Ethan Bennett

Faridah Dada

Jour 21

There is a certain meme that has been circulating the Internet for quite some time. It's a

close up picture of Patrick Star's bloodshot eyes with the bold caption "SLEEP IS FOR THE

WEAK".

Though not necessarily weak, it is unfortunately the reality.

Many college students suffer from lack of sleep, caused by heavy workloads, busy

schedules, and even personal struggles.

According to a study done by the Notre Dame College, around 47 million American

adults do not get enough sleep (around eight hours of sleep).

Being overtired means risking student's health, emotions, and concentration especially

when it comes to their schoolwork.

Such effects brought about by lack of sleep are moodiness, higher susceptibility to

illnesses, stress, anger, lack of concentration, and the difficulty to retain new information.

At De Anza, many students are subjected to the tedious grind of schoolwork as day after

day, they are tasked with different homeworks from different subjects.

Michael Kang, a Public Communications student, said that the lack of sleep is a familiar

feeling.

"In my job as a visual programmer, I'm always pressed for time to submit some

progress. And that takes a lot of time."

 Kang, 33, noted that schoolwork usually comes last and late at the end of the day and

usually gets to it at the early hours of the morning.

"Instead of a water dispenser at my office, there's a coffee dispenser. My whole body is

filled with coffee."

Apart from the well-being of students, their grades are also noted to drop, sometimes

dramatically.

Therese Bruel, a Biochemistry major, juggles between her studies and being an officer

for her org.

"It's a struggle to maintain sanity, especially with the workload I have," she said.

"Sometimes I wonder 'what is sleep?'"

She laughed at how it hasn't been a while since she slept a full eight hours of sleep.

Bruel mentioned that even though she knew that getting enough sleep would be

important for her health, her grades mattered the most.

She said she wanted to make her parents proud.

With the pressure to catch up on schoolwork coupled with extracurricular work or part-

time jobs, adequate rest is a must for every student.

Vivian Huynh, a junior in Communications, suggested ways of getting student's "beauty

sleep".

"White noise is really helpful," she said. "Something like a fan in the background or even

rain sounds."

"I have an app that plays white noise that helps me study and also sleep," Huynh said.
 Huynh also suggested to reduce caffeine intake before going to bed, "preferably before

2 p.m."

Professor Peter Lee teaching Public Speaking classes remarked on the student's he

taught who showed signs of lack of sleep.

"It's very important that students get to sleep. I understand how they are, I've been a

student myself."

The reality of college students and their struggle for enough rest is difficult but not

impossible.

There are still several ways to improve sleeping habits such as setting schedules,

establishing relaxing routines, and exercising.

As the semester stretches and so too do the lives of the students, the importance of

sleep must always be a priority despite the heavy workloads.