The Rocket

Issue date: 3/10/06 Section: Opinion

Jess Rupell - Staff Writer

Let's talk about sleep. In my opinion, there's absolutely nothing like curling up in soft, freshly washed sheets and pulling that big comforter snug against your chin, while pillows surround your body. Laying your head down on the pillow is the ending point of the day, as you slowly drift off into a lusciously peaceful slumber.

Sounds wonderful, eh? At least until the disgusting beeping of your alarm clock decides to awaken your serene resting time.

It's funny how our perceptions on sleep change over time. I can remember begging my mom to stay up an extra half hour to watch a television show, and now, I am begging myself to get my work done as fast as possible so I can go to bed before midnight.

Honestly, I am totally exhausted and drained as I am writing this very article, just wishing it would magically type itself, yet I must push on. My average bedtime: around 1 a.m. My daily awakening time: 7:45 a.m. I know this is still probably under the "allotted" number of hours a person my age should sleep, but I do get a decent amount of sleep.

Yet every morning I have a hard time getting myself to get up and stay up without feeling the urge to lie back down. It's been a huge struggle for me, and the only solution I have found that works is to set my alarm about 15 minutes early, just so I can lie back down for a few more minutes of peace before my alarm roars its unruly sounds again.

As kids, however, many of us couldn't stay in bed past 6 or 7 a.m., even on the weekends. At least this was the case with my younger sister, Kelly, whom I swore couldn't sleep long enough for even my mom to keep up. However, she too has begun to "cross over" into the teenage stages of sleeping, where at least 10 to 12 hours of sleep is needed per night to function correctly.

I know that much of this is physiologically written into our bodies and that certain ages require a certain amount of sleep. But it has been proven time and time again that out of all the groups of people, college students are the ones who are most deprived of sleep.

Perhaps it is due to our partying, extracurricular activities or procrastination of work, causing us to pull all-nighters. Even for those who don't procrastinate and who simply study and write papers and complete lab assignments for hours upon hours a night, simply to keep up with the their workloads, it's still exhausting.

And, sad to say, I guess there will always be something that will keep us busy and awake for too many hours in one day. Life is a never-ending checklist, and is certainly tiring.

So I guess the only thing we can do (without drastically changing our daily lives) is to merely enjoy the comforts of our warm, cushiony beds and soft, fluffy pillows for the precious hours we do get to spend in their presence.

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