Surviving at KAIST: Getting Enough Rest

I love sleeping! It's my favorite part of the day. However, I've realised that it's so hard to get much of it while I'm here. I don't know what it is about late night life that is so attractive to people here, but they seem to think that the day should end around 3 am in the morning. Where I come from, no one makes it past midnight.

Part of why I think late night activity is so lively here is mostly because of the closing times of shops. Here, you can order food up to 3 am and get it delivered to your door. Some places are even open 24 hours. So there is no big problem that faces a hungry student who has been staying up trying to finish homework when it comes to accessing unhealthy food at night.

Sleep is one of the most important things (next to food) that a tertiary student may need to consider when planning out a lifestyle. Many people tell me that you can't really get a good grade by sleeping more than 6 hours a night because you have to use the time during the day to study. In my opinion, this is a really big excuse. We are expecting ourselves to turn into machines that operate on a fixed on and off schedule where we can turn ourselves off for 6 hours and it won't make a difference. What we need to consider is that genetics-wise, a lot of the people can't function properly when they do not get the full 7~8 hours of sleep they need. I read in a science magazine that some people possess rare genes which allow them to function as normally as any other person while getting two or three less hours of sleep. They can wake up easily in the morning after 5~6 hours of sleep and still feel like they slept like a baby.

I knew my genes weren't rare...

When I don't get many hours of sleep (i.e. sleep 6 or less number of hours at night), I tend to waste the following day. I would rather give up 2 hours to sleep more rather than feeling tired throughout the whole day and not functioning properly. Wouldn't you say that is a fair compromise?

When we sleep, we tend to go through cycles which last around 90 minutes. Each cycle we go through is deeper than the previous. At the end of each cycle we go through a period of REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement, where our eyes are moving around rapidly. This period is when we dream. During the first couple of minutes when we fall asleep, our body prepares us for rest.  We start becoming relaxed and the brain slows down (well that's what I've read). So in the first 30 minutes of falling asleep, I guess we're really not repairing ourselves just yet. However, when we enter the deeper parts of our sleep, this is when our body repairs all the damage that occurred during the day and attempts to prepare the body and mind for the following day. It's quite hard to wake someone up while they are in their deep sleep and if they ever do, they probably won't remember being woken up because they go to sleep straight away. Their eyes will be blood shot and they will probably look really annoyed.

When we run on schedules which don't allow us to sleep, we are likely to miss out on all this important repair and rest... what is the solution?


Here's a few things that I thought up that might help myself, and others perhaps, to overcome that day time fatigue



1. Get to bed early
Getting to bed early prevents us from late night snacking and also makes it easier to sleep longer and wake up earlier. Sleeping at 3am and getting 8 hours is worse than sleeping at 10pm and getting the same 8 hours. You probably feel like you could accomplish more during the day.

2. Wake up early
This can really make you feel that you can accomplish more throughout the day. I think I can safely say that everyone has at least had some experience when they woke up some time in the afternoon and thought "crap... most of the day is gone and I feel terrible". Try waking up really early. For example, if you have a morning 9 am class, wake up at 7.30 am or 7 am rather than 8.30 am. You'll have more time to get ready, wash and eat, so you'll feel unhurried and much more relaxed.

3. Go for a run in the morning
Oxygen needs to go through the brain and this is best done in the morning. Also, it may eliminate morning drowsiness and encourage alertness. Those of us who have morning classes need this!

4. Eat breakfast
You can have a look at my other post as to why breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nutrition is really important, especially first thing in the morning! Have a BIG protein-carb breakfast, but have a small dinner.

5. Take short power naps during the day if you had insufficient sleep
Remember, 30 minutes before deep sleep, the body prepares. So when we take a nap for 30 minutes, we aren't actually accessing deep sleep so it won't make us feel tired or sleepy when we wake up. In fact, since this 15~30 minutes of sleep makes our body more relaxed, we will wake up feeling rejuvenated.

6. If you want to wake up feeling less tired, try to sleep in 90 minute multiples (e.g. 6 hours, 7 and half hours, etc)
Because of our sleep cycles, it will be easier to wake up and feel less tired if we wake up during our REM period rather than our deep sleep. Set your alarm clock!