Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ilsanman]

Just a comment on Korean society in general, people here seem to sleep a lot less than I am used to people sleeping.

I don't sleep really well, and I need about 8 hours a night to function at 100% the next day. Given working mostly evening hagwon jobs since I got here, that isn't too hard for me to do, except when the neighbours decide to have another domestic battle.

A lot of businessmen here sleep 5 hours or less a night, as do high school students, and others. I have gone on 5 hours a night for days at a stretch, and I eventually burn out. In fact, I tend to burn out within a week. I will come home one day and crash out for 11-12 hours, and then go right back to where I started.

Some people here are in positions where they can't really do that, can't really get that 12 or so hours of sleep necessary for the body to recover from being sleep deprived for an extended amount of time. I can't imagine how they function. I guess it helps that many of those people sleep at their desks.

I am also wondering about the long term effects on your body or mind after being sleep deprived for so long. It can't be good. Maybe that's why so many older men just seem numb to the world around them.

[CeleryMan]

Buddy, we age in dog years ova here; the pollution, singular diet, and work-obsessed culture only accelerates the aging process; as I said earlier, only in Korea is 20 the new 30, 40 the new 50, so on and so forth.

I'd love to thoroughly engrain the concept of class-action lawsuits to each and every salaryman in this country. Lord knows the Comglomerates have enough hush money to settle one or two major out of court settlements.

Do we have any members of the litigation world reppin on this forum? I'd love to share my grandiose idea.

[Easter Clark]

I personally don't know where I would be without my daily 1-hour naps on my desk. Public school has its advantages!

[marlow]

[Ilsanman]

Could be. It'd be a neat case study.

[stvwrd]

I've had problems with insomnia all my life but finally after two years of waking up at 7am every day, I'm seeing improvement.

A big factor was that from July until November I had to wake up at 5:30 am three days a week.

Somehow this balanced it all out and I'm currently in fairly decent sleep pattern, though I still wake up tired every morning and have a hard time getting up.

I've always wanted to experiment with polyphasic sleep:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/polyphasic-sleep-the-return-to-monophasic/

[Carmy]

Insomnia really is awful! I suffer from it at least once a week, where I'll toss and turn in bed, fully aware of everything around me and then I'll look at my alarm clock and it's 4:22a.m and I'm STILL awake!
It always seems to happen that after 4ish I fall asleep and then have to wake up 4 hours later.
It seems like my body is kind of getting used to it though, because I rarely feel like I have sand in my eyes after a sleepless night, anymore.
Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

But I know of so many many people here in Korea that suffer from a lack of sleep. I wonder why? Shouldn't we be completely knackered from the kids and the long hours?

[chris_J2]

Firstly, congratulations on the new addition to the family!

I work in a PS job, & often sleep in on Saturday mornings. Occasionally, I was so tired, in my last job, that I would lie down on the sofa, when I got home at 5pm, & wake up at 3am, with the TV on static. Is Korean TV programming really that boring? Without having changed clothes, eaten, or showered!

[ella]

It's true that lots of people are sleep-deprived and it's also true that some are exaggerating about how little sleep they get. It's bizarrely something to brag about, here.

[VanIslander]