Hey guys and guyettes!

I’m not sure if anyone has yet run in to this problem (you probably have..) but college can be very stressful at times, and it seems like you have to sacrifice things in order to do well in school.

Now, although this picture can be SURPRISINGLY CORRECT, (all jokes aside) I think that if you balance and manage your time well, you should be able to have all of these things and not just choose two! One thing that you really can’t let go of is enough sleep . Getting enough sleep is an incredibly important thing these days. One of my professors jokingly said one class that you don’t need to sleep, you only need to eat and drink some water and you can function daily. He was obviously trying to be funny, but it made me wonder if that was actually the case or not. After my first all-nighter at college, I realized THIS IS NOT THE CASE WHAT-SO-EVER. I was shaking due to the four monsters I had consumed, I could not pay attention in class all day, and I had this odd feeling of wanting to pass out in the middle of the hallway, but all the caffeine I had consumed would not allow me to blink let alone shut my eyes for a few. This also lead to a lack of appetite, some head aches, and over-all grumpiness. Sure, all of my work was done for the day, but I pretty much was an empty shell in a desk for the day during all of my classes. When I finally went to bed, it wasn’t a very good feeling either. For some reason falling asleep before your head hits the pillow comes off as a BAD thing.

Now that you have heard my story, here is how you can avoid a similar situation:

1) GET SOME SLEEP SILLY!
                       8-10 hours is the goal!
2) GET CONSISTENT SLEEP!
                       Studies show that people who go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time feel more refreshed each day because they got more REM sleep than those who didn’t
3) MANAGE YOUR TIME BETTER
                       If you didn’t put off the project to the night before, then there would be no need for an all-nighter. Try and space out the work as much as you can.
4) DO NOT SLEEP IN
                       I know, I know.. there is no better feeling than waking up at noon right? WRONG. Oversleeping can be just as bad as not getting enough sleep and can totally throw your body off for sleep the next day!

So tonight set your alarms, and get to bed around 11 or midnight. Your video games and movies won’t go anywhere (I promise).

~James (Mr. Sandman)