You know how important it is to get sleep.  You hear it from everyone; your parents, the internet, and even that one irritating classmate who (you’re pretty sure) is a robot.  That’s wonderful and all - you've read all of the science so you understand that sleep truly is important.  If you’re really up-to-date on sleep studies you may have even read about how researchers have conducted experiments that confirm a correlation between cases of ADHD and sleep deprivation. 

However, the fact remains you are in college.  You have numerous classes and every professor seems to believe their class is your only class.  You have to balance the demands of your professors with the demands of all the other important people in your life: your roommates, your boss, your family, and your significant other.  There literally are not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to, and there never seems to be time to do the things you want to.  Those retro postcards saying “I can only please one person a day and today I choose me” are adorable, but make you a little sad because it hasn’t been your turn for a couple of weeks at least.

With all of these demands, you keep finding sleep coming in last on your to-do list.  However you find yourself having to choose between staying awake in class or staying awake to finish yet another essay.  Even worse, you start to crave sleep more than a night out with your friends or even date night. Come of your friends do adderall and some swear by Red Bull or other energy drinks, but those just aren't for you. You need some help with this sleep issue and you need it fast.

 Luckily, sleep science is actually coming to the rescue this time!  Scientists have found that you will stay awake and more alert if you wake up between sleep cycles, even if you go to bed later.  There's an excellent website, called sleepyti.me, that helps you calculate your bedtime in order to be able to wake up between sleep cycles.  For example, if you need to be awake at 7:30 AM your optimal bedtime would be 10:30 PM because you would wake up between sleep cycles and get a glorious 9 hours of sleep.  However you could also go to bed at 12:00 AM, 1:30 AM or 3:00 AM and still wake up between sleep cycles. Those waking 1.5-3.5 hours you conserve by staying up until midnight or 3:00 am mean that you can put a huge dent in your homework.

Ensuring that you will wake up between sleep cycles means that you’ll be able to stay up all day and all night and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to find some time to do a couple of things just for fun.

1.  Don’t be with anyone who makes you feel bad about yourself.  Don’t be best friends with them, don’t sleep with them, don’t try to prove you’re not who they think they are.  Live your life far away from them and don’t let them be a part of it.

2.   You’re not too young.  You’re not too young to have good ideas, to make good choices, to know what love feels like, to do whatever you want to. 

Bonus: You are young enough that if you screw it up and fail, you’ll still have time to try again

3.  Be nice to people.  You are officially too old to be petty. It’s neither endearing or really even acceptable. You are old enough to say hello and politely excuse yourself from a conversation if someone irritates you or is rude to your face.

4.  Talk to everyone.  Life is all about options, knowing what is out there, knowing what is going on, and learning different ways you can do things.  People are interesting but you won’t know their stories until you’ve talked to them. They’re always happy to talk about the things you’ve done and will usually give you insights on life and how to succeed at everything from throwing a party to entering the business world.   

5.  Be that person who has something nice to say about everyone.  It’s easier to be that person who makes hilarious jokes at others expense; but nobody trusts that person.  Nobody thinks, “Ah, yes, that is the person I want as my (vice-president, partner, coworker, etc.).”  Your job is to make the people you care for look good. Everyone wants to be with someone who they can be trusted to have their back.

6.  Crying in front of people is okay.  Everyone does it and sometimes seeing you cry makes people like you more - makes you seem more human.  Sometimes it makes you look weak.  Most of the time, it’s not as big a deal as you think it is.

7.  Your college years will be the most awful and the most wonderful years of your life.  Your life is more unstable now than it probably ever will be again.  You don’t know what your major should be, who your real friends are, who you’re going to marry, where you’re going to work, or if you’ll even get a job when you graduate. So relax and have a little fun before it’s over.

8.  Drinking too much isn’t cute and it never was.  Going shot to shot may make you seem cool for the moment, but ten minutes later when you’re puking, crying, or accosting a stranger you seem significantly less cool.

9.  Being single is not the same as being alone.  As cliché as it sounds, the most important person to have is yourself. You will survive your break-ups and you will fall in love with someone else.  Plus you always have friends, family, and the option of a pet.

10.  Success is fun.  As much fun as it is to party all night, every night with your friends or to see every televised football game of the season, it’s even more fun to get the highest score in the class and accepted to the grad school or awesome job of your choice.  Remember to balance your long term and short term goals: work hard, play smart.  

11.  Fun is fun, too. Getting involved in clubs and causes (both on and off campus) gives you a chance to meet a lot of interesting people and have fun. Pick ones that really interest you and you’ll probably find people with similar passions and interests.  Try it, you’ll be surprised.