Sleeping We All Need it Badly, Some

Sleeping We all need it badly, some more than others. I can't get enough of it; in fact, I've missed exams, thousand dollar flights, and first dates because of it. No matter how cold or hard the surface is, I'll find a way to do it. There is nothing I can't stand more than waking up in the morning.

I've broken about a dozen alarm clocks by throwing them across the room; whether I've had five or ten hours of sleep, no amount of shut eye is sufficient for me, a compulsive sleeper. I know I'm not the only one who relishes dream time and who struggles through an hour of pressing the snooze button. Like good food, sleep is one of those wholly necessary yet entirely sensual pleasures.

My best friend enjoys REM time as much as the other person, and yet she has no trouble settling for a good eight hours. When the alarm goes off, I can vaguely hear her brushing her teeth as I drift back into never-never land. I barely notice her shoving my shoulders, imploring me to wake up lest I miss my class. Leave me alone!" I groan. "You don't understand." What? We went to bed at exactly the same time. We had a full eight hours.

Now get up!" push my blanket to the side like a child and pout. "Fine," I say. "But you still don't understand." She doesn't; neither do most people when they realize how easy it is for me to sleep anytime, anywhere. I can sleep on buses, trains, and planes. I especially like sleeping in cars -- at least, when I'm not the driver. A nap after a good meal is a must, and I can think of several other occasions when snoozing does the trick.

I've dozed off in more than a few classes and missed tidbits of lectures, but it always seems I catch the important parts. Sometimes I think I can learn in my sleep better than I can while awake. It's not that I don't like waking life: quite the contrary, I think I'm so enthusiastic that I need a good hard rest after each day, and occasionally in the middle. I probably expend so much energy during the day that like a cat, I need fourteen hours of rest.

On the other hand, my friend can't and won't take a nap: she claims that they make her groggy. I tell her that she should just take longer naps. Daytime snoozes leave me feeling revitalized and refreshed, ready to take on any challenge. Without them, I can get cranky and irritable and my brain doesn't function at its normal capacity. On hot sunny days, I love taking naps outside, under a tree on the quad.

When my friend and I study together on the grass, she inevitably gets more reading done because I end up dozing off and on. When the alarm goes off in the morning, my friend only presses the snooze button once before crawling out of bed. She might not be totally perky in the morning, but she doesn't cling to her sheets the way I do: I need at least two or three chances to fall back asleep before I become willing to leave the comfort of my bed.

My friend claims to love sleeping, but for her, it's a bother or an obligation, something that takes up excessive amounts of time that could be better spent. In fact, if there was a pill that would cut.