Getting at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night is paramount to maintaining your well-being. However, many students are currently studying from a different time zone, which can make maintaining a healthy sleep schedule difficult. 

That includes me — I am a first-year student at UTSC studying from my home in Thailand, which is 12 hours ahead of Toronto time. My abnormal routine during the fall semester became more hectic and exhausting because of the need to concentrate during the wee hours of the night. 

I heard from three undergraduate students and a graduate student who are all living in different time zones and studying at U of T’s three campuses to find out whether their daily schedules have changed, how they feel about synchronous classes, and how the pandemic has affected them more generally. 

Irregular schedules

Kate Fan, a second-year Rotman Commerce student currently living in New Zealand, wrote, “I needed to change many areas of my life to work around my class schedule.” When asked about her sleep schedule, Fan described how a “regular sleep routine is difficult to establish” because she is 18 hours ahead of Toronto time. 

Fan is not the only one who finds this nocturnal way of living to be a burdensome challenge. Ha Giang Nguyen, a first-year student at UTSC studying from Vietnam, wrote that “it is exhausting to stay awake and function at midnight.” 

While I had time zone challenges in the fall, this semester, I avoided the difficulties that Nguyen experienced. With only one compulsory synchronous class at 9:00 pm local time and the availability of recordings for other lectures, I am glad to have a regular sleep schedule once again. Chokpisit Kasemphaibulsuk, who is a teaching assistant working on his master’s of engineering from Thailand, is likewise able to watch recordings of his synchronous classes and skip the lectures. 

Productivity during the pandemic

When asked how the time zone differences have affected them, Manuchekhr Nabiev, a first-year student at UTM from Tajikistan, wrote, “I have noticed that even though I have changed my sleep schedule, I am still a lot more productive during daytime. 3 out of 5 courses that I am taking right now, have participation marks in the final grade and so I have to stay up till 8 a.m. to get those marks.”

However, being more productive during the day does not mean that the time zone difference has boosted Nabiev’s academic performance. Nabiev had to deal with a slow internet connection at 2:00 am while attempting to complete a calculus test.

Students have mixed reviews on the efficacy of synchronous classes. According to Fan, “synchronous classes do bring many benefits to a student’s learning.” In addition, Nguyen feels that synchronous classes and post-lecture assessments help her avoid procrastination. 

However, Nabiev wrote, “I don’t think the benefits of having synchronous classes outweigh [their] disadvantages… Most of the time, even during the break-out rooms, most students are silent and so you can’t even make friends or find study partners.” 

Considering the need to optimize learning for everyone, Kasemphaibulsuk wrote, “It’s true that it’s beneficial to be in class so you can ask question [sic] right away, but with online learning we have to be more flexible and try to accommodate people from all around the world.” Being a teaching assistant, though, means that Kasemphaibulsuk has to sleep at 4:00 am on certain days. 

All in all, we must try to adapt and make the best out of the current situation. Sleeping during the day to compensate for a lack of sleep during the night, doing physical activities, and maintaining our mental health during these stressful times are a few things that we can do to cope with the pandemic and time zone issues.