Earlier this month someone sent me an email about sleep deprivation. Here is a quote from the article (from About.com): “Poll results show that while many Americans enjoy the benefits of sufficient sleep, as many as 47 million adults may be putting themselves at risk for injury, health and behavior problems because they aren’t meeting their minimum sleep need in order to be fully alert the next day.”

Let’s face the facts. Medical students are not your average American. So while most Americans find that they have sufficient sleep (although I seriously doubt this… or maybe I just need to meet more “average” Americans), I’m sure that the percentage of medical students who received sufficient sleep is far less. This might be true for residents as well. Maybe I’ll write about that in 5 years….

I think my sleep cycle is messed up. During the first week of school there were two nights that I got to bed by 10 PM. I woke up at around 5:45, exercised, showered, ate breakfast and then got to class by 8:00. On those days I thought that I was much more alert and focused during the lectures. I think I really need to get back to that schedule instead of sitting at the computer after I finish studying till midnight.