Never feel guilty for needing your beauty sleep.
When it comes to scheduling your classes for a semester, there are many factors that people tell you to consider. What credits do I need? Is this class going to be too difficult? Is this class going to be too easy for me? Will this fit into my schedule? But there is a question that people may look down on you for asking: What is the latest start to the day I can schedule?
While people may understand why I refuse to take an 8am class, they do not express the same understanding when I try my hardest to find a later alternative to the 9:30 or even 10:00am class. People give me confused looks when I say that my earliest class is 11am on some days and noon on others, and I try my best to explain that I need a later start to my day.
For the first 12 years of my education, there was no personalization for my schedule. It was a standardized time with a bell that deafened my ears, moving my peers and me around the school building, walking like zombies and running on 4 hours of sleep. I had no choice but to adhere to the standard schedule but now I have the freedom to sleep in so why wouldn’t I? I know that if I had a class at 8am, no matter how early I go to sleep the night before, I would sleep through my alarm or struggle to find the motivation to leave the comfort of my bed in my half-awake stupor of the early morning. I schedule my classes later knowing that doing so is the best decision for my education and even my mental health.Â
Sleep issues and anxiety relating to sleep and school have plagued me my entire life. Allowing myself to guiltlessly schedule to sleep in has, in turn, allowed me to get more sleep as I am no longer kept up all night worrying about how early I need to wake up the next day. It also has allowed me to get more sleep in general, overall improving my quality of life and allowing me more energy to expand my social life and spend time with my hobbies.Â
In general, I find that we tend to look down on those who adhere to a “night owl” lifestyle as opposed to an “early bird” lifestyle. A lot of the time, we see people who sleep in and stay up later as less motivated or less valuable instead of simply operating on a different internal clock. Scheduling your classes to benefit your lifestyle should not make you feel guilty. Scheduling to sleep in or even scheduling early classes if that is what works for you can be a form of self-care. Prioritizing health, self-care and sleep has made me more productive and engaged with my work. I would only take an earlier class if I had no other options and I felt the class was extremely important or exciting for me. Sleeping in does not make me less productive; it does the exact opposite.Â
Prioritizing sleeping in when I schedule my classes has helped me significantly during my time in college. I am overall more energized, engaged and happier because I put self-care at the top of my list. As long as one remains productive and content, they should not be judged or questioned for adhering to a different internal clock and scheduling to get their beauty sleep.