Time for Sleep in Vet School?

[NStarz]

This is a bit of a random question. I hope you guys in vet school can enlighten me!

I have a medical condition that worsens with little sleep. It's getting better, but it is probably something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I don't want to let this stop me from achieving my dream, but I do want to be realistic.

Can you get more than 5-6 hours of sleep a night during your studies (in vet school)? I need like 9 in order to be okay, and I'm worried about juggling sleep with studying.

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[luplodw]

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I've heard that if you study 2 hours a day you will be golden. My schedule this semester allows us to get out before 4 every day so you can get lots of sleep if you keep up with your studies!

 

[cateyes]

Most of the time you shouldn't have a problem getting the time you need for sleep. During the week of midterms and finals sleep becomes a little more difficult for me to finagle in and I average around 4 hours/ night, sometimes more, sometimes less.

 

[karmapple]

Now here's a question I'm qualified to answer. I loooove sleep.

I hear a lot of my classmates complaining about never sleeping, but this is because they don't make it a priority like I do. It's more important to some people to watch their TV show, or go out drinking, or have a job where they work late, or study so much because they MUST get 100 on every test. I slept 8 hours every night my first year of vet school, because I'm not human without it.

Ummm... of course this doesn't apply to finals week. I was seriously sleep deprived during finals week. Partially due to poor planning on my part, and partially because, well, it's finals week.

 

[shortnsweet]

Balance.

Edit your study habits to meet your sleep needs. You'll be fine. Obviously you are not a crammer, so do a little bit each day, then sleep to your heart's content. Weekends are a lovely time to catch up on everything as well! Be prepared for finals time to suck quite a bit more though....Good Luck!🙂

 

[gilch]

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I've heard that if you study 2 hours a day you will be golden. My schedule this semester allows us to get out before 4 every day so you can get lots of sleep if you keep up with your studies!

Sorry to go off on a tangent but 2 hours? Really?

I talked to a 2010 grad a few weeks ago who said that she studied 3 or 4 hours after classes and 5 or 6 on average on the weekends. She made it sound like that was pretty par for the course at her school. I know there are tons of variables--individual, subject matter, study methods, priorities etc. but I wonder how much most vet students study. Anyone care to enlighten us 😀?

I am also worried about time and time management. I think I'd go crazy if I didn't get more than 7 hours of sleep and if all of the remainder of my time was spent studying or in class.

 

[TSUJC]

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I've heard that if you study 2 hours a day you will be golden. My schedule this semester allows us to get out before 4 every day so you can get lots of sleep if you keep up with your studies!

It depends on the person, some people only need 2 hours of studying per day..... while others (like myself) need a lot more!!!

 

[david594]

I wouldn't be surprised if I average around 2 hours a day of studying. But that number would be highly skewed since the week before an exam would be 5 days of doing nothing, and then 2 days of 7-8 hours of straight studying.

And the only way I would be close to 8 hours a day of sleep would be if you counted the hours I slept in class each day. (The people who sat behind me could attest to this)

 

[karmapple]

I wouldn't be surprised if I average around 2 hours a day of studying. But that number would be highly skewed since the week before an exam would be 5 days of doing nothing, and then 2 days of 7-8 hours of straight studying.

And the only way I would be close to 8 hours a day of sleep would be if you counted the hours I slept in class each day. (The people who sat behind me could attest to this)

Yeah, one of the best ways to amuse ourselves during a boring lecture was to guess whether or not Dave was asleep based on the tilt of his head and whether or not the iphone was out.

 

[elefante7]

I made sleep a priority and most of the time I was able to get 8 hours. It was difficult during big strings of exams though, but most of the time it worked out well (the more you plan ahead and the less you procrastinate, the better).

 

[oregonhopeful]

I can't function without sleep. I get cranky and emotional and don't retain anything. Even during finals week, I get no less than 6 hours, sometimes 7 or 8. It's what works for me and I make it work.

And I study a TON. Like, maybe more than most people, but again, it's what works for me.

So in summary, you can be as crazy as you need to about the studying and still get enough sleep. It's all about time management.

