Students of foreign varsities cope with sleep disruptions

Students of foreign varsities cope with sleep disruptions

- The Times Of India

SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:24.09.2020

Sadhika Rao, an alumnus of Greenwood High, enrolled as a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, for an economics course. However, with the pandemic forcing universities to go online, Sadhika now takes her classes from her home in Bengaluru. But she has an extra challenge to overcome— the time difference. Her college runs 12.5 hours behind Indian Standard Time.

“My classes are from 8am to 2pm, which is around 8.30pm-2.30am IST,” Sadhika said. “After classes, we have webinars, interviews, clubs and other activities that I don’t want to miss. So, I end up sleeping only after breakfast at 8am. My body clock has changed. Even on weekends, I follow the same schedule so as not to throw my body clock out of gear. I catch up on school work and assignments on weekend nights.”

Like Sadhika, many students from Bengaluru who are enrolled in universities abroad, especially in the US, Canada and Australia, are trying to cope up with their new schedule as their universities run on different time zones. Almost a month into classes now, most have acclimatised to the new normal.

“I have turned completely nocturnal,” said Anuj Pahuja, a pre-medical student at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio. “Although there are no distractions, it’s extremely hard to focus at that time of the night. My exams last week were at 2am and I struggled to be at my best.”

Students say even their eating habits have changed. “I have my breakfast at 2pm, lunch at 10pm and dinner at 4am. My mom puts my food in the fridge. One advantage is that we save $8,000-$9,000 on food and accommodation,” Anuj added.

Ananya Chaudhary, a graduate of Inventure Academy and a computer science student at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, said, “I literally do not see the sun these days. My mother worries that I’m not getting enough sunlight and exercise. I also do not meet my family as much. But it’s also nice to study at night: it’s quiet and there are no distractions. I tried learning through recorded videos, but I was not satisfied. I prefer synchronous classes.”

Assignment deadlines and project collaboration work also need to be adjusted keeping in mind the time difference. “Deadlines are usually US time midnight. We have to make sure our assignments are completed the night before,” said Apurva, a neuroscience student at Ohio State University from Bengaluru.

Some students have picked courses that suit their timings and do not go much into the night. “I do not have live lectures. But the interaction with professors happens at night. Even while lectures are going on well, I feel we miss the personal connect with the professors,” said Siddarth Chakravarthy, a student at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana.

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TURNING NOCTURNAL