Sleep for med students

[JeffLebowski]

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M1 & M2: Mostly 8 hours a night, sometimes 6 (exams), sometimes 10 (weekends)
M3: Totally depends on the rotations. Even then, totally depends on the person. Some people get 4-6 hours a sleep a night on surgery/OB, while some people need and thus go to sleep early enough to get their 8 hours a night. But some rotations you shouldn't have a problem getting 8 hours, some you should be happy with 4-6 for the most part, with occasional naps or something. Call is a different story. Overnight call can either be an all-nighter or a full night's sleep, and everywhere in between. Call's every few days usually.

So in summary, M3 year the range is 4-8 hours a sleep a night depending on the rotation, depending on your call schedule, and depending on how you budget your time personally.

 

[DoctorPardi]

I usually sleep something like 2am-3am until 9am and then go to class at 10am. So I usually sleep 5-6 hours a night. I am a weekend studier so my schedule usually isn't much different then than it is any other time.

Next semester classes start at 8am and I have no idea what I am going to do. I might forgo sleep haha.

 

[coldweatherblue]

I get about as much as I want. We have afternoon exams this week so I'm still getting 8-9 hours of sleep. When we have morning exams I get less (6). If I go to class I'll get like 6-7 cause I don't usually go to bed til after 1 am, normally I don't go to morning classes and instead sleep in and have a good morning.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

Try to increase your studying efficiency ratio. It's all about quality, not quantity.

Does your school have a lecture recording service? Use that. For the classes that don't, my buddy and I take turns recording lectures. Then I use audio software to remove silent gaps in lectures and increase tempo by 25%. Then play in windows media player and adjust speed to 1.1-1.4x depending on how fast the speaker is. Just using this, you can listen to a 1 hour lecture in 25-30 minutes. That's turning a 5 hr lecture day into 2-2.5 hours.

Also, get as MANY old tests as you can.

For a week, plot down your circadian rhythm on a paper clock. Color the hours green when you're fully alert, yellow when you're mind/body is starting to wander, and red when you're dead tired. Study when green, eat/exercise/do mundane tasks when yellow, nap/sleep when red.

Listen to your body. By doing all this, you can study less and sleep more.

 

[smq123]

Also, get as MANY old tests as you can.

This depends on your school. Some schools are VERY proprietary of old tests and will not release them.

The licensing exams have also started to change their question style, and many med schools are changing their exam question styles to mirror that. So your old tests may not be very useful at all. Ask around to see what students in the year above you did.

 

[Rendar5]

OP: I actually had some major sleep issues come up during MS3 and needed time off to deal with it. So if you want to talk about it feel for to PM me.


That said before issue I was a chronic 3-4hrs/night. Since getting ahold of sleep, I've managed to average 7-8hrs/night on ob/gyn and working as a sub-I (hours are near identical to medicine interns). So if you need 8 hours, you can get it. You just need to be disciplined. (on other rotations, you can get 10 hours/night and still have plenty of time to yourself)

 

[lilnoelle]

I slept plenty during 1st and 2nd year. Probably 8 hours a night on average. If I slept less, it was my choice, not out of necessity.
Third year is a different issue. I got enough sleep during my outpatient rotations, but definitely not during inpatient rotations. I was probably averaging 5 hours a night during Ob.

I find it very hard to read during third year because I never feel like I have a decent block of time to do it in and therefore its hard for me to concentrate.
I also have two kids which make it difficult to find time to read in the evening.

 

[HPSPpayissues]

I sleep about 7 to 8 hours per night. If you don't go out much and can understand things quickly, you should get plenty of sleep and rest. It varies from person to person, I guess...

