My roommate and I finally turned off the TV at three a.m. I couldn’t fall asleep – I lay there listening to the sounds of the night. Cars, people and doors all seemed to conspire to keep me up. Still tossing and turning about an hour later, I decided that not being able to sleep after being up for 20 hours was a problem to be solved. I sat up and assessed the situation. I was surprised to find I could count 22 small points of light that, along with the noise pollution, were forestalling sleep. Lights glowed annoyingly from two computers, a TV, a PS2, the cell phone charger, printers, a microwave, stereos,\ and a cordless phone. Light streamed in under the door from the hallway and from outside the window. The most annoying lights were the ones from two electronic alarm clocks. They were driving me insane.
Why do we need all of this electronic equipment? It would be easy to just dismiss it all as luxury and say that we don’t need it, but that’s not exactly the case. As University of Southern Maine students, we live in little rooms, often with another person. USM serves as our home for most of the year. As such, we want certain comforts and amenities to help us get through the year. Fair enough, but by being more discriminating about our choice and use of electronics we can help USM, the planet and ourselves.
We could theoretically live on campus without a computer and still be able to type papers and check email. However, you wouldn’t want to walk up the side of a snowy hill to the computer lab just to check out a dancing cat or a “Top Ten List” that a cousin thought so vital. A compromise for comfort and reduced power use would be to share one computer between roommates. However, this might not work for all people, because of personality conflicts or similar usage times. Limiting the time you spend in front of a computer might be a good idea. According to the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, just five hours a day in front of a computer can significantly increase the risk of depression and insomnia. (Maybe this was why I couldn’t sleep?) If you can’t share a computer and don’t want to rely on the computer lab, another energy-saving option is to turn off your machine when you are not using it.
The next suggestion I offer is for all students to use just one clock and face it away from your bed. It’s my opinion that a clock doesn’t have to dictate sleeping, eating or recreation. In addition to regulating your time on the computer, you could only turn on your TV to watch your favorite show and turn it off directly after it is finished. This would put an end to channel surfing and the all-too-common practice of leaving the TV on to serve as background noise.
The final step to achieving a better night’s sleep and saving kilowatt-hours is to pull the shades, get comfortable, turn everything possible off and try not to contemplate the meaning of the universe. A good night’s sleep is essential for maintaining a healthy body and a sharp mind. It’s during sleep that our bodies fight infection and renew cells. Conserving energy helps promote a good nights sleep with little effort, a lot of savings and offers us all the promise of a higher quality of life.
Aaron Harris can be contacted at [email protected]