Mental Health of Princeton Students and the Need for Balance

In response to the PAWcast discussion of student mental health (published online Dec. 30): I learned and grew a lot during my four years at Princeton and I am very thankful for them. But one very negative thing I “learned” early at Princeton was that sleep is a waste of time. As a result, I lived many decades of my life with that misinformation, and this led to many missed opportunities to share more with my spouse, my sons, my friends, and yes, myself. It is only now, being retired from a very demanding and fulfilling career, that I understand the joy of not living life as though you’re on a treadmill.

I hope that today’s students can graduate with the knowledge that there can be — there needs to be — balance. But this will only happen if that is what the faculty and administration view as the ideal.