The Sleep Struggle

Sleep. It is probably one of the most talked about topics on campus, along with the Exeter workload and stress. Everywhere you go on campus, you will find Exonians talking about how much sleep they got, or rather how little, whether it is because of a Latin test, history paper or last minute cramming for Mock Trial. Although students at the Academy almost boast about how little shut-eye they get due to the demanding work, it is not Exeter’s fault that students do not have enough time to snooze.If one completes his or her work efficiently, it is not difficult to get plenty of sleep each night.I have a very good friend in my dorm who came to the school as a new upper—this being known as one of the most difficult years at Exeter because of the American history sequence. But my buddy did not seem to be toiling away into the wee hours of night, pulling out hairs and complaining about their heap of work. Instead, he almost always completed his work by 9 p.m. and then hit the hay, waking up at 5 a.m. to do some more reading; and this friend of mine is not some sort of recluse—he hangs out in Grill during frees, goes out for meals and does everything else most Exonians do. But when it comes to preparing for classes, he gets to work and completes all his assignments productively. Of course, not everyone has the willpower to wake up so early each morning, but it illustrates that we can and do finish work in a timely manner.Alas, some days do seem like the perfect storm: a long history reading, English paper and math quiz all on one day. As study hours begin the night before, we realize that there is no way to get all of these done without staying up past midnight. This is a trap so many of us seem to fall into because we are high school students and no one wants to write a paper that is due in four days.Instead of watching TV all weekend, we could have begun the writing process and finished lots of work then, so that we would not be so stressed the night before the due date. Instead, many of us resort to procrastination. It is not the Academy’s fault that we fall short on sleep, but =rather our own idling that is the root of the problem.Nevertheless, there are instances in which help from Exeter is warranted and necessary. Some students either cannot fall asleep or are so inefficient with their time that they lose sleep on a regular basis. Once it reaches the point of being harmful, it is time for the student to seek medication and/or guidance from adults for how to be more organized with one’s time.If an Exonian is constantly without sleep because of other commitments, like Student Council (StuCo), The Exonian or Mock Trial, then maybe they should consider dropping some of their extracurricular activities before their academic performance drops. But faculty are not giving overly intense assignments, nor is the Academy promoting a community of sleep-deprived students, Exeter is simply a rigorous prep school and occasionally that means Exonians will have to stay up late.