DIY Sleep Deprivation: Life as a Student

Scattered on the floor are empty coffee shots with black labels and yellow letters, "2 a day maximum," dripping their last few drops on crumpled papers between scattered textbooks. Three go in the morning coffee, none in the later lattes. English 101, 102, and AP Chemistry classes have to be juggled with college applications, social life, clubs, and State Foreign Language Festival studies. Sleep was the one droppable activity.





My personal story is unfortunately the story of many high school students fighting to stay ahead in a world of hyper speed. With the risks of caffeine and other uppers, with the risks of sleep loss starting to catch up, students cannot escape the cycle. If they take a moment to rest their eyes, the world shifts around them and the workload piles even higher.

Energy drinks and caffeine pills seem to be a staple to the pre-college and college student. These drinks are shown to cause damage when overused and not properly resting can cause and array of symptoms and is often used as a torture technique. Symptoms range from irritability, slurred speech, to tremors and heart problems. People who haven't slept have lower reaction times and are at risk for depression. Yet students everywhere are continually skipping this necessary rest to keep up with the world around them. people move to fast to sleep.





This problem is not being addressed by schools, the workload keeps piling higher and higher until eventually it will all crash down on the sleepless student, that coffee shot will not be able to keep it away any longer...

One day I will have time for blogging and sleep. For now, wish me luck on my test!