As finals are quickly approaching, I have come to a realization about how good I am at sleeping. I mean, it’s always been my special talent, but over these past few weeks my ability to sleep anywhere, at any time, and in any way has become frightfully apparent. Although some may say that this so-called "sleep" is rare in college, I feel like I am getting more sleep than ever, just not the suggested 8 consecutive hours. If I get a full five hours of sleep at night I'll most likely end up taking an hour nap here, a two-hour nap there, and even the dreaded nap that turns into waking up in a panic attack because I fell asleep for six hours at 3:00 in the afternoon.
Four and five-year-olds don’t know how good they have it. They go to school, learn how to do arts and crafts, sing a couple songs, and then go to sleep. Like, they are forced to sleep. Why can’t that still be a thing in high school and college? From a young age, students are told that the key to retaining information is getting a sufficient amount of sleep, yet they are assigned mountains of work each night. Students have extracurricular activities to participate in and social lives to maintain on top of classes and assignments. At the end of the day that seems to never end there are only a few (if any) hours left to sleep. Thus, naps throughout the day are crucial.
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Sleep is the perfect way to relax and, most obviously, to re-energize. It's only natural that people, especially busy students, take every available opportunity to catch up on some Z's. In college, any spare time is nap time. It's that simple. Do you have 15 minutes before that next class? It's nap time. Are there are only 3 hours left to turn in that paper that you haven't started? It's nap time (to relax of course). The gift of having the ability to fall asleep at any time regardless of the situation is most cherished during the times when students either have reached a block and need to take a much needed short break or when they are finally done with one project and need to reward themselves before starting the next.
This gift is not only one that should be cherished but one that should be respected. After all it takes a lot of courage to take naps in the middle of the library or on a couch in the lobby of the science building. Napping on a bench or in a desk isn't ideal, but, sometimes, it must be done. Ultimately, the best thing about being able to fall asleep anywhere is that you don't care what other people think of you. Sure, tons of people may laugh or think that you're weird, but, honestly, they're probably just jealous that they can't sleep anywhere.
If sleeping was a competition then I'm sure that I, along with all the other sleep deprived students, would win easily. There is actually no competition. All that we have to do is find a place to curl up, set 5 alarms for a 20-minute nap, and close our eyes.
