Today’s table talk was one I was so excited to talk about. Before I became a student at Cornell, I always woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start my day. I currently wake up groggy and irritated for my morning classes. I felt like I never slept but when I tried to talk to my peers about it, they would tell me I had a lot of sleep compared to them. Was I just complaining?
As I talked to other Rose scholars I got a new perspective on it. There is a competitive culture at this University that makes you feel almost guilty about getting a full beds rest. Thinking you could study so much with that extra time. It’s like you win when you don’t sleep when all statistics prove otherwise. We talked about how 12AM deadlines are detrimental to our success. We are comforted about how much time we have to finish a project, but in reality it just makes us stay up all night to do one assignment. What about the architecture building hours? They are 24 hours. Does Cornell want students to stay in there forever, because that is the message they are sending out.
I know that time is money but sometimes it feels like Cornell does not care about our well- being if we are still giving homework’s on time.
You make a great point about the odd competitiveness surrounding sleep here. I’ve also noticed that people get some sort of thrill out of letting others know that they got less sleep or that they had to pull an all-nighter. It’s definitely the wrong mindset to have because it sacrifices our well-being.
I’m glad you’ve taken on this healthier perspective on sleep. As someone who’s pulled one too many all nighters this past semester, I’ve struggled to sleep enough and have seen my own health decline. It’s truly taught me the importance of self care and allowed me to see sleep as a necessity and not an option.