Georgia Tech is one of the most sleep deprived schools in the country
Whether you like it or not, sleep deprivation is definitely the norm
According to a study recently released by Jawbone, Georgia Tech is one of the most sleep deprived schools in the country. We come in at #17 – even more sleep deprived that MIT and UCLA.
On average, a Tech student gets 6.82 hours of sleep, waking up around 8:32am and going to bed at 1:02am on weekdays just to do it all over again. Our low sleep times are in addition to the fact that we are ranked #36 by US News.
Jawbone even mapped a correlation between school ranking versus bedtime. The higher the ranking, the lower the sleep.
But really, is anyone surprised by this finding?
We at Tech take our sleep deprivation as fact. It’s not only your coursework, job, and clubs that eat away at your time but also an unexpected assignment that takes up four hours instead of one, friends who interrupt you to check out a cool event on campus, or the 20-minute power nap that turns into a 4-hour nightmare. Some of our schedules are so strict we can’t even add these hours. It’s just a part of our daily lives.
But what about time management? Why can’t I schedule get seven to eight hours of sleep daily? Why is this still a problem when this is clearly the easy fix?
Here’s a quick intro. Sleep cycles consist of three stats: light sleep, deep sleep, and dreaming. Each of these cycles last about 90 minutes and continue throughout the night. You feel the most refreshed when you start over at the light stage. I usually try to get four to four and a half cycles.
Don’t know when to go to bed? This amazing calculator does it for you, and it’s a part of my routine whenever I go to bed. No matter how crazy your schedule can get, you set your minimum amount of cycles and still feel refreshed, even after getting three cycles or four and a half hours of sleep!
SleepCycle.com: Regular sleep at around 5 – 6 cycles
For more irregular/disturbed sleep patterns, I use SleepBot, a mobile app on both platforms, to wake me up whenever it senses a lot of motion and sound near me.
We cannot avoid sleep deprivation from time to time, but it’s OK. These tips helped me get through Tech whenever I cannot compromise on sleep any longer but I need to stay energized.
What are some of your tips to stay up? Besides the occasional free Red Bull on campus?