MBA and Sleep

I guess you can either (1) befriend a narcoleptic and ask them for some of their Modafinil (2) find some online pharmacy that will ship you the stuff from Thailand or (3) if you have a friend who is a doctor, see if they'll write you a scrip.

Seems like the effects of the drug aren't very well understood, probably best just to try to find time to sleep and keep things natural.

Maybe the guy out on the corner has some spare modafinil lying around.

I don't like taking any type of medication at all if I can help it (other than alcohol ). I think I'd probably just cut back on going to class or studying if business school is really going to be that demanding.

Hey little brother, I've been all about staying in shape for over 15 years now and can personally attest that in order to make your best gains in muscular regrowth, you need to eat well, take the right combination of supplements, and sleep. A week (heck even a couple of days) away from the gym and I feel like crap as well. We could exhaust this topic for hours, however that's not the point of this poll.

Flashing back a decade ago when I was about 22~23, surely sleeping four hours a night was not an anomaly, especially working two part time jobs and going to school full time. However, back then it wasn't by choice and the accumulated sleep deprivation did take its toll every semester (catching colds, the flu etc..).

My concern is that many former colleagues who are currently studying at b-school frequently complain about not being able to get enough sleep. They attend classes from 8:30am~3:30pm, club activities and social events until around 9pm, and then meet with groups to crack cases until about 1~2am. Add in a commute and shower, and the day comes to a close at about 3am.

That being the case, it's safe to assume that most of us will be sleeping between 2~7am, or banking on about five hours during weeknights.

I'm hoping your friends are exceptionally hard-workers, or people who choose to take on so many social activities that they're forced to sacrifice sleep.

My friends that are in, or have been through business school seem to have very relaxed schedules. Of these friends I can think of two people at Stern, two people at HBS, one person at Tuck, a few people at Boston College, and one person at USC who I have spoken to and they all have said more or less the same thing: There are a million opportunities and you can't take advantage of all of them, but if you pick just one or two career interests, you can easily have a "normal" schedule.

Most of them seem to either (1) Work really hard during the week, e.g. from 7am until 10pm and then they have their weekends wide open, or (2) They take it easy during the week, e.g. from 7am until 6pm and then catch up on work on the weekends.

There's probably a selection bias here because most of my friends are similar to me in that they're not overly-ambitious or type-A personalities, they definitely value having a balance in their life and having a certain amount of down-time.

I personally do not think anyone would choose to sleep only 4 hours a night. However, as you said responsibilities that one has keeps them to that limited sleep schedule. As for the B-School schedule, I have really only heard that demanding life you described from Darden students. Otherwise, it seems that the lifestyle is more relaxed than what we are experiencing now. I imagine that 6 - 7 hours a night is the norm.

I shudder the day when these medications become prescriptionless and everyone starts taking them -- i read an article where the makers of modafinil are trying to make this happen.

It's Sunday afternoon in Japan. I slept 10 hours and 42 minutes last night and feel fantastic. Many people disagree with the notion that sleeping in on the weekends is healthy because it throws off the body's circadian rhythum. Personally, I think it serves as efficient recharge time for optimizing performance on Monday and Tuesday (morning). By Wednesday, I need the 30min "siesta" to sustain a 12 hour workday.

Sure hope groups are given the option to start meeting/studying in the afternoon on Sundays.

My head always hurts terribly when i sleep anything less than 5.5 hrs a day. So for busy weeks I sleep from 5-6 hrs on the weekdays and 10 hrs+ on the weekends.

I don't think it pays to cut back on the sleep; I do try to be more productive at work and other stuff with constant time limits and half hourly reminders.

I am the best with around 7-8.
anything less and I am cranky

It gives me wings!

Thats a nice award amount there on that piece of paper.

That award is actually my bonus for the year!

$2MM? Not bad.

Well if it was my bonus for the year, I doubt I would be attending an MBA program next year... but I im sure there is someone to funnel the funds into my bank account!?

We only have the small sized cans available here in J-land.

How small...I cannot imagine them being any smaller than the ones here? It probably is the angle of the picture that distorts the size.