Yesterday, during passing period, I was walking in the halls with my friend, and he made an astute observation about those around us:
“You know, you can tell if someone’s a junior or a senior now,” he said. “If they have the up-at-3AM eye bags, they’re seniors.”
I hadn’t realized it, but then I saw he was right — heads slouched, eyes red, faces drawn, NNHS seniors were egregiously identifiable, trudging along the halls like zombies waiting for 3:10 PM. With November 1st — that day — on everyone’s mind, sleep deprivation among the senior population had become endemic.
And, to be clear, I’m no exception. Thinking back, I realized that it had been a long time since I had last gotten my pediatrician-recommended 9 hours of sleep; in fact, I slept at 1 AM the night before. But unlike my friends, who spend their time productively checking off supplemental essays and actually clicking the “submit” button on their applications, I sleep at 1 AM for reasons completely unrelated to college apps. Let me talk you through a few of them.
1. The Big Bang Theory
Perhaps the biggest culprit behind my 1 AM sleep time is The Big Bang Theory. Though the show has been off-air for the past three years, my sister and I are the reason why Jim Parsons continues to mint money off of syndication.
It’s a tradition at home — the second we walk through the garage door into the house, we start arguing over who should turn the TV on. Sometimes we’ll try to debate, fighting over who had the worst day, who deserves a break, who shouldn’t have to get off the couch to grab the remote. But nonetheless, HBO Max inevitably ends up on the TV, and we are soon staring at Leonard, Penny, and Sheldon’s smiling faces.
Between episodes, I always protest, listing the homework that is still undone, the supplemental essays still unwritten. I tell my sister, “We have to turn off the show.” But somehow, no matter how hard I try, I soon hear the theme song — “Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state…” — as the next episode begins.
And so, right off the bat, I’ve wasted an hour of my precious time at home watching old reruns of episodes I can quote from. I’ll be honest: as I write this sentence, Season 9, Episode 11 is playing in the background.
2. “Break Time”
Somehow, over the years, I have developed a twisted system of rewarding myself after completing a task — break time. Break time means sitting on the couch, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram or reading through news stories.
In theory, break time is a good idea. Scientifically, we know that interrupting long periods of work with intermittent, short breaks contributes to increased productivity. After all, constant intellectual stimulation without breaks can numb our brains and cause efficiency to deteriorate. So, my thought process goes, how can I argue with science?
But science’s definition of break time and Shan’s definition of break time are wildly different. Science’s definition of break time is 5-10 minutes of distraction. Shan’s definition of break time is lying on the couch doing nothing for up to an hour. Not exactly the same.
And so, after finishing my math homework, I spend the next hour carefully scrutinizing my For You page rather than doing anything else remotely productive. No wonder I sleep so late!
3. Fantasy Basketball
If you’ve recently tuned into Shan’s Blog, you’d know that I’m in a fantasy football league with my friends this year, and I get really passionate about winning (here’s my last post if you’re interested!). This week, however, my WR1 is concussed, my RB2 has a season-ending ACL injury, my QB is on bye, and my WR2 has a broken shoulder. Team Gupta’s future is not too bright.
Given that my chances of winning fantasy football are rapidly diminishing, I now devote my energy to fantasy basketball, an exciting new frontier. I’ll be honest though — I don’t really understand the rules. When Big Bang Theory isn’t on or when it’s not break time, I spend my time on the ESPN Fantasy app, reading about the rules, setting my week’s lineup, or tracking my players’ injuries. Who knows if Team Gupta (basketball edition) will be as good as Team Gupta (football edition) once was, but I’m excited to find out.
4. Homework
Although reasons #1-3 have all dealt with self-imposed blunders, #4 is something outside of my control. For some reason, math and science teachers haven’t gotten the memo that college applications are due on November 1st. Instead of chipping away at the applications due in *checks calendar* 5 days, I spend my time poring over the biology textbook or doing math homework. So, it’s not entirely my fault that I sleep late.
As I check off “AP Lit Blog #4” from my to-do list, I hope that you have learned what not to do in order to maximize productivity. I’m going to submit this assignment now (8:30 PM), so hopefully, I can get a good amount of sleep tonight. But before I do, now it’s break time!
Hey Shan!
Your blog was all too relatable. While everyone around me seems to be losing sleep over college apps and hitting that November 1st deadline, my reasons for going to bed at nearly 2 AM every day are a little bit different. Similar to you, when I find a good TV show, I simply cannot stop watching it. For whatever reason is out there, my mind constantly tells me that I should watch TV and THEN do my homework for the day. (Recently, I rewatched the show Money Heist, one of my favorite TV programs to exist.) However, by the time I am done with my homework, it is 1 AM, and I think back to the time that I could have spent doing my homework but watched TV for two hours instead. It seems like a toxic, never-ending cycle. If we are talking about never-ending cycles, rewarding myself with break time definitely falls under that category. This might just be the most relatable reason for getting no sleep yet. Even if I complete the most minuscule assignment possible, I must reward myself with a break. You describe this all too well: these breaks just turn into hours upon hours of me lying in bed and scrolling through Tiktok with my homework awaiting me in the corner. When I finally bring myself to finish them, it is beyond dreadful, and at that point, I just want to go to sleep. Going to bed earlier is certainly something I need to start prioritizing, instead of TV shows and Tiktoks. However, I am beyond glad that someone can relate to this struggle! Overall, great job!
