_Emmett Ferguson is a freshman journalism major at MU. He is an opinion columnist who writes about student life for The Maneater._
Curfews were a big deal for me in high school. I was once grounded for three days for being three minutes late. All of this because my parents said I “needed sleep.” What do they know? They obviously must have been wrong, like they are about everything else. I was a special exception to sleep. I could function without it, regardless of what my parents or my tardiness to first period said.
However, like with most other things my parents turned out to be right about, everybody needs sleep. Some people can manage a little better than others without it, but overall it’s best for everyone to hit the hay at a reasonable hour.
I didn’t fully realize this until I left home, when staying up late no longer signified some sort of solemn attempt at defying parental control and being independent. I’ve had nights of great sleep here at college, nights where I wake up looking like someone from a ZzzQuil commercial. Sadly, though, I much more often have nights of terrible sleep, where I jump back in fear at the sight of myself in the mirror in the morning.
When I wake up tired, I can only think of two things—going back to bed or getting coffee. Thanks to whoever thought 8 a.m. was a good time to start classes, only one of those is an option. So I’ll make my way to the nearest caffeine oasis, get the most amount of coffee for the least amount of money (an Americano is a good choice for that), and be on my not-so-merry way.
The biggest mistake you can make with sleep in college is the famed “all-nighter.” We’ve all been there: You might not have gone to class as much as you should have, maybe didn’t really pay attention while you were there, and your notebook paper is still looking whiter than the Oscars. You figure that if you just cram in information nonstop for the next 12 hours, you’ll be fine. The material will be fresh, and you’ll scrape at least a B on the test. This is where you are wrong.
Our bodies are on something called a circadian rhythm. This means that we naturally operate in 24-hour cycles, with sleep needing to take up about a third of that cycle. The longer you go without sleep, the more your body suffers, especially your brain. When you stay up all night to study for a test the next day, your brain won’t be able to operate at its full capacity regardless of how many energy drinks you consume.
One of the things that goes first is your brain’s ability to turn short-term memory into long-term memory. You may be able to remember all the material for about an hour or so, but that’s really the extent of it. That’s why when you’re pulling that all-nighter you feel confident, but then when you actually open up the test, dread washes over you.
We all know we need sleep, but not everyone knows just how badly we need it. If you’re going to operate at full capacity, you better believe you need your eight hours. The moral of the story is get your work done early, go to bed early, and know that Red Bull only gives you wings, not As.
