When was the last time you have consciously paid sleep the attention it deserves? Which place does sleep take in your to-do list for the day? How much and how well do you sleep? In fact, do you ever get to sleep on a regular basis? Is the sleep you get adequate to sustain your daily routines? But how much, after all, is adequate? When did you last count sheep to fall asleep?

Well, it seems that many of these questions remain unasked by KAIST community members; whether it be the late-night C programming assignments, six-hour animal behavioral analytics laboratory experiments, data structure and algorithms projects, analytical mathematics proof tests, or a simple get-togethers for a karaoke trip, there always exists something to keep everyone away from their beds and half-forcedly reduce sleep, for the morning class time is independent of bedtime.

Why is this so? It is as if two completely different personalities coexist in every mind in this community; One side says, “I should go to bed,” but the other self would hesitate to do so and stay up doing some work or just stay idle for no reason. And since most people would not bother to complain about sleep, the questions thrown above feel numb and even obsolete to some degree.

However, as we will soon see in the next few sections, one cannot stress enough the immense contribution of sleep to our health and to everyday activities; yes, sleep is where the mysterious, quasi-invincible superhuman powered body and the alert, crystal-clear mind come from as seen on those rare days when you “accidentally” have a very good night’s sleep.

On one hand, lack of sleep is generally the more popular and recognized problem campus-wide. On the other hand, a significant number of people are known to suffer from too much sleep. To many, too much sleep would just feel as distant as luxury, but the sufferers themselves complain that it is as irritating and depressing (if not more) than the lack of sleep; they cannot schedule their days or weeks according to assignments, projects, and exams because their sleep cycle fluctuates just too much.

Who would not have wished a mere drop of that strong sedative from the film Inception to fall asleep or that dramatic “kick” to immediately wake up? But one cannot leave a third of his or her lifetime habit to fiction. Nor can one leave it to chance and rely on “accidents” to have a good night’s sleep. What can be done? Here are a few words of advice from this month’s KAIST Herald.