Avoid Fighting The Urge to Sleep

June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day One:

A new month. A new set of topics for #Challenge30Days!

We have all been there. Life gets so busy that sometimes it is necessary to forgo some sleep in order to finish tasks related to our jobs or familial duties. The question is, is it better to tank through the creeping fatigue, or simply lay yourself down and rest?

_{A sleepy pixabay image}

During my final year at university, life was hectic. The classes ran from 8am to 6pm Monday through Thursday. I had an exam and a practical every Friday. On top of that, I had a part-time job that took away at least 20 hours each week. To make the matter worse, I was active in my church group at the time, which easily took away 3-5 hours each Sunday.

I still went to the gym because it was one of the only ways accessible for me to destress. I averaged about two visits a week, with each session ranging from 45-90 minutes depending on how crowded the facilities were at the time.

Time was scarce. Often, I winded up cutting down sleep time in order to organize my notes for the weekly exams. However, the tiredness catches up with you as you gradually feel more and more out of steam. Needless to say, I did not do too well by sacrificing a lot of sleep during the first quarter of my final year.

I felt rushed most of the times. It was not until the middle of second quarter, I accidentally discovered a method to help me keep up the good fight.

In one particularly difficult weekly exam, I recall the topics being different types of anemias and their pathophysiological effects, etc., I became extremely frustrated trying to memorize and retain the information on a Wednesday night.

I was angry and I was tired. Unknowingly, I fell asleep rather early that night. In fact, my housemates told me that I checked out at around 8:30pm. I woke up around 4am. At first, I panicked because I was trying to figure out what happened and how much time I had lost. Once everything made sense in my mind, I decided that I would study until the time I usually get up.

Surprisingly, I felt more efficient and was able to remember the information for the lecturers better than when I tried to tank my way through with limited sleep and borderline exhaustion. Furthermore, the test scores for that week was actually above my average.

From then on, I decided that whenever I feel like my body cannot go on, it was time to rest even though I might still have much to do. This seemed straight forward and simple, but I did not realize the importance of putting myself first in a hectic schedule. In Steemit terms, you are worth more when you cast a few votes at 100% than doing it ten times with less than 25% VP.

Remember, your body gives you certain signals because they are important and probably require your attention.

Got some hard lessons learned, life hacks, etc.? Share them with the tag #challenge30days!

Be sure to check out @dragosroua's for daily topics this month!