The only thing worse than not getting enough sleep is people telling you-you’re not getting enough sleep.
I’m being honest here: I know I don’t get enough sleep. I know that as surely as I know the sky will lighten in the morning and darken at night. I also know how bad for my health lack of sleep is. I know that sleeplessness leads to decreased mental function. I know that less than eight hours can leads to negative effects many years down the line. Trust me, I know.
I really, truly do not need people to remind me of this because I know levels of exhaustion that they can never tell me. Tiredness for me is so frequent it feels as if it is part of me and no, I can’t simply “get more sleep.” Obviously, I’ve tried that. When it comes to situations like these, we must attack the root, not the fruit. Okay, I and many others aren’t getting enough sleep, but let’s ask us why. Could it be, perhaps, that the things we are expected to do are too great to adequately do all of it and gain the recommended amount of sleep?
It’s somehow even worse when “get more sleep” comes from my professors. I understand that they’re worried—as worried as they can be for someone they don’t know terribly well, that is—but if they’re so concerned, maybe assign less work? Stop expecting so much? I wake up for their classes; if they want me to get more sleep, cancel class. Don’t keep reminding me that I’m going to die early. I know that…
College is hard and I understand that but my main problem with my classes right now is that they’re unnecessarily difficult. There’s a natural level of difficulty to many subjects but Oxford appears to magnify that difficulty to exponential levels. That’s fine. I’ll do the work. I’ll do what’s expected of me. Just don’t expect me not to have to sacrifice something else—like my sleep—to get there.