Question about college students:

[hedgehog]

My sister is on my case because she found out that the college daughter tends to stay up until 3AM on the computer, then sleep until noon. My sister think she should be getting up at 7AM at the latest.

So my question is; absent something like an 8AM class, do college students tend to go nocturnal?

[TwilightGardener]

1. My son (soon to be freshman) stays up until 3 or 4 am. Playing video games

and skyping with his buddies. Gets up around noonish.

[riderinthestorm]

2. I think its rare for ANY teen to get up early. They're all vampires as far as I can tell

It starts when they're about 13 - 14 years old and seems to last until they get a real job and have to get up to work. Every day off is an opportunity to revert back to their vampire selves (that's what I call my nocturnal teens since they seem to do most of their eating too during the night).

In fact, I'm not sure I know a single teen who spontaneously wakes up before noon (I've got a 24 year old and a 15 year old).

[ananda]

3. Sounds pretty normal to me.

nt

[seabeyond]

4. kids are already nocturnal. we do not go to bed until real late, though we both get up early

kids get up 10'ish but they both have had practice and one a job so they get up early, often.

if there was nothing to do at 3 am, but with internet and games, there is so much to do, even in the middle of the night.

[obamanut2012]

5. I sure was

Even if I DID have an 8 am class.

[gkhouston]

6. Depended on my class schedule.

One semester I didn't have any classes before noon, and I regularly stayed up all night, doing schoolwork. Other semesters, I tried to pack it in by 1.

[woodsprite]

7. Sounds exactly like my daughter, a college sophmore

As long as she keeps her grades up and doesn't wake me at 3am to fix her computer or printer because she can't get her work saved or printed, it's OK with me. She's one of the few freshmen who made the Dean's List, so I can't complain.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. It is best when young to have late starting classes.

Interesting information here:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleepless-in-america/201102/do-later-school-start-times-really-help-high-school-students

[Nikia]

9. It depends on the student but going to bed before midnight was the exception, not the rule

For students at my college. As others have said before, teens/young adults have a tendency towards staying up later. Some of them probably came from families that gave them a hard time about this so they have the opportunity to be who they are if they are living on campus. Aside from keeping up with their studies, maybe the biggest concern would be eating right.
As for what they do after college, if they get a during the day job they will have to adjust. With the job market as it is, though, young adults may be more likely to get off shift jobs. As a science graduate, for example, I have noticed a number of second and third shift lab jobs. Being able to stay up late might be a good thing.

[Chan790]

10. Yes.

In fact, there is some indication that maintaining that lifestyle may have moderate health benefits...that that is what our bodies would naturally accustom to as adults if we didn't impose a more-work-friendly sleep schedule.

I've never really left it behind, though I've discovered as time goes on that I wake earlier and go to bed the same time. I'm up most mornings by 9am, 7ish hours of sleep @32yo.

[msanthrope]

11. If this is YOUR child, then the issue is NOT what time your kid goes to bed, but why you

haven't told your sister to mind her own business.

Does your sister have a kid in college?

[HopeHoops]

12. I went nocturnal when I was 14. It's normal.

[belcffub]

13. While living at home my dad got us up at 7 am every day...

didn't matter if I came in at 5am... he would open the shades at 7am and you had better have been out of bed in five minutes... got used to it... I can sleep in late now... but I always wake up around 6:30... then I look at the clock and decide if I want to get up... usually do...

I have an 11 year old and a 9 year old... they seem to be taking more after their mother and prefering to sleep in late... going to have to work on them...

[Alduin]

14. I did.

If I didn't have any morning classes, I stayed up until 3 am or so.

I don't see what difference it makes if a person gets up at 7 am or noon, as long as their studies aren't affected.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. Sanctimonious early risers are annoying.

Get up at oh dark hundred if that floats your boat, just BE QUIET about it.

I was very nocturnal in college...it's not unusual. As long as it's not affecting your daughter's studies, sis should butt out.

[Brickbat]

16. I think your bigger question should be "What business is it of my sister's what time her adult

niece gets up and goes to bed?"

[AngryOldDem]

17. There are some questions you just don't ask.

The kid in college is an adult. She'll find out soon enough if the schedule she's on isn't working, and it won't make a damn bit of difference what mom says/thinks about it.

I know my daughter kept some really goofy hours her first two years on campus. It cost her, both grade wise and health wise. As an adult, she has learned from it and has rearranged her life accordingly.

[Odin2005]

18. Your sis needs to mind her own fucking business.

[Posteritatis]

19. I did; I've always found it easier to concentrate late at night.

I deliberately scheduled some classes "early" enough during most of my time at university to make sure I didn't go too nocturnal.

[WCIL]

20. I went to visit my son at college

once and went too early. There was no one awake at his house at 11AM on a Thursday. Even when they have 8am classes, they come back home and go back to bed if they can.

Your sister needs to butt out, but I am curious - why does she think your daughter is supposed to get up so early? What should she be doing at 7AM, according to your sister, that she can't do at 11PM?

[hedgehog]

21. This kid has had problems with depression and an autoimmune

disease which does sap her energy. I don't see nagging her to go to bed early to be a solution. When she's feeling well, she does well, even if she is nocturnal!

[hedgehog]

22. Thanks for the feedback - I really can't tell my sister what I think without causing serious

problems, but I wanted to check to see if I was kidding myself about my daughter's sleeping habits.