What could you do in 26 years of life?

Well, a lot of things, I’m sure. I recently turned 21 years old, and while I’ve had some great experiences and opportunities, there’s still so much I want to do. I want to graduate college, write a book, travel to Ireland, buy a house … I mean, the list goes on.

I plan on having time to do it, although I don’t know my life expectancy. But there’s one thing I do every day that takes up so much time. By the time I die, it’ll have taken about 26 years.

And that time consuming activity is sleep.

The Sleep Matters Club says we spend 26 years asleep and 33 years in bed, the added years coming from the time it takes for us to actually fall asleep. This fact makes me mad. It seems like a colossal waste of time to lie seemingly unconscious for one-third of every day. Think of all we could do!

I’m frustrated that our species has not evolved to creatures requiring minimal sleep, but one can dream (pun intended). In the meantime, we all need sleep. The amount depends on the person, but on average, adults require seven to nine hours.

Sleeping isn’t all that bad. I love coming home after a long day and crashing on my bed. I cringe at the sound of my alarm. I don’t usually nap, but I still love going to bed, despite the hours I feel like I’m wasting.

However, sleep isn’t actually a waste of time or energy. Yes, it lessens our social and material output, but we need it. Remember our slumber’s lack of evolution? It hasn’t gone away because it is incredibly important to our overall health and life expectancy.

The quantity and quality of our sleep greatly affects our mental and physical health. Without it, our emotional balance and immune systems are disrupted, along with a decrease in creativity, vitality, productivity and general health.

Sleep is restorative, giving a break to our bodies, which work so hard throughout the day. It gives us the ability to be productive in the time we do spend awake.

A misconception of sleep is that our body “shuts off,” that it is a dormant period during which nothing happens. That couldn’t be further for the truth. While our bodies themselves may not be moving, our brain continues to function, completing critical tasks to support our well-being.

We go through various levels of sleep, the most commonly known being REM, since that’s when dreaming occurs. During deep sleep, however, is when the brain’s restorative actions happen.

New research has found that cerebrospinal fluid rhythmically washes over and through the brain, cleaning out waste from between cells. This process allows the brain to function faster, remain healthy and prevent future diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Without the proper amount of sleep, our bodies fall into a “sleep debt,” which is something that can’t be solved by one extra-long slumber. If we lose a few hours, our bodies immediately feel the strain, even if it is just a “blah” mood the next day. On top of that, our sleep pattern is thrown off and the CSF cannot clear out waste.

The CDC reports about 35% of adults are not getting enough sleep each night. This is not solely college students, but it’s not a bad assumption to think most college students aren’t getting enough sleep.

Sleep often ends up at the bottom of a student’s priority list. Homework and jobs, friends and social activity, phones and TikTok—sleep is usually what gets cut short.

Just the other night, my roommate stayed up for two extra hours to scroll through TikTok. While I appreciated watching the funny videos she sent me, I could definitely tell how tired she was the next day. I’m not sure it was worth it. Fortunately for her, she didn’t have classes the next day, but for many students, losing sleep on a weeknight can make it harder to go to school and be fully attentive. Even when I go to bed on time—without the distraction of my phone—I struggle on some mornings.

Culturally, we don’t prioritize sleep. The American ideal of getting ahead and doing as much as we can naturally puts sleep on the back burner. Like I said, I wish I could take all the hours I sleep and do something else with them, even if that’s just listening to music.

Yes, sleeping takes up a large portion of our lives, but rightfully so. It keeps us functional. We should invest in healthy sleeping habits so that we can make the most of our time awake.

Maddie Peters can be reached at pete9542@stthomas.edu.