Sleep
Benefits of Sleep
Sleep restores us physically, mentally and emotionally.
College students who do not achieve regular sleep patterns
are more likely to experience motor skill and physical performance
deficits; have more difficulty fighting off illnesses; experience
laps of concentration, memory and judgment; and are at greater risk
of experiencing anxiety and depression.
Common Symptoms of Sleep Loss
The most common symptoms associated with collegiate sleep loss include:
- Feeling drowsy in class
- Unable to focus and concentrate on reading assignments and other intellectual tasks
- Sadness, irritability, anxiety and depression
- Diminished athletic performance & susceptibility to injury and illness
What is Sleep Debt?
According to Stanford University’s report on “What all
undergraduates should know about how their sleeping lives
affect their waking lives” William Dement, MD, PhD, suggests
that college students have a specific daily requirement of
sleep (from 8 to 9 hours). When that daily requirement is not
met, a “debt” is created which can have deleterious effects
not just upon memory and concentration but even safety.
Fatigued and drowsy young adult drivers, according to the
National Highway Safety Administration are involved in more
than half of the 100,000 traffic accidents each year. In
college, when lost sleep accumulates, students become chronically
drowsy, often sleep through morning classes or can’t stay awake
in the classes they attend.
Favorite Sleep Sites on the Web
For more information regarding sleep and college life, visit:
For more information on our University services for students, contact the Center for Collegiate Behavioral Health at 368-2510 or University Health Services at 368-2450.
How Much Sleep
Most college students need more sleep than elementary school children
according to Brown University’s researcher, Mary Carskadon, PhD, and
Stanford University’s researcher, William Dement, MD, PhD. Both have
been studying young adults and the effects of sleep deprivation for
many years. They claim that young adults need approximately 9 hours
of sleep each night (yeah, right) to help protect them from mental
and emotional exhaustion.
Sleep Hygiene Tips
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms as the semester unfolds, the National Sleep Foundation suggests the following:
- Reduce or eliminate caffeinated beverages, especially after mid-day
Try the Sleep Foundation's "Caffeine Calculator"
for a self-assessment of the effects of caffeine.
- Avoid nicotine but if you do smoke tobacco, try not to smoke late at night
- Be aware that alcohol consumption may make you feel drowsy but it tends to give you a lousy sleep
- Avoid heavy late-night eating
- Exercise in the daytime; avoid nighttime exercise
- Establish a fairly regular bedtime at night
- Beds are for sleeping and sex; studying in bed in not a good association to establish
Memory, Concentration and All Nighters
Researchers at the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the
Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston report that
college students’ performance on a new skill does not
improve until after they have had more than 6 preferably
8 hours of sleep. Without sufficient sleep, the Harvard
students they studied simply could not properly encode
and commit new information into memory. This research and
most experts agree: pulling an all-nighter before an exam
just doesn’t yield the performance benefit that students
might hope. College student lore aside, may suggest the
best thing a student can do before taking a test is to
sleep at least 6 hours.
Power Naps: Do They Work?
New experiments funded by the National Institute of Mental Health appears
to support that even a nap during the day may help students process new information
and help to reduce ‘information overload’. Alan Hobson, MD, Robert Stickgold, PhD
and colleagues at Harvard University demonstrated that one hour naps contained more
than 4 times as much deep (slow wave) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep than
half-hour naps. Slow wave sleep appears to help reduce ‘learning burnout’ and REM
sleep appears to help consolidate learning into memory. Sustained REM sleep usually
appears in the latter stages of sleep in the cycle of 6 to 8 hours, so while naps
may help prevent ‘burnout’, restorative, (6 to 8) hours of sleep is still the best
type of sleep to consolidate learning.