Junior history major

All of us have heard since childhood that we need about eight hours of sleep to be healthy. Unfortunately, warnings and advice are commonly ignored, and countless students will never get even close to those eight precious hours of shut-eye, even those not in college. I know this because that was once me.

If we were to travel back in time 12 years, you’d find me a sixth-grade student at Tilden Middle School in Rockville. At that time, I was barely getting used to having to get up at 6 a.m. to catch the 6:45 a.m. bus (cut me some slack folks, 45 minutes isn’t exactly an eternity to get prepared, you know) and getting to school on time (although in later years, my father would drive me). Move forward in time three years; I’m a freshman at Walter Johnson High School and the same issue pops up again and again for the rest of my high school life. I’ve struggled to go to sleep on time and to get up early enough to start my day and use it as efficiently as possible. That was and still is kind of a problem of mine.

So where do sleeping habits come in? The habit I’ve tried to develop is the habit of getting enough sleep and acknowledging that my body won’t be able to function without a fair amount of it. Strangely enough, I’ve been able to develop this habit in college, when getting up early is not a necessity if you’ve tweaked your schedule to avoid doing so. Even then, I’ve subconsciously forced myself into getting enough sleep. Some time ago, I began using the alarm on my iPhone to remind myself to go to sleep at say, 11:30 p.m. or midnight. While I don’t use this system anymore and go to sleep simply by checking the clock, the iPhone method helped me go to sleep the same way using an alarm has helped me get up. Another method I found useful is to take naps from time to time, whether in my car or in my bed when I return from school. Though there exists a risk that I’ll lose my night sleep (in other words, I won’t sleep at night because I already lost some tiredness), it works well from time to time. Last but not least, do not drink even the slightest drop of coffee before getting shut-eye! Out of my mania for coffee, I’ve drunk the caffeinated drink before going to bed more than once, with disastrous results (just ask professors who’ve witnessed me falling asleep in their morning lectures).

Bottom line? Just get sleep, plenty of it, because your health and ability to ace tests probably depend on it (personally, I prefer Call of Duty over acing tests, but that’s for another article). Do so by making a schedule if necessary. Previously, I wrote an column where I wanted to learn more about cars, computers and saving money. Well, consider this the other talent that I wish to learn.

Gonzalo Molinolo is a junior history major. He can be reached at gmolinolodbk@gmail.com.