: Sleep Deprivation

By Vanessa Herrera

You close your textbook, relieved that you can finally put it away and go to sleep. However, something triggers in your mind reminding you about that horrendous five page paper due for some ridiculous reason at 8 o’clock in the morning. Glancing at the clock you realize it’s already past midnight. Guess it’s time to brew another cup of coffee.

Photo Courtesy of nytimes.com

As college students, we are known as a species that can run off of three hours of sleep. Whether we like it or not, the work has to get done. With 24 hours in a day, how is it possible that we run out of time leading us to all-nighters and multiple cups of coffee? The truth is, the majority of college students do not manage their time well, an issue most do not even realize they have.

Photo Courtesy by wifflegif.com

From personal experience, I realized I wasted a lot of time, like actually A LOT. When I was a freshman, I went from having no homework in high school to a pile of work as high as Mount Everest in college. Of course I thought I could get it all done at night, wasting my day in shenanigans. This road lead me to getting about four hours of sleep almost every day, underestimating the true amount of work I had to get done. You must be thinking, how in the world did you manage to survive with only four hours of sleep? To tell you the truth, I actually would like to know the answer as well.

Photo Courtesy of tvrecappersanonymous.wordpress.com

The world is filled with distractions, and each day hundreds more are created. Let’s take one of our favorite social media networks, Facebook. You say you’re only going to check it for five minutes, before you know it an hour has passed and you’re stalking someone’s profile. And let’s not talk about YouTube, the place where you find yourself in the “dark side” of YouTube and can never figure out how you went from watching a music video to an eyeball getting tattooed.

Photo Courtesy by amirite.com

Our social life contributes to this plague we call procrastination as well. College is stressful and our bodies need a rest. For some strange reason deep conversations usually occur at night, talking with either your friends or even a stranger till two in the morning. Procrastination crawls onto your back and suddenly talking to your best friend at one in the morning seems like a fantastic idea.

Photo Courtesy of memepix.com

I don’t know about you, but after a long week, I love to go out with friends to either hang out or dance the night away. Nobody is going to be sleeping at ten on the weekend–the night is young and our bodies takes us till the next day.

Photo Courtesy of tumblr.com

But not everyone has the same case. With tuition skyrocketing, many find themselves with multiple jobs, with little to no time to allow procrastination as a guest. Others are involved in multiple organizations, beefing up their resumes and making sure their voices are heard.

No wonder we don’t sleep! Social media, friends, night outs, work–our lives are filled with so many factors that take up so much time. I’m not saying any of these factors are necessarily bad or that you should stop doing them, they are all just a part of the college experience. We make mistakes and learn from them. You have to find a balance as well realize what matters the most. Check your Facebook, but don’t spend over an hour viewing it. Watch a video, but don’t binge. Socialize with friends,but have a limit. Of course this will not always be possible. There will be times when we need that hour of YouTube, that 3 a.m. conversation, a marathon of Scandal, or just a simple lazy day, all resulting in extreme procrastination and no sleep. But it’s college, and even when you try to manage your time, you’ll be like me, a zombie student.