(Note: my goal next year is to study a little less and have better balance. I'm not recommending non stop studying. but don't cheat on sleep. It doesn't help)

 

[ORvetgirl]

Find a group of people to divide some of the work. Once I joined a group of 3 other people that took turns outlining lectures, it saved me a ton of time. In some classes making outlines yourself is very beneficial, but in others it just takes too much time. Also use the classes above yours to your advantage...ask the upperclassman what to prioritize/how to decide what's important when it comes to individual professors.

I agree that if you make sleep a priority, you'll get enough and still survive.

 

[Angelo84]

I would say during the non clinical year you can go to bed at 11 and get plenty of sleep. During clinics there will be times you are working on little or no sleep. Generally this won't be for multiple days but there have been times that I have had a 36 hour shift where I have been active that entire time. At the end of that time I was allowed to go home and sleep and had to next be in the next morning at 6. Also do you need to get those hours on a very consistant schedule? On ER, large animal, anesthesia and such you will either have strange hours or on call where you may be woken up a 3am to go in or not get home until 3am etc. Can you deal with those set ups?

 

[NStarz]

I would say during the non clinical year you can go to bed at 11 and get plenty of sleep. During clinics there will be times you are working on little or no sleep. Generally this won't be for multiple days but there have been times that I have had a 36 hour shift where I have been active that entire time. At the end of that time I was allowed to go home and sleep and had to next be in the next morning at 6. Also do you need to get those hours on a very consistant schedule? On ER, large animal, anesthesia and such you will either have strange hours or on call where you may be woken up a 3am to go in or not get home until 3am etc. Can you deal with those set ups?

Thanks for the information! I definitely can work on little/no sleep, but it's not an ideal situation and I may experience some ramifications afterwards :/ Nothing that would effect my performance in a clinic in any great way, though! I would, however, not like to make a habit out of it 😉

 

[sumstorm]

I switched to biphasic sleeping last year because it helped me study more efficiently. I am pretty sure that, with a half dozen notable exceptions, I averaged 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Everyone is different. I never studied until a day or two before the test, and even then I pulled normal hours. 2 hours of studying a day? No way...I had a dog to walk, trails to run, and sleep to be had! Other people need a little more and that's too (I'm a crammer, that's just how I study - the pressure makes me remember). I think you'll be fine. Only around test time may your hours be reduced, overall a normal nights sleep is very doable.

Some fourth year rotations are extremely different though. In surgery and internal medicine, I had to pull sometimes 36 to 48 hour with no sleep, seeing patients, being in surgery, being in ICU, taking emergencies etc...

 

[causticus]

I switched to biphasic sleeping last year because it helped me study more efficiently. I am pretty sure that, with a half dozen notable exceptions, I averaged 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.

How did this work out for you? I've heard this is the more "natural" way to sleep, but how does it really work in practice? Do you just come home and sleep right after school, then get up in the middle of the night?

Consider my curiosity piqued. 🙂

 

[Risika]

How did this work out for you? I've heard this is the more "natural" way to sleep, but how does it really work in practice? Do you just come home and sleep right after school, then get up in the middle of the night?

Consider my curiosity piqued. 🙂

I'm interested in hearing about this as well - mainly just because I've tried in the past to switch to this type of sleep and have never been able to.....

 

[twelvetigers]

Here's a thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=612137

Sum, it says in here that you can't nap. Given that, how did you work your way into the biphasic stuff?

ETA: Here's another from the pre-allo board.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=649677

 

[BlacKAT33]

my naps avg 3 hours, i dont think this would work for me lol

 

[Kat0303]

I'm a biphasic-ish sleeper too. I nap right after class for about 2-3 hours and stay up until about 1 or 2 AM. That gives me about 5-6 hours of sleep a night, which works well for me, because I can't stay awake in class if I get much more than that (weird how that works...).

 

[xxalic3xx]

This is exactly what I do!! but sometimes i feel like i want to sleep more in the morning lol.
i also tried going to bed early and waking up early...bt that only lasts for about 2 weeks.

