Should I Sleep Or Do My Homework?

The choice to sleep or do your homework is dependent on various factors, each of which you should consider before making the decision to go either way on this question.

What is the Deadline for Your Homework?

Is the deadline at 3 am that morning or in a week’s time? Or is it at 11 am the next day? If your deadline is closing in on you it is a bad idea to go to bed. Brew a cup of coffee, sit down in front of your computer and start work on the assignment.

If the deadline is further, like in a week’s time, don’t sleep just yet, we have more factors to consider.

Is it a simple 5-paragraph essay with an easy question or is it a 20-page research paper? Where the assignment is a lengthy research paper which you are yet to start on, going to bed is an absolutely bad idea even with a one-week deadline. A lot is involved in the writing of a research paper, including extensive research, the collection of data and actually typing out the assignment.

If the workload is little, like in the case of a 5-paragraph essay, you are not off the hook. Don’t sleep just yet.

What is the State of Your Mind?

Since you have asked/googled this question, chances are that you feel exhausted and feel that you should be going to bed. However, take a minute, think about it. Are you genuinely physically exhausted or are you just tired at the thought of doing your homework? If you changed your mindset just a little, will you still want to go to bed? If you watched one or two TED talks, will you still want to crawl into your bed and drift into oblivion? No? Then load a TED talk, get some coffee, sit down and work on the homework.

Have you determined that you are genuinely mentally and physically exhausted? Don’t sleep just yet. You have a factor to consider.

What is Your Schedule For The Next Morning?

Think about what your schedule the next morning is like. Is it tight? What allowances will you have if you decide to snooze your button like 5 times? It happened you know.

If your schedule the next morning is too tight and the time allowance you have is too little, try and jumpstart your mind to work on the assignment. With the right amount of adrenaline, you can run for much longer than you expect.

You are Going To Bed Either Way

If indeed you are too exhausted to do anything productive, write down a plan instead. This should include specific times for what and when anything is to be done the next morning. You should even set the assignment out on the table so that when you wake up, you know exactly where everything is and you will have no reason to move around wasting time.

Set an alarm, and if your roommate or family member is an early bird, ask them to wake you up as well. Don’t rely on your internal clock to wake you up.

Also, ensure that you set enough time to sleep. Setting an alarm to wake you up two hours after you go to bed is impractical, especially if you have determined that you are really exhausted. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and give yourself enough time to sleep, the least of which should be 5 hours.

This is because sleep plays an important role in allowing your body to reset and repair itself. Waking up with a clear mind enables you to be more effective than you’d be if you didn’t sleep enough and woke up exhausted.

Alternatively, you can get professional help for your assignment from a trusted service provider. There are thousands of these services offered online. Personally, I have tried several including Academic Writing Lab, Paper Per Hour, Imperial Writers and Study bay, each with impressive results.