College students are pretty good at two things: sleeping and getting things done at the last minute. I may not be a student any more but I love to sleep in and I’m pretty consistent about getting things done at the last minute.
“Scientists know embarrassingly little about why we spend roughly one-third of our lives asleep.” — Tim Ferriss
What are you going to accomplish by laying down unconsciously for that long? I often joke around with friends about sleeping too much. I say that you can sleep when you die. Why bother with being unconscious for so long right now? I’m a hypocrite often because I can be pretty amazing at sleeping in or missing important deadlines because I was out cold.
If you don’t have difficult sleeping then I’m jealous of you. I’ve always had problems with falling asleep and hitting random stages of sleep. I usually just can’t fall asleep. The more that I have to do in the morning, the less likely I am to fall asleep quickly.
Today we’re going to look at the importance of sleep when it comes to getting through college and then killing it in your 20s.
Why am I writing about sleep on Studenomics? There’s an undeniably huge correlation between sleep and productivity (starting a side business, finding a part-time job, and finishing your assignments on time).
Do you need to sleep 8 hours per night in your 20s?
I don’t see anything wrong with sleeping in once in a while. I just don’t see the point in sleeping more than 8 hours per night every single night. If you really want to crush your student credit card debt, save up tons of money, or start that business in your spare time, you really need to get used to sleeping a bit less than some of your friends.
Sleep really ties into your productivity in college and in your post-college years when you’re trying to figure out what to do. The thing is that being productive in your 20s also depends on your diet, fitness schedule, stress, and body. Just because we’re told that 8 hours of sleep is what we should be getting, it doesn’t mean that everyone needs to sleep this long.
If you want to get out of college without a stressful amount of debt, you might have to cut back on sleep while you pick up a part-time job. It won’t be easy, but it beats worrying about a massive amount of student loans in your mid-20s.
The other obvious issue with sleep is that it’s a time killer. Some of us spend way too much time on Facebook. Others will go crazy at the mall when completely bored. Some will watch Saved By The Bell reruns. Sleeping too much is just another bad habit that we create to procrastinate.
How often do you go to sleep just because you’re bored? How often do you sleep in just because you don’t have anything to do?
Is four hours of sleep enough?
Sleeping four hours per night is ideal for productivity. Well, for the first few nights at least. You’re eventually going to be too exhausted to do anything productive. It’s tough to hit the gym, deal with clients, study for your finals, or work on an excellent blog post when you’re mind is half asleep.
You can consume a copious amount of caffeine to get through the day, but this can only last for so long. I’ve been guilty of drinking way too much coffee at times. The problem is that it leads to a caffeine crash and eventual burnout.
The long story short here is that sleeping less might be ideal for productivity, but it’s near impossible to get any work done while totally exhausted mentally.
Can sleeping too much have a negative impact on your hustle in your 20s?
I personally think that sleeping too much can be a problem. I think your quality of sleep is much more important than how long you actually sleep. You need to rest. However, you need to work hard to really enjoy that rest.
If you want to get out of college without massive amounts of debt or to build a side business while you work in your 20s, you’re going to have to get used to getting less than 8 hours of sleep per night.
What role do you think sleeping has on your work ethic in your 20s? How dangerous can sleep deprivation effects be?
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.” — Viktor E. Frankl
In the short term, you can add productivity with the extra four hours you’re referring to, but eventually you’ll burn out, and you’ll cross the point where you’re getting less accomplished than you would if you slept the full eight hours per night.
I think you’re right there. Burnout is dangerous in the long term. I’ve crashed many times in my college days. I would cram and cut back on sleep to make it through exams. Then my body would just give up on me.
For me, the effect would be very short term. 4 hours of sleep, and I’m okay for the next day. But if I try that stunt a second night in a row, I’ll be worthless to anyone the following day. But it has nothing to do with the number 4. It could be 1 hour (remember college, pulling an all-nighter then taking a power-nap in the morning–did that!), or it could be 6 hours. I need at least 7 hours consistently to keep functioning. At least 8 to not start wearing down after 4-5 days.
I generally don’t have trouble falling asleep, unless I drink coffee in the evening. But I have a terrible time staying asleep through the night. I must wake up half a dozen times per night.
Unfortunately, I’m guilty of this. My weekdays are packed with stuff to do (Work from 7am-11am, Class from 11:15-12:15, Work again from 12:30-5, Class from 5:15-8, Regular study meeting from 8:05-11) I usually end up pulling an all nighter the night before because I fear I’ll sleep through my alarm (If I went to bed at 2-3 AM, when I’m done with my online class work). I usually end up doing this for the week then crashing on the weekends. The problem I’ve run into is that by Sunday, I’m still used to being awake at night (I usually sleep from about Midnight Sunday morning until 2-3 PM). I drink probably about a gallon of coffee a day, its ridiculous. What can I say though; hustlin’ and rustlin’ with 21 credit hours Hours (shooting for a 4.0 again) and a 30hr/ week job paying the bills.