USAFA Sleep Schedule

Raptor Factor

5-Year Member
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Jul 8, 2013
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I'm the kind of person who needs a solid 8 hours of sleep to function my best. At Summer Seminar we got closer to 6 hours of sleep but that was alright as it was only a week. I know taps is at 11PM and then it says personal time is from 5:15 to 6:25AM, meaning a little over 6 hours of sleep on week nights?
 
You can go to bed before taps if you want to..this semester I've only heard taps play three times. Honestly, the people I know who go to sleep earlier generally have better grades-wanting to get to bed early is a nice motivator to work on homework during free periods in the day. There are also people who are up well past midnight on a regular basis and make great grades.

Of course, this isn't always possible. Especially if you have training sessions, practices, knowledge bowls, briefings, etc, you can lose a lot of time during the day. But stay on top of your homework, use your weekends, go to bed between 9-10, and you should get plenty of sleep.
 
It depends on how well you manage time and how efficiently you work.
Some people can, others never seem to find enough hours in the day.

There is also a prioritization that most cadets face. Sleep or study?
 
It really depends on how well you manage your time, as stated earlier. My roommate and I usually go to bed around 10, but some nights you're forced to stay up later because of GR's etc.
 
I thought high school kids don't even know what sleep is. Well at least for people taking IB classes, that is. HAHA! Didn't high school train you to sleep less than 4 hours a day?

Took 7 AP classes my senior year in HS and made a 4.0 with well over 8 hours every night, and I partied alot as well as other school stuff I had to do.

Its all about time management in college. But your major plays a huge role. I'd say my roommate and I are of equal smarts, and I have almost a 4.0 and sleep ALL the time, plus leave and gym time and ec's. My roommate is an engineer and goes 48 hours without sleep routinely for a 3.5.
 
How much sleep you get depends (almost) entirely on you. Personally--I can get by for about a week at a time on 6 hrs a night. Then I sleep late on Saturday and Sunday (by "late" I mean 10 o'clock), rinse, and repeat.

After doors shut (7:50--ACQ) you can go to sleep whenever you want. There are people in my squad who are always asleep by Taps, including some upperclassmen. On the other hand, one upperclassman I know regularly sleeps 4 hours a night, due to a packed academic schedule.

So--for freshman year certainly, and perhaps afterward, depending on your major and your willingness to sacrifice other things, yes, you can get usually 8 hours of sleep.
 
Look, you never know how you will fare at USAFA and you may be in a position that you won't sleep 8 hours a night. Something else to consider, often you will not be able to get 8 hours once you graduate and enter the ops world. You might be able to make it work so that you consistently get 8 hours, at least at USAFA, but there is no guarantee. ESPECIALLY the case during 4 dig year. (And seeing how your screen name is raptor factor, UPT is a time where studying enough to have a shot at a Raptor will likely mean less than 8 hours every night).

You can't rely on having a comfortable and reliable sleep schedule on the ops side. What you SHOULD do is figure out the best ways for you to cope and manage stress when you are in that kind of position. Stress management, in addition to time management, is an extremely valuable skill to have and develop.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm just trying to prepare myself now to be the most successful in the Air Force.

Prioritization, time management and stress management sound the most important, along with your major. I am planning on Aerospace engineering if I do AFROTC (on scholarship) but at the Academy I might do something different than engineering.

I realize that there are trade offs and sacrifices in comfort to be made to be successful at USAFA, UPT and beyond. I just don't want to show up unprepared and not perform at my best due to a lack of sleep.
 
Basic sleep schedule will be rough, but it always is. :thumb:

During the week I average about 6-7 hours a night, but if I choose to get all my homework done during free periods throughout the day I've gotten as much as 11 hours of sleep on a day we don't have minutes. (Sleeping from 8:00pm-7:00am)

It's really up to you and how effecient you are during your free time.
 
Took 7 AP classes my senior year in HS and made a 4.0 with well over 8 hours every night, and I partied alot as well as other school stuff I had to do.

Its all about time management in college. But your major plays a huge role. I'd say my roommate and I are of equal smarts, and I have almost a 4.0 and sleep ALL the time, plus leave and gym time and ec's. My roommate is an engineer and goes 48 hours without sleep routinely for a 3.5.

Is an engineering major really that time consuming in relation to other majors (I want to be a pilot so I know I can major in practically anything)?
 
+1 hornet. Stress and time management will impact your sleep schedule.

