Throughout high school, my father always said, “Don’t burn the candle at both ends.”
It was not until I got to college that I realized what he meant.
Prioritizing your day is essential to leading a healthy lifestyle and graduating with your sanity. It is true that people make time for what they want to do. In college, there are parties every day, exams and the occasional homework.
And if you are a graphic designer, like me, there is a project due every week. On top of that, there are meetings for each club and organization you have joined, friends to keep up with and many of us have a job or two. But the bottom line is that you cannot do everything.
“Students underestimate the importance of sleep in their daily lives,” said Roxanne Prichard, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.
During high school in Virginia, I juggled at least six different clubs, my friends and their random outings, homework and art assignments, all while being an active cheerleader. I am the kind of student who has no problem staying up as late as I need to in order to get my work done. But it is burning the candle on both ends when you stay up late or all night three to four days a week. Trust me. I know.
“When you come to college, time permits only two out of the three activities: sleep, study or a social life,” said Rebecca Shragge, a staff writer at the California Aggie. “Sleep, according to researchers, is clearly taking the back burner among college students.”
Yes, you want to do everything. Yes, people will cut you off and say, “If it’s important to you, you’ll make time for it.”
But we are in college now. We have to decide which things are worth losing sleep over.