Causes And Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On College Students

Are you tired and having trouble paying attention in class? Focusing on tasks at hand? Or just completely being overall unproductive? The average college student is deprived at least two full hours asleep each night according to “College Tidbits” a website designed to promote healthy lifestyles and productivity in daily college life. These results were pooled from multiple surveys done over hundreds of campuses throughout the United States. Today, I hope to persuade you to fight the statistics and get those extra two hours of sleep. Do what it takes to get the full seven to nine hours that is suggested by the Mayo Clinic. I will discuss two problems. Why college students are not

One factor that increase sleep loss is the poor sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene is the promotion of regular sleep (CDC, 2012). Without sufficient sleep hygiene, students may notice that their health worsen and can encourage sleep deprivation. A study completed with college students showed that 33% of sleep deprived students took longer than 30 minutes to fall sleep, and 43% of the students studied also reported prematurely waking up more than once on a nightly basis (Forquer, Camden, Gabriau, & Johnson, 2008). One can say that college students have different sleep hygiene depending on their majors. Even though it may be true that some majors have different amount of work load, Forquer et al. (2008) found that there isn’t any difference between the grade level they’re in in college.

Sleep is a huge part of our lives. On average, we need anywhere from 7-10 of sleep, depending on age. However, few people, especially students, actually get the amount of sleep they should be receiving every night. You might be wondering, its only a couple of hours, why is this a big deal? Actually, sleep deprivation can have a huge impact on your day. According to the article “The Cure for Brain Fog” by Toni Gerber Hope, “lack of sleep has such a profound effect on our brains, making us forgetful, unable to concentrate, grumpy, accident-prone or clumsy”. Anyone who has lost sleep has felt these symptoms and they occur even slightly if one gets less sleep than necessary. There are many diagnoses for sleep deprivation but I believe that the rising issue is technology.

Audience Relevance: Many of us are college students and young adults who are lacking sleep each night. It is not healthy to receive less than the amount we are supposed to each night. Each night, we are supposed to be getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep.

Only about fifteen percent of teens obtain the preferred eight hours of sleep they need to function properly (Neuroscience for Kids, 2010). Sixty percent of teens say that they are “tired” and fifteen percent fall asleep in class (School and Sleep Times, 2011). This shows that high schoolers are not getting

Sleep deprivation is a serious concern among college students, who are "among the most sleep-deprived age group in the United States," (Central Michigan University, 2008). It is important to study the causes of sleep deprivation, or sleep disorders, among college students. According to Park (2009), "dozens of studies have linked an increase in nightly sleep to better cognition and alertness." A study by Central Michigan University (2008) found that sleep deprivation can lead to poor academic performance, impaired driving, depression, and behavioral problems. There are several variables that may affect sleeping patterns among college students. One is genetics or biological issues. It is highly

In today’s society, many people go through many days yawning, fighting to stay awake and indulging in many cups of coffee. If you were to ask them what the cause of their restlessness was, the popular statement would be a lack of sleep. However, most would not dare to think that a lack of sleep could cause multiple issues in everyday life. This problem has been seen to peak during the good ole college days. It is hard to imagine that those days of all-night cramming sessions and those late nights partying causing students to be sleep deprived could lead to a variety of problems like stress, long term insomnia, and a weakened immune system.

Attention Getter: Did you know 40% of Americans or (100 million people) are moderately to severely sleep-deprived? Students in college are among the most sleep deprived out of them all. According to the (National Sleep Foundation 2011) 60% of college students are not rested during the day and 30% fall asleep in class at least once a week. The National Sleep Foundation also implies that adults 18 and older are supposed to sleep on average 7-9 hours each night.

College is exciting transition for freshman as they can meet new people and be open to opportunities in their life; however, college is very demanding when it comes to school work. Freshmen tend to underestimate their school work and end up stacking their homework, leading them to become stressed and develop unhealthy habits. Sleep deprivation is a common habit among freshmen as they stay up all night to study for an exam or write a paper. If students feel like they have too much work, they burn themselves out and end up losing the motivation to finish their homework, making their grade fall. With all this work, freshmen spend most of their time at home or in the library doing their homework and feel too exhausted to socialize. College is supposed to be a thrilling experience for freshmen, but they tend to form bad habits that makes college more difficult and do not know how to get rid of them. Freshmen need to know developing good sleeping habits, motivating themselves, and finding the time to socialize is important in maintaining their health and social life throughout college. Freshman should set a sleep schedule for themselves, create a reward system for themselves when completing their work, and join a club or organization in order to manage their school life and enjoy the exciting experience of college. (225)

Research indicates that America’s sleep problems have increased and might be the number one health problem. The average amount of sleep that people get per night can range anywhere from three to twelve hours. According to Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania, it is a fact that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night do not live as long as people who get seven hours or more. Most people do not realize the importance of sleep or even realize that it is needed to survive. Many people experience sleep deprivation; however it is commonly seen in college students. Irregular sleeping patterns tend to occur in students, which can later lead to long-term effects.

Thesis Statement: When the projects, exams, and extra-curricular activities start to pile up on one another it seems as though there is not enough time in the day.  This is when college students tend to lose precious hours of sleep and the consequences can be costly.

With so much going on for the youth in this era, sleep is not a priority for teenagers. Instead, staying up past midnight to finish an essay (such as this one), waking up at 4:30 in the morning to work out before school begins, and having no time to snooze in the afternoon due to after school activities and homework all have a piece contributing with sleep deprivation that turns millions of American teens into zombies living off of Monsters. The truth is, when the opportunity for sleep is presented to teenagers, many would rather do a leisure activity instead of catching up on their loss of endless hours of sleep. Even if the school hours were changed to a later start, many teenagers would still rather stay up doing leisure activities, they

It is estimated that only 15 percent actually get these amounts (Kids Suffer from Sleep Deprivation). This is particularly important for students who wish to do well in school. Dr. Carl Hunt, the director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, is spearheading a sleep campaign. Her philosophy is, “Sleep well, do well.” This is something that shouldn’t be taken to lightly. Sleep problems effect about 70 million Americans of all ages. Teens often have problems with daytime sleepiness. The old idea of early to bed, early to rise isn’t necessarily the best answer. Society is simply asking to much of teens (Sleep experts to teens). A combination of school, work, study and leisure, leaves very little time left for sleep. Being deprived of sleep definitely has an effect on how well students do in school and may be putting their health at risk. College students who stay up all night to study for a test or write a big paper that’s due often have no choice because of the pressures to do well and succeed, but at what price do they pay?

Enclosed is a copy of “Sleep Deprivation among ASU Students.” This report is a summary of my findings from the work that I completed in which I call upon documented scientific studies, articles, books, and my own findings through survey in order to determine the problem of sleep deprivation, more specifically, sleep deprivation among students at Arizona State University. This isn’t a clearly visible problem or popular topic of conversation on college campuses so you may be wondering how I came to discover this as a problem worthy of attention.

At one point in your life, whether you're in your late thirties or adolescent years, you may experience sleep deprivation be it crucial or mild. So, what exactly is sleep deprivation? Well, sleep deprivation is simply not getting enough or no sleep at all. Jane E. Brody, a reporter of The New York Times, states that “the average adolescent needs eight to nine and a half hours of sleep each night,” but studies show that only fifteen percent of juveniles get the recommended amount of sleep. It's no surprise that two in three teens are likely to be “severely” sleep-deprived, especially during finals week.