I Heart Sleep

I don't think there's something I enjoy more than sleeping. Seriously. Now that I think about it, why didn't I write my Op-Ed article about the awesomeness of sleep? I think about sleeping while riding the bus, during class, while I change classes, and when I'm doing homework. I've just always had the belief that a good night sleep makes you have the best days. However, for the past year and a half, in other words since junior year, I have had the worst nights ever. And I have been worried about it, cause well I love sleep. Junior year and senior year have been the worst years in high school. There has been so much to do, and no time at all. Before junior year, I went to bed no later than 9:30. After the real workload began, I'm going to bed at around 12, which may seem not too bad for many people but too me it's incredibly late. 

After reading this article from the New York Times, I am more concerned about being sleep deprived. I initially thought to myself, "Well, school is almost over. I'm graduating in 5 months which is not too bad. I'll recover when high school is over." But then I realized that in college my sleeping schedule will still be pretty messed up. Many things from the article surprised me, especially the fact that sleep deprivation is connected to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. In my family, my mom's parents suffer from Alzheimer's disease, so I will most likely develop it if I get to live 60 more years. However, if I keep sleeping so little, then my brain's trash will not be cleaned out and, as the article mentioned it, my brain can develop Alzheimer's at an earlier age due to beta-amyloids that won't be successfully eliminated. I definitely don't want that. If I'm gonna get Alzheimer's I wouldn't want to get it earlier than expected. 

Towards the end of the article, I basically stopped freaking out about it. The fact that there are ways to "clear the brain's waste" for people who have trouble sleeping makes me realize that it's not the end of the world. Plus, now that science has recently learned a lot about sleep, there will probably be more medication for brain metabolism in the near future. Anyways, I love sleep. I'll still do it as much as I can and be happy about it.