A Lifetime of No Sleep

For most post-secondary students, all of these factors are intertwined into one major headache. Students are only starting to receive benefits now from educational and government institutions for a somewhat balanced, manageable life (such as health and dental care, people with disabilities etc.). In Canadian college and university life, where Modafinil is arguably more of a need for the average student, the question isn’t whether you should use Modafinil, but rather what happens when you do.

Though Modafinil recently became popularized in the United States, with the approval of the Food and Drug Association (FDA), a division of United States Department of Health and Human Services, Canada was not so adamant about its distribution.

Despite its commercial success in the US, the Canadian government has yet to add it as a controlled substance to the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act. This means that if you’re travelling with it at the airport, the Canadian government reserves the right to seize and detain it for not being a recognized controlled drug. For young students across Canada, this may seem like a huge tease. Modafinil works exponentially better than most stimulants like nicotine and even caffeine, the most popular “pick-me-up” in the world.

What does Modafinil mean for modern society?

For us desperate Eddie Morra’s out there eager to get our lives out of the muck, this is an opportunity of “limitless” potential during a crucial time. Infinite amounts of energy, focus and concentration not only augment grades, but increase the overall social well-being. Not to mention Modafinil could possibly become the most sought-after party drug ever.

Let’s do the math: If each user spends 22 hours a day awake for seven days a week, that’s roughly 154 hours spent awake each week (as opposed to 112 hours awake with restful, 8-hour sleep)! In one year, the average user would spend over 8,000 hours awake. Such a drastic shift in this demographic would undoubtedly change the way our society operates. Less amount of sleep means more activity at virtually any time of the day. It means late or all-night cafes, pubs, and bars will become more and more normalized. It means commercial department stores that cater to young people will be open around the clock.

It will also reflect a shift in our society’s view of lack of sleep will have to take place. Are we ready to accept that a change in sleeping patterns (or lack thereof) – and consequentially a change in lifestyle – is something we can no longer deem as “unhealthy”? Professor Molly Cahill of the University of Pennsylvania writes in the BioEthics Journal that what makes Modafinil so defining is “its power”, and that “the key to limitless productivity, energy, focus, and just plain feeling good every single day can now be found in 100-200 mg capsules”.

One can only hope that this drug is not too good to be true, only time will tell.

Lindsey Addawoo is a fourth year Radio and Television Arts student at Ryerson University. She has written for various student publications, such as The Ryerson Free Press and Mcclung’s Magazine. Her ultimate goal is to become a multi-faceted news journalist in both print and TV broadcasting.

Source
Image courtesy of AngryParsley via Flickr
Modafinil: past, present and future Christos A Ballas, Deborah Kim, Claudia F Baldassano, and Nicholas Hoeh Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, July 2002, Vol. 2, No. 4 , Pages 449-457