sailor

Folks, Im having a bit of a problem here. I decided to move into my fraternity house for this year--I figured it would be nice to be near my friends, it would be a good time, its closer to campus than the dorms, and actually cheaper as well. But there's a bit of a problem--sleep.

Yeah, yeah, I can see it coming--duh! But seriously, its getting bad. I havent slept for more than 5 hours a night for the past three nights, and its starting to wear me down. The whole drunk-brothers-running-around-at-4AM thing (which is why I am posting this at 5AM when I have to be up at 9) is starting to wear on me.

I bought some earplugs and sleeping pills to try to help. Not working so much. The sleeping pills are nice, but I dont want to be taking them every night because Im afraid I then wont be able to get to sleep normally.

Ive decided that Monday Im going to go by the Dean of Students and the Housing Department and see if there is any possibility of getting on-campus housing this late. Classes start Tuesday, so I doubt it, but Im going to ask anyways. Im not sure yet that I definitely want to move out after being here for less than a week, but Im really concerned that my utter lack of sleep and the completely foul moods that puts me in will make me hate this place, which is something I definitely want to avoid. Too much of a good thing can be bad. Besides that, Id like to know my options.

Any suggestions on how to sleep? Should I just give up on it and try to find housing elsewhere? Start popping sleeping pills like candy (not good)? I suppose a big part of this post is just me venting at 5AM because Im grumpy and cant sleep, but Id really like to solve this problem.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

Latch

It's still early.. everyone's settling in.. will it settle down a few weeks after classes start?

Otherwise, I'm not sure.. I had to just become a (very) heavy sleeper....

Chingal0

Just get real drunk everynight, you'll pass out in no time! Or just toke up like 30 min's before bed, that does it for me! Or maybe just sleep earlier in the day, and hopefully you'll sleep thru their antics. I duno!

__________________
"Eventually I became too sexy for my gym membership fee."

maleficent

Truth be told, getting drunk and passing out, doesnt get you rested, it doesn't put you into a sleep cycle where your body recoverers what it needs to recover. Can't speak for the toking thing...

Talk to someone who lived in the house last year, and find out if your brothers actually do settle down. If it's always an animal house, then move back to campus housing if you can.

This may make me seem like aparty pooper, however, talk to the president of the house, or if you have regular meetings, bring it up then, about getting some quiet hours enforced. You surely can't be the only person who's being kept up all night.

If all that fails, maybe a white noise machine, or one of those machines that has the sound of waves, or a forest, to drown out the background noise.

__________________

eribrav

I lived in a pretty rowdy house myself back in college. The week before school started was always totally insane. It definitely quieted down after that. Things will probably improve over the next few weeks.

I would NOT go the sleeping pill route. Soon you'll be a guy who still can't sleep but also has a sleeping pill addiction to worry about.

Rlyss

My friend lived in a college for a few years, and I remember his ups and downs. At first he was thrilled at the awesome college life - constant parties, drugs, girls, everything - and then he became worried about his university work, and the lack of sleep and study time he was getting. He didn't have much choice about where he lived so he had to stick it out. And like some here have said, soon enough most people settled down and the partying was kept to a minimum. They all realized that they've got their own study to do, and after a week or two everyone was fairly content with how things went.

There were scheduled parties and impromptu parties, but mostly people settled down into a routine that was good for everyone. You're not the only one who needs sleep and study time, it's just that you seem to be the first to realize it.

sailor

Yeah, Im sure it'll calm down some, and Ive been told as much. Im just pretty grumpy from intense lack of sleep. Going on 30 hours here without so much as a wink...

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

TM875

When I was in highschool, I worked overnight shifts. Sometimes I'd do 5pm-1:30am, go home and sleep until 6, get up and go to school. That summer (after I graduated), they gave me full-overnight, which was 10pm to 6:30am. Not only were the hours like this, but the work was pretty physical (I'm a baker, was making doughnuts...it doesn't sound tough, but trust me, you have to push yourself every second to go as fast as you can). Anyways, by the time that I got to school, I was very accustomed to sleeping for 5 or 6 hours a night. Actually, 6 hours of sleep was a luxury. That, combined with the real lack of physical exertion that comes from sitting in a classroom all day, left it feeling like I was visiting a Club Med resort.

I guess what I'm saying is in agreement with everyone else - give yourself time. Train yourself to live on 5 hours' sleep. Better yet, do what I did - stay up for 36 hours and then crash for 12. And people wondered how I got so much done in college...I just never slept.

__________________
"I've made only one mistake in my life. But I made it over and over and over. That was saying 'yes' when I meant 'no'. Forgive me."

canuckguy

I used a fan set to high, to drown out the background noise when I lived in the dorms. even if you don't want the fan pointed on you, you can turn it to face the wall..etc. Position it near your mellon so you get a constant almost white noise effect. Only down side is that it worked so well for me is that I now need a fan even after I left school! I know alot of people who sleep with them on.

Gabbyness

You will develop the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. Trust me. Headphones, a fan, something to have "white noise" will help too. Exactly what Brian is talking about.