 

[zeebra44]

I just read an article about sleep deprivation. A group of people were forced to sleep on average 5-6 hours a night for two weeks. By the end of the two weeks, they were apparently functioning cognitively on a level with people that had been awake for 48 hours straight. I should note that they reported feeling fine, and said that they seemed to have no problem completing their tasks.

Also, it's my understanding that the times and number of hours you sleep must be kept consistent for biphasic sleep to be most effective. I just don't see how this would work for a student in vet school. How would we be able to nap 1.5 hours at the same time everyday with everything else going on in our lives? Am I wrong? Especially during clinical rotations...

My motto: Go to bed when you are tired. It's worked for me so far.

 

[luplodw]

Like I posted in the c/o 2014 how ya doing thread... I heard that you could study 2 hours a day and be fine...this has not been the case for me so far. I think i've studied about 6 hours on top of class. I have about 3 hours after class to watch tv, work out, and eat. Other than that, i've been studying. I know some people who haven't studied even 1 hour yet (we've been in school for like a week). So I think it all depends on how you want to study. I am still getting plenty of sleep studying 6 hours a day though. Everyone else in school is studying all the time too so it isn't all that hard to make yourself study. I go to bed at midnight and wake up around 7...but this is plenty of sleep for me. You could study more on the weekends than weekdays and get tons of sleep. I just like to have my weekends mostly free

 

[gilch]

I'm a napping fan, but I seriously don't see how I, personally could cut down on my nighttime hours. And frankly, with most days of classes as 8-5, to me, it doesn't seem realistic to work in a consistent nap. Esp if on some days I'd have club meetings or possibly study groups, extra lab time, ect.

But luplodw!

I had just been telling myself that the graduate I talked to was an overachiever or an inefficient studyer between what you and some 2013s said!

Oh dear. Now I'm confused! When is your first test? I bet you'll be better off than the people who haven't studied yet!

I glad you're loving it thus far 😍.

 

[luplodw]

My first test is next wednesday!! It will be in immunology which seems to be the easiest class so far. I think when I figure out how the teachers test, i'll be able to study more efficiently but the only problem is that we have team taught classes so we will continually have new teachers ughhhh!!

 

[HandD42]

I am totally intrigued on this biphasic sleep thing. I enjoy napping even more then night time sleeping so this could totally be right up my alley. On the other hand I never stay up longer then 10pm at night (even during finals) so staying up until 1 or 2am would be very strange for me.

 

[drlutz]

I don't function without sleep so I made a 11pm rule for myself. Especially the night before an exam I make myself go to bed. If you make studying a priority and don't procrastinate then getting enough sleep isn't difficult. When I get home from school I exercise, ride my horse or relax then start studying around 7 and study till 10-11 depending on the day. I also sometimes wake up early to exercise...it gets your brain going for the day. If I feel like I am not prepared for an exam I wake up a few hours early and go over notes and that seems to help me more than staying up to the butt crack of dawn.

Get a study group of a few people and share notes, if you make an outline or study guide share it. It really helps to have friends supporting you and y'all end up being more successful and less stressed/sleep deprived.

 

[thearsonist]

I wish I was able to sleep during the day 🙁
It just feels like there's something I have to be doing, (cooking, cleaning, studying, drinking, ect.)
I make it a priority to go to bed at 1-2am every night, earlier during finals, and wake up at 6am to start my day.

I've tried to nap....doesn't work. 😡

 

[Nechochwen]

My body apparently wants to be biphasic, I have a hard time staying awake right after lunch. This only started since I've been at vet school, which is a problem since anatomy is right after lunch.

I'll probably adjust once I get used to sitting for so long each day.🙄

 

[laurauva2009]

I have had a really hard time getting more than 6 and a half hours of sleep since i started vet school. We are in class basically from 8-4:30 every day and for me there really are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. I don't get home until around 5 and then after reading the fifty bajillion emails we get in a day, Fixing dinner, walking my 6 month old pup, studying for 3 hours, and trying to spend a little time with my fiancee....its midnight before i even know it.