It’s 2 a.m. on a Wednesday night (or rather, a Thursday morning), and I finally start feeling my eyelids start to droop. “Time to go to bed,” I think. “Finally.” I shut my laptop, pull out a sweater and jeans for the next day and climb up to my lofted bed. After making sure my alarm is set for 7 a.m., I pop in my headphones and settle in for another night of getting just enough sleep to get by.
“How did I get here?” was a frequent thought of mine the first few weeks of college. My high school self would have been absolutely horrified at the state of my once carefully maintained sleep schedule. For the most part, throughout high school, I followed the same normal nightly routine — homework done by 10 p.m., followed by a cup of tea and a TV show before turning in at 11 p.m. But that blissful routine was doomed to die the moment I stepped foot on Notre Dame’s campus. Between evening club meetings, spontaneous night workouts and impromptu two-hour conversations with friends in the hall lounge, my 11 p.m. bedtime slowly extended to midnight, then 1 a.m. and finally 2 a.m. as I consistently struggled to find enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted.
Although it feels like I’ve adapted to this weird semi-nocturnal lifestyle, I would honestly prefer not to be wide awake in the middle of the night. Besides, it definitely feels like something is off during the day as I go about my schedule. Maybe it’s the need for caffeine, the midday slump or the struggle for mental clarity when my brain is still foggy with sleep. “But why go to bed earlier knowing I’ll be lying awake for hours, not tired until the clock strikes 2 a.m.? Why wouldn’t I stay up and be productive as long as I’m conscious?” I reason with myself. “Even just talking to friends seems to be a better use of my time than simply lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep. And so the cycle continues.
I know I am far from the only student at Notre Dame who struggles with sleep, and I think it’s time for us to get our priorities straight. We already know it’s important to prepare ourselves for certain things — studying before a test, for example, or practicing consistently with your sports team before a big game. It’s obvious why we do these things: Taking time to make sure we are mentally ready for a task increases the likelihood that we will perform well on it. But why, if we are so committed to dedicate extensive amounts of time preparing for these academic and athletic activities, do we consistently fail to prepare for something as simple as waking up the next morning?
Perhaps the answer lies in the apparent conflict that exists between sleep and other activities. After all, it seems like allocating time to one demands taking time from the other. But they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Being a dedicated student or a star athlete doesn’t mean you can’t get sleep; in fact, dedicating your time to other endeavors actually requires that you be well-rested. Sleep rejuvenates our bodies and refreshes our minds, preparing us for the next day’s flurry of work and plethora of tasks to complete. As I’ve learned the hard way — and I’m sure many of you have too — putting sleep last on the priority list is a surefire path to burnout.
It is important to realize that it is possible to be productive without cutting down on precious hours of sleep. Increasing productivity during the day does not require more time, but rather more fruitful time. In other words, maximizing the hours in your day does not require you to infringe on those which should be allocated to sleeping; instead, productivity can be achieved by prudently using the time we are given. And so, although my advice as an unseasoned freshman may understandably fall on deaf ears, I’d like to offer in closing the top three tips that have helped the most in improving my productivity so far this semester without cutting down on sleep:
1. Eliminate distractions. It’s easy to get things done when you can work uninterrupted. If you really want to get things done, set aside a period of time each day in which you will power off your cell phone, leave your friends and focus on a single task. It might seem hard at first, especially if you’re used to constantly checking your phone or pausing to chat with people. But I promise that if you stick to it, both your quality and quantity of work produced will greatly improve.
2. Be strategic about socializing. Building relationships with the people around you is one of the best parts of being at college, so make sure you are prepared to take advantage of lots of social opportunities. At the same time, it’s important to establish some general boundaries for yourself, especially during the week, so you don’t get so carried away with friends that you never open your homework. The way I have balanced this is by getting meals, working out and studying with my friends during the week and devoting time to larger social activities like going to the football games on the weekends. By pairing friendship with productive activities when needed, you will still be able to get things done without missing out on the chance to build connections and share memories with the people around you.
3. Embrace your ideal environment, but be flexible. I have found that it is incredibly difficult for me to study in my room, probably because it’s a space I have come to associate with rest and relaxation. In my subsequent quest for better study spaces, I have learned a lot about the type of environment that helps me be the most productive. After exploring silent library floors, the dull roar of Duncan Student Center, sunny benches beside the lake and various undergraduate buildings, I have come to realize that I do my best work when I am in an environment with minimal noise and few people. But sometimes staying in the same spot for too long causes me to lose motivation. I think it’s important for each person to find the type of place that works best for them and embrace it, but also vary where they work from time to time. Even if you normally do your best work in the library, maybe take your laptop outside on a sunny day. Grab a coffee and work on your paper in the café for an hour. Change up your environment so you won’t feel stuck or get bored with your surroundings; you’ll be surprised how much a new point of view inspires and motivates you.
Deciding how we will spend our time is important, and the choice is unique to each person. But whether we prioritize academics, athletics, volunteering, social life or something else, sleep is the underlying thread that weaves them all together. Sleep at night enhances our experiences during the day — it heightens our mental acuity, decreases stress and balances our hormones, to name a few. We want to enjoy every moment of this exciting journey that is life, but at some point, trading hours of sleep at night for hours of pleasure during the day sours our daytime experiences with fatigue and burnout. It’s important to strike a balance between sleep at night and tasks during the day that will allow us to enjoy life to its fullest. For me, maybe lights-out at 11 p.m. is no longer feasible, but staying up until 2 a.m. every night seems excessive and also unnecessary for optimal productivity. I plan to take my own advice on prioritizing sleep, and, if you want to do your best on midterms this week, so should you.
Noirin Dempsey is a freshman from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin currently living in McGlinn Hall. When she’s not studying English and journalism, she can usually be found playing piano in the McGlinn chapel, wandering the snack aisle at Trader Joe’s or watching the Chicago Bears lose football games. You can contact Noirin at ndempsey@nd.edu.
