Wei Kiat's Blog

Recently there have been quite a number of parents and teenagers writing in to straits times to complain that their precious beloved little kiddies do not get enough sleep. In today's paper, there was even a parent complaining that his or her kiddie sleep at 8.30pm but has no time for breakfast in the morning the next day. It seems that i'm always ahead of trend, knowing about the evil of NKF even before people start kao bei-ing about it, and more recently pointing out in ST that sexuality workshops have serious problems. Followers of my blog should refer to my previous blog entry on
http://yahoopot.blogspot.com/2006/01/point.html
where i already pointed out how sleep deprived Singaporeans are. Students are no exception. But the debate going on in the forum pages seems immersely stupid.

Let me first point out some common misconceptions about sleep before i carry on.

1) A minimum of 8 hours of sleep per day is nosense. This is because
-Most Singaporeans don't sleep that much anyway
-Research has determined that the amount of sleep can be determined by your age.
eg. A new born child sleep practically 24hours, while an old man of 70 only
requires 4~6 hours of sleep.
2) NOT ONLY PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDDIES ARE SUFFERING FROM LACK OF SLEEP SO WHY DIDN'T ANY SEC OR JC STUDENTS COMPLAIN TOO???

And let us now look how much sleep i get throughout the entire stage of my life currently.

Primary School (Morning Session): Sleep at 9.30, wake at 6.
Secondary School (Sec 1&2): Sleep at 9, wake at 5.
Secondary School (Sec 3&4): Sleep at 10~11, wake at 5
JC: Sleep at 10~1, wake at 5.20.

And i still get to eat my breakfast. So i don't see why some kiddie out there can sleep at 8.30pm and not wake up in time for breakfast the next day. I am seriously suspicious as to whether that kiddie is in actual fact a pig or a human. Yes, and i do not habit of taking afternoon naps, incase you are asking.

Yes indeed, those taking public transport may have to wake up much earlier. Despite the fact that everyone seems to claim that Singapore has a very efficient public transportation system, i seriously doubt anyone who said so actually took public transport themselves. Do you know that the Bukit Panjang LRT takes a full 20minutes to travel from the station near my house (Fajar) to Chua Chu Kang LRT station? It used to be much faster with buses, but the opening of the BP LRT saw the phasing out of buses that follows appromixmately the same route as that of the LRT. So now i'm stuck with taking this ultra slow transport that take 20 minutes to travel just a short distance with no other option left. If the bloody LRT aren't that slow and buses still in operation, i will be able to wake up at 5.40 everyday and reach school at 7am everyday and still get my breakfast.

Finally, the last letter from readers regarding the same topic on ST is entitled "Want child to do well? Let him get enough sleep." Well. I believe this is true. See for yourself.

My sleeping times
Primary School (Morning Session): Sleep at 9.30, wake at 6.
Secondary School (Sec 1&2): Sleep at 9, wake at 5.
Secondary School (Sec 3&4): Sleep at 10~11, wake at 5
JC: Sleep at 10~1, wake at 5.20.

My results
Primary Sch PSLE: 269
Secondary School: 5pts
JC: (Unknown)

There is an obvious negative value-addedness here. Nxt time you are on an mrt on your way to work or school, just take a look around and see how many people are sleeping. Same applies to school bus. I ever saw one NYGH girl fall off her sleep on the bus because she was deep in sleep. It was a hilarious sight.