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Comment by afarrell | Hacker News Reader

My alma mater has a saying: "sleep is for the weak". If you go to a university with that slogan, here is one more reason why it is foolish.

If you want to learn effectively and work efficiently, take care of your body and take care of your brain.

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Hey, my alma mater has that slogan too... oh, hi, afarrell.

Which schools are these?

MIT

I once read that collective sleep deprivation is "not a thing." After graduating from MIT with a particularly grueling and sleepless final semester, I slept 12 hours a day for two weeks straight. (I normally sleep 6-7 hours before waking up on my own.)

It's a shame what these "top" schools can get away with because of the sacrifices some people are willing to put themselves through to get a coveted degree.

Can't argue with the results.

http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=176016&p=1159581

I'm confused. Where are the sleeping habits of the people in the list you linked?

Oh, right, there are none.

Some of it is the school's fault. Some of it is the fault of the particular student culture at the school.

How do you feel, in retrospect, about 6.004? On the one hand, amazing class that takes you through multiple layers of abstraction. On the other hand, why oh why did they set the labs to be due at 6am?

(Of course, you could justly ask why oh why my sophomore-year-self didn't exercise discipline and cut myself off trying to improve my beta.)

I always believed that line is intended to be sarcastic.

In the words of Monty Python: It is a silly place.

Given that it was said without a sarcastic tone by people who irregularly stayed up until 4 am or whenever, I don't know how you got that interpretation.

It's essentially gallows humour.

Except its people encouraging each other in self-destructive behavior.

So... gallows humour.

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