Everyone knows the saying “You can sleep when you’re dead.” It’s a popular phrase on college campuses, especially on Thursday nights when about half of the population is going out, and the other half is trying to avoid it. The challenge of getting enough sleep during the semester is probably one of the most difficult things a college student must do.
Every week you start off with good intentions. You really do! You set out a plan: homework until about 11 and then right to bed. You figure that with an ample amount of sleep each night, you’ll be able to power through all of your classes, homework, studying, extracurricular activities and even a daily workout.
Boy, were you wrong...
Realistically, being tired all the time in college is unavoidable. And it's the worst. 
First of all, the idea that you will not get distracted while attempting to accomplish everything before a reasonable hour is just a lie. You are lying to yourself. This has never before happened to any college student. Whether you’re with friends or in the library alone, things seriously become much more entertaining when you’re supposed to be studying. Honestly, it seems like everyone and everything is out to ruin your focus.
With such a constant flow of work, it’s always hard to decide whether to prioritize sleeping or studying. In general, it seems that the next day you will always wish you chose differently. If you went to bed, you’ll still be tired and wish you had just finished the work. If you did the work, you’ll wish that you had gotten a few extra hours of sleep.
You’ll find yourself falling asleep in every class. While you may have had endless energy in your younger years, that is simply not true anymore. It becomes impossible to stay awake, and your philosophy teacher’s droning lecture is probably not going to help your case.
It will become crucial to start drinking some form of caffeine every few hours. You may have never needed it in high school, but in high school you were actually getting 8 hours of sleep.
The worst part about our lack of sleep is that we’re still expected to think during the day. It can be very difficult to power through an exam when you’ve been up all night studying for it. Half the time it seems like sleep is more important than studying in terms of making any sense the next day.
Some nights you will be able to get a solid night of sleep. I’m talking 7+ hours. That’s very impressive on a college student’s schedule. As you fall asleep (at a reasonable hour) you dream of how productive, alert and attentive you will be to each and every task that is lined up for the following day.
When you wake up the next morning you may feel good for the first three hours of your day, but don’t be fooled. By midday you will be fueling up like usual, slowly trying not to succumb to an afternoon nap. The truth is, you'll never catch up on sleep mid-semester.
Not a day goes by where someone asks, “How are you?” and you genuinely answer “Tired.” The nice thing is, everyone deems that to be a perfectly good answer.
As we all know, being tired isn’t a good thing, especially when you’re living in such close proximity to others. People seem to go 0 to 100 in an instant when they don’t feel rested, and it’s easy to take those emotions out on roommates, friends, classmates, passerby’s, someone who accidentally touches you on the bus, etc.
Eventually, your lack of sleep will probably lead you to catch your school’s version of the plague. Then, the only thing you will be able to do is sleep!
And while it may seem like the last thing you should do, you’re most likely going to rally by the time the weekend rolls around. We’ve all been there. 8:30 on a Friday night and you’re questioning your decision to go out. Maybe you can get ahead on some homework and jump in bed early tonight… Or not. You can always take a nap on Saturday or something.
Basically, college is not the place you’re going to catch up on your beauty sleep. Realistically, your lack of sleep is probably going to make you look super tired! But that’s okay, because as they say, “You can sleep when you’re dead.” You won’t look back on the year and say, “Remember that night I got a solid 8 hours?” Holiday breaks are for sleeping. Have fun while the semester lasts.
