It's one of those DePauw legends: meeting with English professor Andrea Sununu at 1 a.m. to discuss a paper. For some students, being awake past midnight is unfathomable, for others, it's the prime time to get work done.
With finals week looming ahead, students may find themselves trying to maximize their efficiency. While study spaces and environments can influence students' productivity, some find it helpful to reflect on when they are naturally more productive.
When Sununu was in college, she was never able to stay up past midnight. Now, she holds conferences with students well into the early morning.
"There aren't enough hours of the day in the daylight, so I have to meet with them at night," Sununu said.
Even though Sununu has trained herself to stay up later, the morning person by temperament likes to start her day around 5 a.m.
Like Sununu, some individuals will label themselves as either morning or night people, in reference to what time of day they prefer, which is influenced by their personal circadian rhythms.
According to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, circadian rhythms are "physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle responding primarily to light and darkness." These rhythms can also influence sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, and body temperature among other bodily functions.
As circadian rhythms rise and fall over the course of the day, individuals may feel more inclined to sleep, according to the National Sleep Foundation. For adults, this sleep drive generally occurs between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. as well as 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. However, the time frame can vary based on if someone is a morning or night person.
For morning person and senior Carroll Bible, going to bed at a "reasonable hour" generally means being asleep around midnight or 1 a.m. She does this so she can start her day around 6 a.m.
"I feel productive when I've gotten work done - academic work or work out - and people are just getting up, and I've already started my day," Bible said.
Since Bible swam in high school and during her freshman year at DePauw, she continues to schedule early morning workouts. Even though she feels most productive between 8 a.m. and noon, her afternoons are usually spent doing homework and attending meetings.
While Bible prefers taking required history and political science classes before lunch, she's not opposed to signing up for courses she finds interesting that are offered during the afternoon.
On the other hand, senior Emeline Hansen has never considered morning classes to be an option. Over the past seven semesters, the communication major has only taken two classes at 9:20 a.m., both of which were math courses.
"I have no reason to be up in the morning," Hansen said. "I'm grumpy. ... people don't want to be around me."
Instead, she does the majority of her homework between 9 p.m. and midnight, when she feels most productive. Hansen then spends the next several hours working on less immediate assignments until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., when she usually goes to bed. While she occasionally stays up too late, Hansen has found she can function pretty well on six hours of rest, although she strives to sleep seven hours each night.
While Hansen has always hated mornings, sophomore Andre Williams said he's perfectly fine waking up early. But since Williams begins his weekdays around 7 a.m. and goes to bed around 2 a.m., he has difficulty defining himself as a morning or night person.
"I've kind of always been programmed where I do a lot of stuff during the night time and then wake up super super early in the morning and then I'm sleepy in the afternoon," Williams said. "I don't know if I fit into a particular category - I guess I'm not an afternoon person."
Instead, Williams often uses the post-lunch hours to take short naps. Factoring in his afternoon naps, Williams has figured out how much sleep he needs each night in order to balance his three jobs, extracurricular activities and schoolwork. Ideally, he likes to get four to six hours of sleep.
"Anything less than four hours, I'm dead. I can't do anything under four hours, but anywhere from four to six, I'm good. Anywhere from seven to nine, that's too much sleep, and I'm going to be really tired for the rest of the day," Williams said.
Regardless of how many hours of sleep he gets, Williams only drinks coffee on Fridays. As a reward for making it through the week, he sleeps in until 10 a.m. and relaxes at Starbucks until his class at 1:40 p.m.
But finals week approaching, Williams and other students may find themselves relaxing less and studying more.
In his blog called "The Three Month Thesis," Dr. James Hayton suggests that students work with, and not against, their natural rhythm. He also suggests that "more mentally demanding" work be done when individuals are at their peak. Hayton thinks working on easier assignments should be done when individuals are not at their peak. He also suggests that students leave themselves easy projects at the end of the day so they can start the day with simpler tasks.
While some psychologists recommend that individuals alter their circadian rhythm to be early risers, others suggest that not everyone is made to be productive in the morning.
While Sununu prefers working in the morning, she has met with students at all hours of the night to help them with their assignments. But regardless of whether students prefer to do their studying in the morning or at night, Sununu's suggestion for finals week is simple:
"Get plenty of sleep."
