For some reason the decision at Duke University to eliminate early morning classes has become a big deal. Their concern is that studies show college students are getting less sleep than ever, therefore the university is eliminating 8 AM classes and will begin counseling students on the benefits of a good night’s sleep. The average for college students is reportedly six to seven hours a night. Seeing as it’s quarter after two in the morning as I type this, I can’t help but react with a sarcastic “Awwww. Poor babies.”Six to seven hours a night? I wish!
The director of counseling at Duke is suggesting students should get more like nine hours of sleep. Coincidentally, the same day as Duke’s announcement, the University of California San Diego has found that the same problems that afflict light sleeps also affect those who get too much sleep. And too much sleep, according to them, is anything over eight hours.
Go figure.
It looks like Duke’s plan might backfire on them, resulting in cranky zombie students no matter what they try. The San Diego study suggests people should beneficially get only between seven and eight hours of sleep. I doubt my internal clock is that precise, and, sadly, fixating on this uncertainty is bound inevitably to keep me up at night.
I guess what I’m driving at is that college students are lazy bums and that I need to take my NyQuil earlier so it will kick in on time.
