I average four to five cups of coffee a day. I drink it with almost every meal, and I can usually be found in line at Starbucks — or Greenberry’s, if I’m really pressed for time — at least once a day. And it’s all on account of the fact that brewing a cup of coffee takes up less time than getting a normal amount of sleep does. It’s a trend that’s been influencing my behavior considerably recently — I’ll do anything for a bit of free time.
No matter how late it is when I finally put down the highlighter or close the textbook, and no matter how many times I have told my roommate how exhausted I am and how well I’m going to sleep tonight, the odds of me staying up an extra hour to watch a couple episodes of Friends are pretty favorable. Whether at noon or midnight, free time is free time and it’s a precious commodity around here.
Students at the University pack their schedules so tightly, it seems there is rarely a minute to spare. On days when my schedule features hour-long gaps between my classes, I can usually be found in the atrium of Clark Hall, latte in hand, catching up on a calculus WebAssign, or trying to stay on top of some history reading.
And, for myself and many of my peers, once classes are over, the meetings begin. Thus, by the time we have all returned to our residences by the end of the day, it’s a pretty good bet we’re all exhausted. But while my body is telling me to slide into bed and get right to sleep, my brain is telling me to unwind for a while and take some time to veg out.
There is something to be said for being able to take an hour to yourself and watch last week’s episode of Saturday Night Live, turn your brain off, and just be. When I manage to find a few moments to myself during this hectic semester, it’s not a nap I’m craving, but an opportunity to scroll through my Instagram feed, catch up on emails I need to send to my family or even just listen to a little music without any distractions. Somewhat foolishly, I tend to trade optimizing my amount of sleep for a dose of mental decompression.
I had prepared myself to make trade-offs in college, though I never expected it to be between sleep and sanity. And while a fast-paced, jam-packed lifestyle begs me to catch more Z’s in the evenings, I just can’t bring myself to let go of those precious moments of time to myself.
However, as long as I have a stack of k-cups in my dorm and Starbucks on the corner, I’ll continue to submit to the allure of late-night Netflix. A little sleep deprivation never killed anyone.
Kristin’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at k.murtha@cavalierdaily.com.
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