An Open Letter to New Saint Andrews Faculty and Staff

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  Psalm 4:8

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:8

Sleep is a beautiful thing.  It is also a biblical concept.  If you want to excel and succeed in life, then sleep is a necessary act.  Like water and food, it is what has been given us to continue existing.  To put it very simply, sleep is important.  According to a study done by the National Sleep Foundation, 18-25 year olds should average about 7-9 hours of sleep per night.  Interestingly, I ran a poll for my fellow freshmen, and found that of the 30 of them that took the poll, 50 percent of them only get an average of 6-7 hours per night.  And that another 16 percent get an average of 4-5 hours a night. 

Many have called the freshman year the “fire hydrant” year, because we get blasted with so much information that it can be very overwhelming.  All this homework that we have to handle can edge out this important little thing that we call “sleep.”  It seems so insignificant compared to the mounds of books and papers that are piling up even as we speak.  This amount of homework pushes us to the very limit, and something needs to be done about it. 

What I am proposing is an official naptime. 

When many of us are running on 6-7 hours of sleep, we can become slightly delirious, and therefore not put out our best efforts.  The time that we do get to sleep, we are generally anxious over the next days’ assignments.  But sleep is supposed to be fulfilling, and a time to rest from anxious toil.  This is why an official naptime that is required by New Saint Andrews would be very beneficial.  If there is a scheduled naptime in the middle of the day, then we would be required to relax and sleep.  Not only would this be beneficial for us, but it would also be profitable for the college in the long run.  Better have bright-eyed and bushy-tailed students, than frazzled, drained, and jaded students.