FYI, if sleep is important to you, and you end up going the plan B route {AFROTC) , I would think you will have less sleep than 8 hours, maybe 6 because dorms are insanely loud, and just because you have to be up for PT at 5:30, your non-ROTC roommate might not have class until 10, and come into your room at midnight, waking you up, than for the next 2 hours you stare at the ceiling listening to him/her snore, watching the clock counting down how many hours until you have to get up.

Even if your roommate and you are on the same schedule, it doesn't mean the neighbors next door playing Xbox with a group of friends are going to stop playing before midnight or scream down the hall to someone.

That is dorm living at a traditional college. Hence why stress and time management will matter either way.

To add onto hornet's OPs world comment. He is correct. At UPT, you could have academics until 4. Get home, make dinner, and then study until 10 for tomorrow's flight which has a 4:30 showtime. If you do the math, and fall asleep at exactly at 10, you will have maybe 5 1/2 hrs of sleep. That day, after finishing flying, you are back home at the same time and now as tired was you are, you will spend the next 6 hours studying academics for tomorrows class. Repeat everyday Mon- Friday for a year, not including IFS.

Anyone that wants this path, read ALL of Raimius's blog. It gives a realistic world of how life will be in 4 short years after you arrive at the AFA.

Ask parents of UPT students, like fencer, stealth or myself. Our children don't talk to us during the week. We get a weekend phone call, usually on Saturday because on Sunday they are back to studying. This does not end with winging, because when you get to your FTU (airframe training), you go through the same rigor.

IOWS, the sleep issue will not be 4 years, or 5 if you go UPT. It will be 6, at the least.
~~~Ask Flieger or Bullet about sleep in the operational world when you have kids and the 1st go, or deployed and living in a tent with 3 other guys.

Just saying, sleep or lack there of is something that will be a part of your life at different points of your life for as long as you are in the AF.
~~~~ That is what leave is for! :shake:


OBTW, have you looked at the course curriculum for the AFA? The AFA isn't commonly joked about as the Little Engineering School in the Rockies for nothing. Basically, even an econ major has more science/math classes than the AFROTC econ major. Hence, the reason why they look at your Math portion of the SAT. They want to make sure from a national perspective that this foundation is there compared to your peers.
 
Don't often post but this topic hit home..just talked via Face Time to my son who is on his 7th deployment since pinning on his wings...if you are planning to be a pilot lack of sleep and adjusting your body clock will be a fact of life throughout your career. He is 1/2 way through his 6 month deployment and has changed start times 3 times, which required a reset of his sleep pattern. His wife is a Flight Surgeon and also faces the same issues. By nature a career in the military will always be non standard. The Academy experience just gives you a glimpse of what is to come. I encourage all candidates to think long and hard before you make the commitment to a SA...it is definitely the "road less traveled". My son has never regretted his choices but it has been a challenge at times.
 
What time do freshman wake up?

Actually I'm just wondering about where I'd be able to fit in going to the gym, is going in the morning before breakfast feasible? Or how late is the gym open?

Silly questions, but I'm curious :redface:
 
What I would do if you are accepted is to make sure and notify your basic training Cadre of your need for a good 8 hours of sleep, I am sure they will take care of you.


...sorry, couldn't resist...
 
OK, now that a lot of good advice has been given, let me try to finish my own set...

YOU"LL FIGURE IT OUT.
I can say that with about a 99% certainty. There will probably be some trial and error, and there will be some days your plans and desires just don't work. Chances are, you'll survive!
 
Thanks for the advice everybody, this isn't about reconsidering the military lifestyle, just about preparing mentally and physically. I appreciate all the great input and experiences!

Pima: I bookmarked Raimius's Blog...thank you for the recommendation. So far I think I will find it very applicable and interesting. Also I look forward to the STEM oriented majors at USAFA, but was just wondering what people's experiences were with doing some of the hardest one's, say electrical engineering for example.

And Buff, thanks for the solid advice, I'm sure that would improve their treatment of the wimpy dooly ;)
 
What time do freshman wake up?

Actually I'm just wondering about where I'd be able to fit in going to the gym, is going in the morning before breakfast feasible? Or how late is the gym open?

Silly questions, but I'm curious :redface:

6 or 7 depending on the day.
 
Hornet, Raimius,AFAMOM, Pima, are right on



FWIW....Another "real" example of real life Air Force pilot - wheels up at 7:30pm be at the next Airbase - 1.5 hour flight. Stay there until they know if needed...come back...not sure what time. Sleep could be at a premium.
 
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