Hi Shan. After reading your comment in the last blog cycle hinting that I wrote a bit like Dewey Dell, I decided I had to come read your blog this week. I actually ended up really enjoying it though, due to your captivating topic and humorous tone. I think I’ve always been a relatively early sleeper compared to our peers, but even I have been waking up with pretty decent sized bags under my eyes these past 2-3 weeks, so your intro description hit a little too close to home. I too am a victim of the “break time” you described as well. My intended 5 minute breaks often wind up as 20 minute breaks during which I scroll through messages/social media, make an unnecessarily elaborate snack, and talk to each of my family members about the most irrelevant things. This takes up so much time early in my afternoons that I end up having to work for extended periods of time without moving later on in order to sleep at a reasonable time. Each night I say that I won’t do it again, but for some reason I seem to always forget the next day. On another note, as I was reading your blog, I found myself wondering how you manage to still get perfect grades while having Fantasy sports and Big Bang Theory to attend to. But thanks for sharing this funny blog post!
Hi Shan!
I think it’s safe to say that this post is relatable to almost every senior. My 3 AM eye bags have definitely been very present lately, mainly because I am also an avid break-taker. After completing the most simple task I allow myself at least a 10 minute break. This 10 minute break eventually leads to another episode of Gilmore Girls or a little chat with my mom. Then I have to eat dinner, walk my dog, shower, and it seems like I always have something to do other than my homework. This means that I usually don’t start my homework until 10, and then fall asleep at 2 or 3, still at my desk sometimes.
Big Bang Theory is nothing I watch personally but my dad loves it so I grew up with it playing in the background. The theme song is definitely very nostalgic for me, and I guess I understand the appeal of the show, but since my dad loves it I feel a certain obligation to avoid it. Like I said, Gilmore Girls is my personal lazy-watching show that I watch an episode of daily.
I really liked this post and I hope that you get some more sleep now that college apps are mostly over (even though it seems like they were not what was keeping you up).
The eye bags are not a good look for any of us!
It’s really funny that you can tell who’s a senior by just looking at their eye bags! I also sleep late without having college apps as the reason. I have not watched The Big Bang Theory before, but I have seen snippets of it and it seems like a good show. My guilty pleasure after school has been binging Modern Family, and since watching it on and off for the past two weeks, I am on season nine. I also am distracted by my phone. I sometimes go on it for hours on end. I have tried the Pomodoro method, but I usually do my work for longer than it recommends for one sitting, and then I take a break for like an hour. It’s not very productive. Nowadays, I do little tasks of my homework and leave the bigger tasks for the last day possible (ahem, blog posts). That makes me stay up late sometimes, but it’s mostly my fault because I can space out my work better. 8:30 is actually pretty early to turn in your blog, for me at least. Seeing people turn things in early is starting to make me want to do my work at an earlier time. Great job on your blog post!
Hi Shan,
Your blog was all too relatable. As a break-taking enthusiast I also fall down the same rabbit holes as you. I reward myself with the longest breaks known to man. Sometimes, to avoid this, I play YouTube or Netflix in the background so I can feel productive and like I’m doing something I enjoy. Science. It’s so cool to hear that you also like the Big Bang Theory. The theme song is so catchy and I always let it play through all the way. My mom and I watch old sitcoms together and this is one of our favorites. I honestly think shows with laugh tracks get too much hate. To me, it adds to the y2k or 90s experience or sometimes the laugh track is comforting. Also, I’ve always wondered what fantasy football was. I hear people talking about it and it sounds really cool but I never actually researched it. It sounds like your football week is rough however, I hope the next one is better. Supplemental essays are a menace to society. I honestly don’t know why nobody talks about them ever when referring to college apps. It’s always about the personal statement. I think supplementals deserve more hate. We need to stop letting them get away with this. I wish you the best of luck with college apps. I heard that people who take long breaks are more successful 🙂
Hi Shan!
This is amazing! I think I really do like to read things that I can relate to. I didn’t realize that it would be very easy to distinguish a junior and senior by around November 1st when the college applications were due. Different from what keeps you up late, what stops me from sleeping early which I am supposed to because I have a bedtime requirement from my mom to sleep at 9:00pm, and it is 11pm that I am writing this comment. I am so addicted to reading novels that I only do work and finish things off after I am satisfied with how much I read and finally finishing a novel, and I do my work when time is chasing my butt. If I don’t read novels I watch horror games or just things on YouTube. Similarly to what you have as a break time. After I finish some homework and stuff I go back to YouTube or reading novels, and with no pressure on my shoulder I just read and read or watch and watch. The never ending cycle until I really feel like I should sleep or else Imma wake up ugly. The idea of beauty sleep help me actually get some sleep in, and stopping my intent to read until morning and not sleep.
I mean if I was more proactive then I would actually sleep better and sleep more time, but too addicted to reading so that will not be coming true in the short run. Maybe in the long run though.
Stop commenting on my blog, Shan! I’m done with my comments for this week, but the fact that you find the need to write nice things about my low-effort posts puts upon me immense pressure to reciprocate 🙁
Anyways, I think it’s kind of funny reading this two days after Nov. 1: I don’t know if you relate, but looking back, I feel like submitting ~four college applications was kind of anticlimactic. We just wrote out a couple intensely narcissistic blog-comment-length essays, submitted our transcript in like three different flavors and pressed submit. Senior year eyebags, however, I can confirm are 100% real, along with the 1 AM mornings (can you believe my bedtime used to be 9:45?) If you ever discover a method to fix your sleep schedule, please let me know. Finally, I’ve read an obscene number of fantasy football blog posts, and while I think it’s a bit upsetting that all of you willingly choose to interact with the sports world, it seems like a really wholesome experience. I fully endorse your decision to jump from your sinking ship into another sinking (?) ship! Good luck with fantasy basketball and great post!