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Naturally, this leads to many students having more and more trouble staying awake during class periods that conflict with their sleep debts.

In certain classes, especially ones with high student-teacher ratios, it can be easy to fall asleep without the professor ever noticing or caring. After all, this is college, not high school; professors are under no obligation to baby-sit their students and make sure they’re awake for their lessons. If they sleep through an important lecture and suffer for it, that’s their business.

It follows that a portion of campus students raises the practice of sleeping in class to an art form. After all, there are times when a lecture is simply impossible to pay attention točthe eyes begin to droop, the neck becomes less interested in holding up the head, and the waking world begins, inexorably, to slip away.

Depending on the number and type of friends one may have in the class next to them, the student may get poked or prodded to stay awake and pay attention.

But far more often, the sleepy scholar falls asleep nearly unnoticed and disregarded. The student then passes with relief through the gates of unconsciousness, becoming absolutely disinterested in the lesson at hand in favor of catching up on rest.

But all is not well for the common student seeking a little relaxation during a boring lecture. Comfort is a huge issue in the often spartan surroundings of the usual Hamline classroom.

An exhausted student seeking relief from the world of wakefulness has several tried-and-true positions to combat these setbacks, however. After all, such a sleeper is part of a much larger, unacknowledged community of catatonic classmates, who worked tirelessly (ha ha) to create a selection of different ways to sleep in school.

The first such position is the most common to the casual snoozer. All students need do is lean forward onto one’s desk, rest one’s head upon one’s forearms, and “clock out.”

This position may feel the most “natural” to a tired student, but it has its drawbacks. It’s a conspicuous contortion to be in, for one thing. Many professors are under no strict obligation to wake up such an obviously unconscious student, but the appearance can be enough to affront the teacher’s sensibilities.

If one knew that he or she would be sleeping in the class beforehand-say, because of an all-nighter that the student pulled the previous night-one would have another, more comfortable option available.

All the student in question would have to do is show up to class early enough to have first pick of the seats available, and try to find one that is right up against a wall. In rarer cases, desks in the corners of classrooms offer two walls to rest against.

Leaning against such walls is less conspicuous than the “Heads-Up 7-Up” position of lying down on the desk, and it’s a good deal more restful for endurance napping. Its weakness is how dependent it is on factors such as classroom layout and assigned seating, but when it works, it works wonderfully.

The third option is for the tired utilitarians on campus. The sleepers in this position eschew the complicated arm maneuverings of the first position and the intricate planning of the second in favor of merely allowing the head to droop forward onto the chest for sleepy time. While this technique is favored by many for its simplicity, it has its flaws like any other technique.

The largest glaring flaw is one of comfort-without support for the neck, one may wake up from one’s nap at the end of class with an aching head. Apart from this obvious issue of a rudely painful awakening, this strategy is a solid one. It is less glaringly obvious to the professor than some other positions, and it need not rely on any advanced planning.

To know all these methods for sleeping can help students sleep in the way best suited to them, but these tired students should be aware that the best way to go about Hamline is to get enough sleep when there are no classesčat night. Sleep is best reserved for beds, or couches, outside of valuable class time.