Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 4/22/04 Section: Fun House

Sleep deprivation seems to be synonymous with college students as I talk to those older folk that have been there and even the ones that haven't gone to higher education. Is it just a stereotype that students stay up all hours of the night and then stagger to class before finally collapsing into their seats?

I am a firm believer that stereotypes are true to some extent because they have to have some basis. Hence, some college students must get by with almost no sleep, which happens to be my specialty.

How can one defy the law of sleep? This is not just something that can be done overnight...um, actually I stand corrected as this is the perfect time to practice your sleep depriving skills. Yes, it does take skill to deprive oneself of his or her daily slumber.

First, focus your mind on something. If you sit there and gaze at your Hilary Duff poster, you will find sleep to be a better idea and fall into a dream world. Instead, play games. Video games are a great recommendation, anything like Madden, Ratchet and Clank, Halo, or even Soul Caliber Two will suffice as a diversion from sleep. Britney Spear's Dance Beat is not the type of game that you should be playing at this time of night because it makes you more tired with its subliminal messages that sends to you a bed.

Another tactic for staying up late is talking to friends. This can stir up great conversations that will consist of flying hamsters reining over cities until a man named Peter plays a harmonica to lead them to outer space where they all die.

Of course you might have to go to class occasionally, but after class and all of the other minor endeavors that students must do such as work, school organizations, homework, petting geese, or whatever, the real test is getting that sleep back. The most obvious way to obtain the sleep that you lost is to build a time machine. Using this handy device, you can go back in time and actually sleep during the time you were supposed to sleep the previous day! I usually use this time machine every other day.

If you do not have the tools to build a time machine, you might have to catch up on sleep the old fashioned way: go to bed early on the next night. Although this may not be as fun as the whole idea of denying sleep, it definitely will guarantee a better feeling for the next day.

The whole process of sleep deprivation can be fun an exciting... it will definitely get your life out of a rut. I recommend sacrificing your sleep at least once a month to keep your skills of staying up in tune.

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