To Sleep, or Not To Sleep? : Death By Research Paper

I am quickly realizing how important sleep is. After a solid 43 hours of zero sleep last week I essentially went crazy. My roommate became so worried that she effectively forced me to go to bed. She didn’t exactly tuck me in and stand over me until I fell asleep, but she might as well have. On Wednesday morning I awoke at 9 am and went to school and fulfilled my social needs until about 11 pm when I finally returned to my dorm room to work on the final draft of a ten-page paper, of which I had written one page, that was due at 1:35 pm the next day. I bought two energy drinks and got started at about 12:30 am (I am a clutch player, meaning I work best under pressure and pull through in the last few minutes, or in my case hours, of the game). So I got started on my paper and was done by 8 am. I was still feeling jolted from the heavily-caffeinated drinks I had consumed, and I decided to go on a jog. To the store. To buy more energy drinks. I admit it, I’m weak. Regardless, I bought two more and ran home, showered and went to class, drinks safely stowed in my backpack in case of an emergency. Ten minutes into my first class I started to crash.

SOLUTION: open energy drink number three!

I finished it over the course of a few hours and was feeling good. I revised my paper a bit and, though I was only marginally happy with the result, I know I could have done better and I knew exactly how to improve it, I rushed to class and handed it in. Once rid of the cause of my first college all-nighter, I turned my attention to the reasons for a second potentially sleepless night: an eight-page and a two-page paper, both due the next day. Unfortunately, both lack of sleep and the prospect of the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn that night made me excitable and I couldn’t possibly concentrate on ten more pages worth of writing. Long story short, I attempted to work on the paper, read a book, did other homework, and hung out with my friends until dinner time. Until then I had been in a crazy mood, but as my originally vast store of caffeine dwindled, as did my fun and erratic mood. When I’m tired I get sassy and have more attitude than anyone I know. So when I was turned away from the cannon center for wearing leggings I almost lost it. I was hungry, tired, and more irritable than ever. I contemplated yelling at the poor cashier and walking in anyway, until my roommate, Emily, saw the danger sings and pulled me away. To spite the girl I put on the tightest black pants I own, in an attempt to make them seem like leggings... mature, right?

I digress, this is just an example of how ridiculous I get when I don’t get at least some measure of sleep. After the midnight movie, I came back and got working on my paper at about 3:30 am. Emily was worried about me and had hidden my fourth energy drink and told me to go to bed. once I hit that 43 hour mark and had no caffeine to power my brain, I was out like a light. Basically, I learned that sleep is necessary and energy drinks are probably not that good for my health.