Gortexfogg

Last year my roommate would stay up almost three hours later than me. His light and all the little sounds kept me awake and he actually went to sleep faster than I could. However, ear plugs and a blindfold pretty much solved that problem. Of course, a years use of ear plugs every night does do a number on your ears... I hope you figure something out that works for you before classes start.

punx1325

Brian nailed it! The noise was the main reason why I didn't move into my fraternity house. But I have a big ass fan from the 70's, it sounds similar to an airplane engine, but filters out all the loud noise and gets me to sleep faster. That is how I survived in the dorms. I recommend going to Lowes or Home Depot, ask for a paint drying fan or something really loud, they will have what you are looking for.

__________________
If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is....

World's King

Don't be a frat boy.

That's just my opinion.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

Gustoferson

I've lived in a fraternity house for the past year as well, though I did live on the first floor, which contrary to initial imressions is the quiet floor since most live upstairs. My suggestion: music. Don't even bother with headphones if you don't have to, I personally can't sleep with those on. Just put a playlist up with a half-hour's worth of good background music and it should both drown out the other noise and help your mind drift to sleep as well. And you can crank it to whatever volume you need, after all, its not like you'll be disturbing the partiers by trying to sleep.

And yes, wait till things settle down some, you'll be fine.

__________________
...And then I found $5!

jfranco13

Definitely get yourself a white noise maker, and a lock for the door.

__________________
We may lose, and we may win, but we will never be here again.

MSD

Power nap at lunch.

edit: and dinner

Dawson70

I agree.........Once l hit the real world, the fraternity didn't help me at all. It's nice to remember the good ol days looking back, but for everything else, was pretty much a waste of my time. Go back to the dorms and get a good education. Thats what will pull you through 30 years from now.

__________________
"I Finally Finished My Goal....You Can Too!

Yippie Ki Ya...

tman17m

i live right off campus at ohio state...
i have a big noisy box fan that i blast on high every night, and in the summer i turn my air conditioner on high
between those two things i now sleep through the night

try those...or try playing some relaxing music
any type of noise thats constant in volume will help, like a white noise machine

Glava

Naps don't work, at least for me. Succumbing to sleep and then having to wake up half an hour later makes me even more sleepy than before.

rukkyg

My roommate freshman year sucked and he was always up all night playinst stupid computer games (they were actually stupid, not normal) or waiting till 3 am to do his homework.
Anyway, I got this program that made white noise (I forget what it was now) and kinda put my laptop near my head and tried to use headphones. It was rough. These days I just use loud fans. I always need a fan to sleep, always have. I didn't have one freshman year, so that sucked until I bought one (didn't until like March).

Oh, and since then I've been in a single or my girlfriend's single. This year I'll even have my own private bathroom with toilet and sink right off of my room (like a master bedroom) and my own shower upstairs. Also, my room is in a 4-way tie for the biggest room on campus that's still a single. It has more square footage than most freshman doubles.

MSD

obvious answer: sleep for only 15 minutes

Aletheia

Same here. Just get a cheap 10 dollar box fan and set it to the highest setting.

DelayedReaction

I'd recommend going with the music route. When I can't sleep I usually turn on the classical channel at DI (http://www.digitally-imported.com), and that helps a lot. Fans and other background noises also help (my computer is pretty loud, so that works).

You could probably be put on a waiting list for housing; at least at UMD the list is pretty popular, but you might still have a chance. Off-campus apartments are also a possibility if you keep your eyes open.

Have you tried excercising? Finding time in your schedule to exert yourself through running or aerobics for an hour or so is not only physically beneficial, but also puts you to sleep better.

__________________
If ignorance is bliss, you must be having an orgasm.

roachboy

sailor:
when i was an undergrad, i had a full load of classes and a fulltime job every semester--the only thing i took with me as a result of the ordeal was that i could fight everything except the cumulative effects of not getting enough sleep--so i had to become kind rigid about it.
given that the decision to live in a frathouse is already taken, then i would second what brian and delayed reaction said. drinking is not a good idea.

i dont know exactly where you are in the house, obviously, but can you get away with any minimal soundproofing? maybe hanging tapestry-type things on your walls? there must be other ways to do this--others mignt well know more about it than i do.

but if you find that after a semester nothing is working, i would move.

i would take this kinda seriously, because i also found that there came a point when despite my attempts to be sure to get enough sleep, i hit a wall of exhaustion anyway, and it took a couple months to recover from it. that duration may be particular to me, i dont know--but you do not want to find out for yourself if you can avoid it.

good luck....

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Charlatan

Sleep in class.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

quadro2000

Did everybody just move in? You may want to talk to a friend who's lived there in previous years and find out if it calms down once everybody gets used to where they're situated.

I would recommend against trying to get the whole house to conform to quieting down; you're likely to get your ass kicked or, at the very least, people will be pissed at you. Never a good thing in a fraternity.

Good luck!

__________________
You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers

Xell101

People say I sleep like a corpse, I just partially wake up and automatically determine whether I should regain conciousness, remain 1/5 awake, or sleep. I trained myself to do that to deal with traffic. Possible for you to command your sleep cycle whilst sleeping?

nothingx

Honestly, I would get out of there as soon as possible. I mean, sure things might quiet down, but I can guarantee it's going to be an issue for you as long as you're there. The worst thing to do, is nothing. Everytime it bothers you, you'll find yourself getting a little more angry, and that anger will keep you awake longer until you can't stand it any more. Also, I say leave now because when you're exams start, its going to be many times more annoying then is now. You simply cannot perform well when your body and mind are tired.

If you care about your grades and how you feel, I really suggest leaving.