Midterm mania: Why procrastinating students should sleep instead of stress

In the thick of midterms — with tests, papers, review sessions and deadlines looming over me — I begin to grow anxious. Certainly the unexpected essay question or unrecognizable term causes concern, but I expect to encounter these difficulties during an exam period. More than dreading midterms, however, I have learned to dread a fairly familiar face among fellow students: the heroic sleep-walker.

Typical Princeton question: "How are you?" Typical response: "Dead. I've slept two hours in the last two days. I have so much work." You often don't even need to ask the question to get the victimized answer. A friend might shuffle up to your table, silently sit down and give you a look screaming, "Pity me." Or someone proudly states that he or she has "pulled an all-nighter."

Lack of sleep seems to have become a badge of honor. Our culture has come to associate sleeplessness with hard work, productivity and passion for life. At least at Princeton this relationship rarely holds true. Many of the sleepless, rather than being hard workers, are expert procrastinators. They don't work on their JPs until the night before the deadline, they attempt a semester's work of assigned reading in one week.

I don't think Princeton students have as much work as they like to make it appear. They wander around campus with forlorn and haggard looks on their faces, too busy to smile at someone walking by and too rushed to hold the door. Someday try to diligently keep track of the time you actually spend doing work for classes. I think you would be surprised.

Some assert that they put off their work because they are more productive late at night, a claim that I will not dispute, though I have my doubts. However, any gains in efficiency are lost the next day when they drift off in lecture. Ultimately, they have to put in more time to fill the gaps in their lecture notes. I always find it humorous to sit in the back of a large lecture hall and watch people's heads slowly lower, then jerk back up, and continue to bob and bounce again and again. Call me twisted.

Few students operating with little rest have enough energy to commit to non-academic activities in a significant manner. And if they do participate, I have to wonder how much they enjoy the experience, and at what point it merely becomes an obligation, an extracurricular activity performed for the sake of feeling involved.

I am, of course, making broad generalizations, and do know several people who stand as exceptions. None of them, though, has ever complained. I have also been referring to a generic "they," placing myself above a whiny sleep-deprived crowd, which is far from a position I deserve. I will be the first to admit my guilt in the above charges. More than once I have been the student bobbing his head up and down in lecture. But I'm reforming my backward ways.

For those who truly have a lot of work, can it really be that bad? For four years, all that the University wants is for you to learn. To open your mind and be interested. To absorb as much as possible. Academics aside, you have your pick of myriad programs and activities in which to participate.

Think of the number of people who would love to have your place. Housed, fed, given access to some of the greatest scholars in academia and surrounded by interesting students. Next time you start to complain or take Princeton for granted, remember those thousands of rejected applicants who would appreciate your place.

Forget cramming for that exam. Get some sleep, and enjoy the Princeton experience. And if you're tired, I don't want to hear about it — in a few years down the road you'll be wishing you were back. Nathan Arrington is an art and archaeology major from Westport, Conn. He can be reached at arington@princeton.edu.