Originally Posted by herBs

Can one expect to sleep for at least 5 hours a night on average or even less than that? o_O

I know someone who got no more than 4hrs/night (sometimes less) for about a year and a half.

Edit: Sara, you have weeks of nothing?! super jealous

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

It depends on the program of course, but the problem is lack of consistency. So you can find yourself sleeping for 4 hrs a day one week, and then a whole week with all-nighters, and even some weeks where you have "nothing" and you can get 8 hours of sleep. So my problem (besides procrastination of course), was getting used to the variability.

Note to self... avoid specialized programs.

Personally for me first year, first term hit me hard due to the adjustment to university. Second year was overall rough due to the change from general engineering to a specific stream. It got better after that, and ironically my final year was easily my best academically, even though I felt I put less effort into my work that year than any other years.

Originally Posted by nerual

I know someone who got no more than 4hrs/night (sometimes less) for about a year and a half.

Edit: Sara, you have weeks of nothing?! super jealous

Didn't that impact on that person's overall health over that time period? :o

Originally Posted by herBs

Didn't that impact on that person's overall health over that time period? :o

Yes, severely. It was horrible, actually.

Originally Posted by nerual

Yes, severely. It was horrible, actually.

That sucks for them. I'm pretty sure I won't be going through anything like that. I never pulled an "all nighter" in first year nor have I received less than 5 hours of sleep a night. I usually do my homework the day it's assigned.

Originally Posted by herBs

That sucks for them. I'm pretty sure I won't be going through anything like that. I never pulled an "all nighter" in first year nor have I received less than 5 hours of sleep a night. I usually do my homework the day it's assigned.

You never know--it's not something that this person planned to do. Life just kind of sucks sometimes.
And I'm glad your program works in a way that allows you to do that
I could never write a 31-page thesis or 20-page lab report the day it was assigned.

Originally Posted by nerual

You never know--it's not something that this person planned to do. Life just kind of sucks sometimes.
And I'm glad your program works in a way that allows you to do that
I could never write a 31-page thesis or 20-page lab report the day it was assigned.

Thanks nueral. I hope the rest of my years are the same. (in terms of sleeping cycle)

Originally Posted by herBs

Thanks nueral. I hope the rest of my years are the same. (in terms of sleeping cycle)

Yeah, I hope so too...sleep is probably one of the most important aspects of staying healthy and doing well in school, but it's often shafted.

Originally Posted by herBs

That sucks for them. I'm pretty sure I won't be going through anything like that. I never pulled an "all nighter" in first year nor have I received less than 5 hours of sleep a night. I usually do my homework the day it's assigned.

I do too, but ive seen the thing with:

social life, sleep, homework, and university students get to pick 2.

ive found that has held fairly true, i had lot of sleep and had decent grades since i had minimal social life but there definitely is a trade off. not saying there wont be times where you only have time to do homework and both sleep and social life suffers, but if you do work early on in the year (im like the only one in the library in january) then there is a tradeoff

Originally Posted by Snowman

I do too, but ive seen the thing with:

social life, sleep, homework, and university students get to pick 2.

ive found that has held fairly true, i had lot of sleep and had decent grades since i had minimal social life but there definitely is a trade off. not saying there wont be times where you only have time to do homework and both sleep and social life suffers, but if you do work early on in the year (im like the only one in the library in january) then there is a tradeoff

For me it's the last 2. You're absolutely right there Stefan I totally agree with you.

first year its easy to balance it all and succeed imo. no matter what youre in.

Originally Posted by nerual

I know someone who got no more than 4hrs/night (sometimes less) for about a year and a half.

Edit: Sara, you have weeks of nothing?! super jealous

Haha, well not exactly, but if it's just readings or catching up and its after 2-3 weeks of constant "hell" weeks, I refuse to do work the week after

Originally Posted by philkolb31

Note to self... avoid specialized programs.

Don't be afraid of specializations. I'm always hearing people tell me that they wish they started out in it, because in the upper years it's much harder to get into (You can also drop the spec. at any point). I'm in one and there are definitely some opportunities and advantages to being in a specialized program to consider. My philosophy, go big or go home. I also like a good challenge =p, so i stuck with it, and i'm pretty happy that i made it this far.

^ They do seem very interesting and there are definitely some cool courses but I dont know if I can live off 5 hours of sleep everyday for 8 months