Whether the culprit is late nights on the town or late nights in the library, important hours of sleep are sacrificed every night by Auburn students.
“I think that the vast majority of the students we see as patients are in a sleep deprived state,” Dr. Fred Kam, the director of the Auburn University Medical Clinic, said.
Between juggling the load of classes, tests, labs, involvement and a social life, sleep has the tendency to fall to the bottom of many students’ priority lists.
“I have so much to do every day, that sleep is the last thing I think about,” Meghan Williams, a junior in history education, said.
As tempting as it may be to skip out on sleep, getting an adequate amount of sleep is valuable for a number of reasons.
In a study reported in the Journal of College Student Development, researchers noted that students who get more sleep and develop healthy sleep habits consistently have better grades than those who do not.
According to WebMD.com, sleep is a time when the body restores its energy levels, which affects a person’s mental and physical state.
Preventing the body from going through its natural restorative process known as sleep can lead to sleep deprivation, and consequently several related health problems.
“Not getting the right amount of sleep will have a negative your health,” Kam said. “It affects your ability to process information and your body’s immunologic defense mechanism to fight off infections.”
A weakened immune system, impaired memory, and depression are a few health issues caused by skimping on sleep. Students should aim for seven to eight hours of sleep a night, depending upon the individual.
“Ideally I try to get six hours or more of sleep a night,” Mallory Dixon, a freshman in elementary education, said. “But that doesn’t happen most nights, so I nap a lot.”
Research shows that even getting six hours of sleep a night is likely to shortchange learning and performance. The last few hours of sleep contain the most Rapid Eye Movement cycle of sleep, which is most conducive to retaining and recalling newly learned information.
Even if students don’t receive the recommended amount of sleep each night, there are ways to maximize the hours that they do get.
WebMD.com suggests getting regular exercise, which can promote deeper sleep through the reduction of stress hormones burned off during aerobic activity.
“When I exercise I am able to burn off all of my extra energy so that when it’s time to go to sleep, my body is ready to crash,” Becca Burslem, a freshman in interior design, said.
Researchers suggest that students work at developing good sleep habits, which include:
• Establishing a sleep schedule. Try to go to bed and get up at about the same time every day, or at least during the week.
• On weekends, avoid sleeping more than a couple of hours later than the usual wake time. This helps to set the body’s sleep/wake cycle.
• Avoid long naps. If you need a nap, take a nap of about 30 minutes in the early to mid afternoon.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine taken within 4 to 5 hours of bedtime can keep you awake. Alcohol may make you drowsy, but it also interferes with REM sleep and will actually wake you up when it wears off.
• Avoid heavy meals before sleeping. A light snack, like milk and cookies, will help induce sleep. Avoid chocolate, which contains caffeine.
• Spend time unwinding before bed. A warm bath, soothing music, or light reading may the mind and body relax. A shower may be too stimulating, so try a bath instead.
• If you find your mind racing, keep a notepad by the bed. Jot down a to-do or worry list so you can get the thoughts off your mind.
• If you can’t sleep, don’t stay in bed more than 30 minutes. Get up and read, write letters, or pray/meditate. Watching TV or logging on to Facebook will be too stimulating.
“If they (students) were to work to get more balance in their lives and more appropriate sleep, they’re performance academically and otherwise would improve,” Kam said.
