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My name is Christina, and I am a sleepoholic. I will never be able to check "pull an all-nighter" off the list of 101 Things to Do Before You Graduate from MIT and I will always be snickered at by bleary-eyed friends when I complain of "getting only 7 hours." The truth is, despite being an MIT student, I get an average of 8+ hours of sleep every single night.  I've never felt this was my own choice, but rather my brain's choice, as getting less than 7 hours of sleep results in nodding off in all of my classes and on top of my books. In fact, I have skipped many morning classes in the past if I haven't slept enough, knowing that sitting in class will be useless, as I will most certainly fall asleep.

After a lecture on sleep and hypnotics in a Psychopharmacology course I took last year (at that school down the street), I sheepishly approached the lecturer and asked bluntly if there might be something wrong with a person who needs 8-9 hours of sleep. He chuckled and said it was perfectly normal.

But I still wondered. Was I waking up in the middle of the night and sleepwalking to Newbury Street? Were my sleep cycles abnormal? Did I ever actually enter restorative deep sleep? And if any of these were true, could I be doing something to definitively improve my sleep? I decided these were questions I would probably never get answers to, lest I wanted to spend time in a sleep lab, which I didn't.

Until a few weeks ago, when I received an email from my friend Mollie '06 (Course 7 & 9) who told me about the Zeo, a  device that records your sleep cycles as you slumber. I was amazed at the premise and decided to write a post about this device created with the help of a few MIT alums, but decided I had to see it to believe it. So I wrote to the company and asked to try the product. I didn't actually expect a reply, but sure enough, one week later a package was waiting for me at Baker Desk.

In my next post, I will tell you all about my fascinating sci-fi-like-experience with the Zeo. Stay tuned...and good night!

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Comments

sa'ad

Tue, 08/24/2010 9:07pm

I'm a physics and math major and I found out that I couldn't think straight with anything less than 8 hours of solid sleep. I read about successful people getting by on less than four or five hours/night. I tried to emulate them, but I didn't function well and felt really miserable. Come to think of it, you still are awake for 16 hours a day- use them well!

lady bug

Fri, 03/26/2010 2:41am

i love to sleep

cbognet

Tue, 04/27/2010 2:25am

http://alum.mit.edu/sliceofmit/2010/04/19/zzzzzeo-final-installment/

Final installment is up!

Jennifer

Sun, 04/25/2010 5:03pm

I need a lot too! But I have to be really careful that it doesn't send me into a thick depression. Likewise, too little can send me into a hypomanic episode. I think if I could improve the *quality* of my sleep, I could figure out exactly how much I need and the hours I should shoot for (ie, whether 10-6 is better than 9-5, etc.)

Anxiously awaiting the results of your experiment! Thanks

Tom

Sun, 02/28/2010 7:46pm

I wish I could get a restful night of sleep. It seems no matter how many hours I reserve for rest there is no feeling of being refreshed in the morning. I have seen the Zeo site before but been unwilling to pay $250 or more without more confirmation of effectiveness.
I will be eager to hear how your results turn out.

G-ita

Fri, 02/26/2010 10:50pm

I've had a similar experience, except things switched for me. I survived on average of 6 hours in undegrad - happily. For the 6 years since, all through grad school (also MIT) I got 10 hours. And needed them. I still sleep 9-10, and I often wonder if something is wrong with my sleep cycles. Would love to do the experiment as well!

Brett '87

Fri, 02/26/2010 6:36pm

+1

I never pulled an all-nighter (or even close to one) at MIT, mainly because I need my sleep (still do). Yet at my first job on Wall Street, I found myself pulling them every couple of months. I came to my senses and bailed out of that job.

ruben

Fri, 02/26/2010 6:25pm

Haha, all you're missing in the pic is a peace sign. Far out.

Would be curious to hear what exactly a "sleep coach" does for you. We all should be conscious of what we're doing to our bodies to keep us awake, but maybe an interview process and externalizing it helps that along.

Jay Abraham

Mon, 02/22/2010 4:03pm

I whole heartedly agree. I always looked for a minimum of 8 and more often 10 hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, after leaving school, I have been on occasion had to work in a situation where I only got 3-4 hours of sleep - while in the Navy and also as a consultant.

Luckily these occasions are very few.

sheeva

Mon, 02/22/2010 1:46pm

looking forward to reading about your experiment. :)

Mollie '06

Mon, 02/22/2010 12:03pm

Don't forget that I, of all people, actually do know how much sleep I got at MIT, although not in any sort of sleep-architectural detail: http://web.mit.edu/mollieb/Public/Sleep%20Statistics.pdf

:)

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