It's 5:30 Saturday morning, and I'm still awake. I wish I could say I was up at this time so I could have a nice productive Saturday, but that's hardly the case. Well, at least I can say I'm still awake because I went to a wild party last night. Wait, no, I didn't. I stayed home to catch up on my work.
I've been awake at this time every night for the last week and a half. As a freshman, this would not have bothered me. I was a typical freshman. I didn't go to classes, I just hung out with other Wilkeson people all night.
Now I'm a junior. I do my work because I don't want to be here for a fifth year taking classes. Partying is another story.
The first night in the stretch I was awake late doing work. The same thing goes for the second and third nights. After that, I was done for. I had completely turned my sleep schedule around. Today I woke up at 11 a.m. after going to sleep only four hours earlier. I then spent my day on campus and took a nap in the middle of the evening.
What was I thinking? I'm begging for insomnia.
A CBSNews.com article from May 2002 states that "occasional insomnia affects somewhere between 36 and 56 percent of American adults." So roughly half of us aren't sleeping at night.
I know most of us are catching up on our sleep in class or crashing on the weekends, but that's no good. I've gotten away with some of my best sleeping in class, but I've been busted a couple times, too.
Classic sleeping-in-class moments include that time in Astronomy when I was asleep but still knew the answer was Jupiter, and in World Civ. when I almost fell out of my chair. Thank you to the girl I sat next to that day.
Student Health Services at UB defines insomnia on its Web site as "the inability to sleep or to sleep satisfactorily." It goes on to discuss this condition a little further, saying, "Sleeplessness is also common during pregnancy," but since I'm a guy and I'm not in the movie "Junior," I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant.
Next they mention problems like arthritis, asthma, leg cramps and arguing with family members. Nope, nope, nope again and nope. My family is in Queens, and I don't want to pay the phone bill.
Next we have "exciting programs on television," which I don't generally watch and then caffeine, which I've eliminated because I thought that was why I wasn't sleeping. Alas, I was wrong. The site also offers, as a potential reason, "great amounts of alcohol or a large meal close to bedtime." My roommate and I are in the bad habit of cooking late at night, so this may contribute to my problem, but I don't generally drink during the week.
Student Health concludes the page on insomnia with a few tidbits to help you avoid sleep problems. The tips include some of the more obvious ones like cutting back on caffeine, avoiding alcohol in the evening, not eating late evening meals and avoiding naps during the day. They also include some I had not realized, such as exercising before bed, not using your bedroom as a place to work and taking a warm bath - not a shower - before bed. The list is rounded out with the classic treatment of drinking warm milk before bed.
People living on campus have no choice but to use their bedrooms as a place to work since they're in the dorms or apartments, where your room is your only personal space. I can't just move my desk out into the living room; I don't think my roommate would appreciate that. Exercise generally gives me energy instead of making me sleepy at night, so I don't plan on following that one, and I generally shower before I go to bed. Besides, I wouldn't take a bath in any of the tubs on campus, would you? I didn't think so.
I'm going to continue to shower at night, there is no way I'm adding exercise to my nighttime routine, and I don't have many options as to where I can do my work. I guess there really isn't much that I can do about my sleep issues. Perhaps I should just stop doing work altogether. I may be on to something here.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
