It's very sad to see how normal people on the inside think this is. Even at the Master's level, for many people this is a bragging competition for who gets to s

It's very sad to see how normal people on the inside think this is. Even at the Master's level, for many people this is a bragging competition for who gets to sleep less and generally suffer more. That culture is completely toxic. That being said there are still labs where you can enjoy your PhD. You just need to be very thorough when talking to PIs and people in each lab about what life there is like.