by Jordan Berardi
It’s 12:52 a.m. on Tuesday morning. And that, friends, is exactly why I chose to use this topic as this week’s blog. But I kept it for this week because these past two days have been especially rough in the sleep deprivation department, not only for me, but half of STA. What’s going on?
We are all exhausted. School nights are late and unrewarding, and weekends do nothing to help us catch up on sleep no matter how late we sleep in. I go to bed tired, I wake up tired, I live tired.
It doesn’t make sense. I have my homework done, yet somehow I still don’t end up sleeping until midnight or later. But here’s the thing: My rational thinking turns off around 11:45 p.m. and after that, my sanity has sailed.
After the 11:30 p.m. ship has sailed, I seem to begin to think hypothetically. I wonder why we don’t think about breathing. I wonder why the Earth is round and planets are round, but why not square? I wonder why I can’t drink a beverage without ice. I wonder why humans need sleep and energy. I wonder why one small etch in a key can be the difference between one door’s lock and another. I wonder why humans get nervous, and why in only certain situations. I wonder why a different part of our country can have a different accent. I wonder how different my life would be if I had a different name.
And aside from being a detriment to myself at this hour, I am a detriment to others. The conversations I engage in late at night are ones I cannot even begin to explain. So, to explain as best I can, I’ll leave you with some recent texts.
To my little nugget, Natalie Kilgore: “JESUS I LOVE YOU I LOVE THIS I LOVE RECOLLECTING PIVOTAL MOMENTS OF MY LIFE OH HOLY JESUS.” In response, because she has grown accustomed to my late night epiphanies, said, “brb WHILE I PRANCE THROUGH A MEADOW OF LOVE AND NOSTALGIA.” And to end this part of the conversation with a bang, I responded, “I’ll be waiting near the edge of the meadow with babies breath flowers scattered across me and intertwined in my hair.”
Here’s the kicker. I cannot recall pressing send on any of the aforementioned text messages.
Exhibit B: A conversation last night between myself and Sabrina Redlingshafer. To her I said, “Sometimes I lay in bed and wonder why my name is Jordan. Like would my life be any different, like action wise, if my name was different?” Nonchalantly Sabrina, who has maybe the worst insomnia I have ever come across, said, “What if my name was Jordan and yours was Sabrina?” That got my mind turning. So, I responded, “Let’s switch names for a day. I wish we could make people not mess up in our experiment. If we told them to call us by each others names I wish they’d all remember. It’d be weird.”
I re-read the above message five minutes later and realized it made no sense. No wonder Sabrina responded with her own hypothetical question, completely disregarding my word vomit about name changing.
Here are some proven sleep facts we should all keep in mind:
1. A study showed that people getting only 6 to 7 hours of sleep every night have a longer life expectancy than those who sleep 8 hours.
2. The average person wakes up about six times per night.
3. If it takes you less than five minutes to fall asleep then very likely you are sleep deprived. The ideal amount of time is about 10 minutes.
4. Having not slept for 16 hours leads to a decrease in performance, equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of .05%
5.That moment right before you fall asleep when all of a sudden you jolt wide awake has a name – it’s called a myoclonic jerk.
Dear STA,
Sleep is important, so get some. But then again, who am I to say that when chances are I won’t end up falling asleep tomorrow night until one in the morning. Whatever. Just try to go to bed a bit earlier, even if it’s ten minutes.
Sincerely,
Mild Insomniac, STA Student,
Jordan
