By: Grace Bocking

It always begins with that anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I see the alarm clock, poised in anticipation, ticking away the hours until it gets to go off in an explosion of horns and sirens to wake me from what should have been a blissful eight hours of sleep. I lie there, accompanied only by the noises being created by my roommate upstairs who’s doing god-knows-what at this hour. I try different sleeping positions. I count some sheep. Heck, I even get out of bed and make a pathetic attempt at yoga because that’s supposed to help, right?

Wrong. Nothing works. Insomnia is like some incurable disease that preys on the sleepdeprived. Those of you who have REM cycles that are practically on demand won’t be able to relate to any of these frustrations. However, if you are far too familiar with early morning infomercials (the ShamWow guy never sleeps either), you’ll understand where I’m coming from.  There is nothing worse than not being able to sleep when you really need to, and I have the dark circles to prove it.

Of course, this isn’t to say that insomniacs aren’t able to get a couple hours of sleep in some of the time. At some point after your full emotional breakdown at 3 a.m., your thoughts finally stopped talking and you must have fallen asleep. Maybe you didn’t get enough of a rest to function properly the next day, but you’ll get by if you have a coffee...or three. Starbucks makes a killing off of you.

Still, the worst part about insomnia isn’t the money you spend on caffeine each morning, but the fact that it always strikes at the worst possible time. So, you have a midterm the next morning in that godforsaken 8:30 a.m. class? Don’t count on getting enough sleep, kid, you’re staying wide awake. You have a job interview tomorrow and want to look your best? Here’s hoping you can rock those bags under your eyes.

While the rest of the world lies unconscious, there are always a few of us awake in our beds, watching the hours pass by. I don’t mind having to pull the occasional all-nighter, but at some point, sunrises lose their appeal.  The next time you see one of us in the library, slouched over with drool coming out of our mouth, don’t judge. We’re just catching up on the sleep we’ve been missing out on.

Sincerely,

Tired and frustrated university student