First-Year Student Journals : Robert : Journal 10

6 March 2003

The whole problem with my Nonviolent Protest class resolved itself finally after I read all the material, made a good grade on the test and met one of the members of my group.

At this point, 6 a.m. on March 6, I have been awake for about 11 hours, and I've only got to make it to about 3:30 p.m. before I can go to sleep. It shouldn't be that bad, but it will be interesting because this will be the longest this week that I will have gone without sleep. No big deal though. It’s easy to stay awake during the daytime.

I have changed my sleep schedule in order to become nocturnal. I work better at night anyway and after one good night of not sleeping I figured it would work to my benefit to sleep during the day instead of the night. It is very interesting learning to control the part of my body that wants to sleep in the nighttime and dealing with the extremely high cortisol levels associated with it. What happens is the body basically enters a state of chemical depression. I figure though that if I learn how to control depression now it won’t be as potent a factor later in life.

That information comes from my psychology class, rapidly becoming my best class this semester. I have learned some amazing stuff from that class. My main fixation, after the whole flow concept I wrote my eight-page paper on, is the neurotransmitter dopamine. It has some amazing properties in that it is associated not only with schizophrenia, but drug use, attention and proper sleep, no less.

Spring Break will consist of me house-sitting my parents’ house while they and my sister are away on vacation. That actually works to my extreme benefit because I will not only get gas money and straight payment, but my car will remain on insurance. I lucked out.



	Robert \| Profile \| Reflections \| Journal 7 8 9 10 11 Fall 2002 \| Home
	6 March 2003 The whole problem with my Nonviolent Protest class resolved itself finally after I read all the material, made a good grade on the test and met one of the members of my group. At this point, 6 a.m. on March 6, I have been awake for about 11 hours, and I've only got to make it to about 3:30 p.m. before I can go to sleep. It shouldn't be that bad, but it will be interesting because this will be the longest this week that I will have gone without sleep. No big deal though. It’s easy to stay awake during the daytime. I have changed my sleep schedule in order to become nocturnal. I work better at night anyway and after one good night of not sleeping I figured it would work to my benefit to sleep during the day instead of the night. It is very interesting learning to control the part of my body that wants to sleep in the nighttime and dealing with the extremely high cortisol levels associated with it. What happens is the body basically enters a state of chemical depression. I figure though that if I learn how to control depression now it won’t be as potent a factor later in life. That information comes from my psychology class, rapidly becoming my best class this semester. I have learned some amazing stuff from that class. My main fixation, after the whole flow concept I wrote my eight-page paper on, is the neurotransmitter dopamine. It has some amazing properties in that it is associated not only with schizophrenia, but drug use, attention and proper sleep, no less. Spring Break will consist of me house-sitting my parents’ house while they and my sister are away on vacation. That actually works to my extreme benefit because I will not only get gas money and straight payment, but my car will remain on insurance. I lucked out.