{"id":30456,"date":"2017-01-18T08:57:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=30456"},"modified":"2017-01-18T08:57:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:57:00","slug":"in-which-i-keep-falling-asleep-in-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/01\/18\/in-which-i-keep-falling-asleep-in-class\/","title":{"rendered":"In Which I Keep Falling Asleep in Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_30458\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30458\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30458\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"ALT=&quot;A photo of me sleeping&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30458\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is me but everywhere I go<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWith a new year, the old problems don\u2019t disappear.\r\n\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFor me, the biggest of these old problems is falling asleep during lecture and undergoing several consequences from it. If you\u2019re like me, some of these consequences will sound familiar. One is missing a huge chunk of information from the professor. I\u2019ve tried concentrating whatever osmosis there is so I retain everything in my sleep (I think I saw it in a TV show), but it doesn\u2019t work. What happens is that I usually wake up and start looking over the lecture the next week and realize that I don\u2019t actually know anything from then, which <em>definitely <\/em>hurts during exam prep.\r\n\r\nAnother effect of falling asleep in lecture is having half scribbled, illegible notes that don\u2019t look even similarly like what the professor was saying. You think you write chicken scratch? Try writing in a sleeping chicken\u2019s scratch. It goes something like this: you drift fully asleep (so you think), and when you wake up, you see ink on the page but nothing of substance from it. The difficulty of deciphering it falls just under translating hieroglyphics.\r\n\r\nThe third consequence is being called out. Nothing is scarier than hearing a prof suddenly and sharply call your name while the entire class stares at you for being the poor person under fire (as well as being a source of entertainment). I\u2019ve had my fair share of jolting my head up from the bark of a professor, and it is not a fun experience. So how am I trying to remedy this, you ask? I have a few tips and tricks I\u2019ve been following that hopefully can help any of you in my same predicament.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_30459\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30459\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16145157_10206514553743192_860497155_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30459\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16145157_10206514553743192_860497155_o-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"ALT=&quot;Me holding up a mate tea bag&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16145157_10206514553743192_860497155_o-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16145157_10206514553743192_860497155_o-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16145157_10206514553743192_860497155_o.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30459\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The biggest life saver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nFirst: take naps in between classes and during breaks. I\u2019ve found that as I wake up earlier and am more productive this year, my body gets tired during my mid to late afternoon classes. So, when I napped during my breaks, I was more awake during my long night lectures and had a much lower chance of becoming drowsy.\r\n\r\nMy second tip, which might be a little controversial, is don\u2019t drink coffee, but mate tea throughout the entire day. Mate tea comes from the dried leaves of yerba mate, and has a high caffeine content infused in it. For me, coffee causes me to become jittery and distracted. However, steadily drinking mate the entire day subtly keeps me alert without the impending doom of a coffee crash or shaky hands.\r\n\r\nThe third is a little tastier: fruit. Fruit is scientifically proven to make you more energized with its natural sugars. Citrus fruits are especially good for this. My favourites are tangerines because they\u2019re sweet, aren\u2019t too large, and I can fit three (or more, depending) in my bag as a great snack. A couple runner-ups are apples and bananas.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_30457\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30457\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16122034_10206514553783193_928804980_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30457\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16122034_10206514553783193_928804980_o-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"ALT=&quot;Green apples&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16122034_10206514553783193_928804980_o-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16122034_10206514553783193_928804980_o-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16122034_10206514553783193_928804980_o.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30457\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Personally, I'm more a fan of red apples, but the sour taste of green ones is a great jumpstarter too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nFinally, the last tip (and perhaps the most obvious) is to get at least eight hours of sleep. For the average university student, not getting enough sleep has been romanticized, but doing this consistently only hampers your capacity to stay productive. This year, I\u2019m learning more and more about how important sleep is, and feeling its effects through my increased focus in class.\r\n\r\nLectures are where you spend a lot of time learning, and staying conscious for them can be a huge struggle especially when you have a ton of work and other commitments. However, I recommend you try out some of these tips and see if they work. Who knows? Maybe you won\u2019t fall asleep in that 9AM tomorrow.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_30458\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30458\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-30458\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"ALT=&quot;A photo of me sleeping&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2017\/01\/16129524_10206514553663190_1814946997_o.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30458\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is me but everywhere I go<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWith a new year, the old problems don\u2019t disappear.\r\n\r\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/01\/18\/in-which-i-keep-falling-asleep-in-class\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;In Which I Keep Falling Asleep in Class&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,7204,6669,62,58,67],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30460,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30456\/revisions\/30460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}