The seven o’clock alarm.
An air raid siren of a sound. Like a blast from the Blitz. The piercing sound of yet another early morning.
As a student, you lie there formulating the pros and cons of getting out of bed or setting your alarm to snooze. At some point, you realise you’ve now only got 15 minutes to get ready – but you had already told yourself that today was supposed to be a productive day.
Ughhh! You forcefully drag yourself out of bed to brave the Arctic conditions. It’s a 9am lecture. This better be worth it.
Each week your fellow comrades go MIA as the attendance plummets just like Arsenal’s title hopes each March. Research carried out by Dr Gabrielle Kelly at University College Dublin shows lectures between 11-4pm have higher attendance rates.
So the question: why are universities doing the devil’s work by making us attend at 9am? Even the poor lecturer – who has travelled for hours to give a talk to a zombified, diminished audience – doesn’t want to be there.
So, what’s a student’s best friend in the situation? Answer: overpriced coffee. With every 9am I get one bean closer to getting a free hot drink on my rewards app. So at least there’s that positive.
But all the same, lack of sleep has been proven to reduce focus, increase stress and worsen memory.
The simple solution to all this would be going to bed earlier, but balancing cooking, washing and studies – as well as having a social life – makes this almost impossible. A recent study by Direct Line, in fact, showed that 71 per cent of UK adults don’t receive at least seven hours of sleep. Which explains why the Tories were in power for so long.
Experts reiterate the importance of sleep – especially for younger people. Which why I think lectures before 11am – and definitely 9am lectures – should be banned. Because students are already skint and stressed. Why make us shattered too?
