Medical Student’s ‘Hack’ To Get an Extra Hour of Sleep Goes Viral

A medical student has come up with a genius way of attending his lectures without needing to get out of bed.

As a third-year medical student, sleep is a precious commodity for Andreas Polychronis, 27, so he’s resorted to finding quirky ways of staying in bed for just a little bit longer. In a hilarious video posted on TikTok (@andreaspoly), he showed the mannequin dressed like him (complete with a baseball cap) that was placed in front of his desk.

After sharing his sneaky hack, Polychronis told Newsweek that, with such a busy schedule, he resorts to “desperate measures” to avoid going to class. With the mannequin seated in front of the monitor, Polychronis, from New Jersey, could at least look like he was attending the Zoom class, despite still snoozing in bed.

“Many medical students don’t like going to class because they usually won’t learn anything, and they would much rather stay in bed or just study at home instead. But most medical schools make it mandatory to attend class, so this is just a joke about trying to get out of going,” Polychronis said.

“During my didactic years of medical school, lectures were from 8-10 a.m. Now that I am doing my clinical rotations, I have to be at hospitals sometimes as early as 6 a.m. So, after a long night of studying, a full day of classes, and peer meetings, medical school students have very difficult schedules and at times we just want an extra hour of sleep.”

While he hasn’t actually tested this method with his camera on, Polychronis said he “would certainly give it a try” next time he has to switch his camera on during class.

Since the video was posted on April 16, it has delighted many social media users, especially fellow students who can easily relate. The clip has already been viewed more than 2.1 million times and generated over 176,000 likes on TikTok at the time of writing.

Polychronis often shares videos on social media documenting his humorous ways of getting through medical school, and he loves sharing these jokes with his followers online. Many of his videos have gone viral in the past, which he thinks is because they are based on relatable problems that numerous students have, and they love seeing his creative solutions.

“Many students, not just medical students, laugh at my videos and they message me saying that they are going to use this hack as well,” Polychronis told Newsweek.

“Ideas like these just pop into my mind while going through medical school. I look at the problems medical school students have, stretch the truth just a little, then I either talk about the problem, or I present solutions that may be impractical but are highly relatable.”

The viral TikTok post has already amassed over 540 comments so far, as many people lauded his inventive method to stay in bed longer and get that precious extra sleep. One comment reads: “It’s the mask in an online class for me.”

Another person responded: “This is the doctor I want to take care of me. Innovative lol.”

And a TikTok user joked: “Work smarter not harder.”

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