That's Where I'm a Viking!

Instapundit on not getting enough sleep when you were young:

I hear adults say "I can't go without sleep like I could when I was a teenager," but actually I think they can -- at least, I can -- it's just that we're now smart enough to realize just how bad we'll feel the next day.

Back when I was in high school I probably got the best sleep in my life. My mother liked to make sure I got between 7 and 8 hours every night. I slept in even more on the weekends. Ah those were the days...

It always amazed me how little sleep many of my friends got. And generally it was for stupid reasons like wanting to watch the Late Night comedy shows. One of my friends took the philosophy of getting little sleep and never making it up until it made her so ill she had to take an excused absence. She wasn't a stupid girl, but it seemed like a very stupid way to live. I can't imagine it has gotten any better with Myspace and other things available to today's kids.

I didn't start really short-changing myself until college. Even then I quickly learned that it wasn't worth it. Less than six hours of sleep was just not maintainable, especially with Calculus at eight in the next morning three days a week.