 

[What up doc]

so for those of you guys who say P=MD, were you still able to score well on your boards? my only frame of reference is the MCAT. obviously, if you were just passing your pre-reqs, you probably had to study a lot more for the MCAT and most likely you wouldnt do as well as someone who had all 3 yrs of preparation...the only way i could constantly stay motivated to get A's in my prereqs was because i knew that what i was learning was gonna make prep for MCAT easier...this is the same mentatlity i plan on taking into med school, but from everyone i see, especially kids at top tier med schools, is that all they worry about is passing...is this because these kids are 35, 3.9 kids who are naturally gifted and can cram for boards and do well? or is it really good enough 2 jus pass, and you will have the base needed for boards...im pretty gifted academiclly but id prefer to not have the stress and pressure of not being prepped for boards and feeling like i came in underprepared 😳

 

[Neuronix]

so for those of you guys who say P=MD, were you still able to score well on your boards?

In answer to your question, I scored exactly one standard deviation above the national mean on Step I. I don't plan on taking Step II until at least after I submit ERAS. This is an option you'll have as a medical student in most specialties if you score well on Step I.

the only way i could constantly stay motivated to get A's in my prereqs was because i knew that what i was learning was gonna make prep for MCAT easier...

My motivation was that I knew those grades really mattered for med schools. I went to a no-name state school for undergrad so I felt this even more acutely, though how much this really mattered is unknown. Your grades in the first two years of med school don't matter (for the vast majority of specialties and as long as you don't fail), so my motivation was gone. I was also taking grad school classes as an MD/PhD and skiing a decent amount so...

especially kids at top tier med schools, is that all they worry about is passing...

I would say less than half of my med school class was like me, though probably less than a quarter. It's hard to get a good sense of this. Many students were trying to get top grades, even though most would even admit the grades didn't really matter. I think the few nutball med students who would still come and post on this forum to advise pre-meds are generally the laid back types like me. We are not a true sampling of medical school students.

is this because these kids are 35, 3.9 kids who are naturally gifted and can cram for boards and do well? or is it really good enough 2 jus pass, and you will have the base needed for boards...

It's probably some combination of the two. Either way nobody here is talking about completely blowing off studying. Even I said I would study on the order of 5 hours a day. When you do that for 1-2 years that is a non-trivial amount of information you have crammed into your head. Then I prepped hard for 4 weeks (some students do up to 6), 8+ hours a day for the boards. This is again non-trivial. Could I have done better had I studied harder? Probably. One of my friends worked ALL THE TIME and had no life in medical school and scored almost 3 standard deviations above the mean. Still, I got the Step 1 score I wanted to match well in a competitive specialty and that's all I wanted.

But, who knows. Maybe I'll end up 10 spots down my rank list and kick myself. Only time can tell.

 

[dienekes88]

I sleep 8-9 hours a night.

 

[bodonid]

I'm getting As and I have plenty of free time.

(But I don't have kids or time-consuming hobbies or a job or anything. I just work out, cook occasionally, and I'm in a few twice-a-month clubs, etc.)

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

MS1 here:

non-exam days: 8-10 hours a night, sometimes I also take a nap
exam days: Ugh, I barely sleep, but have the best naps after the exams!

 

[JacobSilge]

Precilinical: ~7 hours per night, ~2 night before exams (every 1-2 weeks).

Clinical: I'm now getting around 8 hours of sleep per night, but then again I'm only sleeping every 3 out of 4 night 🙁

 

[PeripateticMD]

I just think wanted to post this thought:

Me-to-brother: "They said medical school is easier than undergrad!!" *so excited!!*
Brother-to-me: "They meant for people who actually did work in undergrad." *face falls*

That holds some truth. I'd say I worked like a horse on speed the first 2 months. But then I realized that it actually is (if not easier) more straight-forward, and frankly more interesting than undergrad, so I get as much sleep as I want really, and don't really sweat school that much, and do projects on the side.

 

[Taliesinrk]

.

 

[utorontograd]

I slept 8 hours a night most nights. Studied a lot during the day, usually 9
timed hours. Streamed lectures online at double speed. Hated being in class.

Woke up early everyday to finish early.