It isn’t a mystery that college students don’t get the quality sleep after spending hours during the night socializing and drinking. Very few feel refreshed in the morning causing them to be dysfunctional and reducing overall well being. The multitude of sleep problems like insomnia, early awakenings, and difficulties falling asleep are clear signs of suboptimal sleep. To fix the problem, we need to examine the causes, so we are better equipped to prevent the negative outcomes associated with sleep deprivation and sleep quality. Sleep is a unifying behavior between all complex life forms, yet it is not simple. It is a behavior which takes over one third of our lives. It is practiced by all animals, including mammals, insects, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. In fact, as Martin concluded, dolphins and other aquatic mammals, for example, are able to sleep with one half of their brain at a time in order to swim to the surface for air. This is known as unihemispheric sleep, and it is also practiced by birds to keep an eye for predators (Martin 469-470). To summarize Epstein, sleep is divided into two phases called REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. Non-REM is divided into three stages. During stage one, which lasts about five minutes, the brain produces theta waves to prepare the body for sleep; these waves are also prominent during daydreaming. Stage two is a deeper level of sleep typically lasting twenty-five or thirty minutes. This is the stage when sleep spindles
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
A common problem in many young adults in college is sleep deprivation. College students are some of the most sleep deprived people. Their sleep hygiene behavior is worse than adults. An adequate amount of sleep time is 7 to 8 hours each night to complete a regular sleep cycle. When college students have less sleep time, they are disturbing their sleeping cycle and their bodies respond by decreasing their ability to concentrate on tasks. Sleep deprivation can affect your everyday life in many different ways. For instances, it can decrease your physical health, mental health, and academic performance. The following articles will be focusing on
Thesis: Sleep is crucial for any living creature and lacking an adequate amount of sleep is detrimental to health.
Studies have shown that a significant change in both the quantity and quality of sleep amongst college students has occurred (The sleep duration and sleep satisfaction of college students: striking changes over the last decade).
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.
Specific Purpose: Sleep and college students usually don’t tend to get along very well. Sleep and college life often bump heads due to stress, coursework and social activities. This speech will give the students useful information about dangers of not getting enough sleep and also hints on how to get a better nights sleep.
Background and Audience Relevance: College students are one of the biggest populations of people to be sleep deprived. We fill ourselves with coffee, and other forms of caffeine yet, there have been serious, fatal incidents about sleep deprivation. As we continue our journey through college, we should invest ourselves in having rights amount of sleep, and to not resort to all-nighters.
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.
Sleep deprivation is a frequent obstacle that many college students in America face. Insomnia in college students can have an immense impact on psychological and physical health, which greatly influence academic success. Research shows that 70% of college students qualify as sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation has also been linked with several diseases/disorders, including: depression, anxiety, and obesity. Our research question investigated how sleep deprivation in college students affects them physiologically and psychologically. The participants included college students that are at least 18 years of age. Researchers distributed 200 surveys to college students in a rural community. The survey determined the student’s sleep habits and how their sleep affects their physiological and psychological health. Our research hypothesis was that out of all the 200 students surveyed, the majority or at least 45% of the students said they suffer from sleep disturbances that affect their school and personal lives. Our results concluded that 125 students (62.5%) feel like the hours of sleep they receive affects their psychological health more than their physiological health. However, 50 students felt that the hours of sleep they receive affects their physiological health more than their psychological health. Around 72% of the students surveyed felt that their psychological health was more affected by the hours of sleep they receive a night per week than their physiological
A great deal of students experience issues related to sleep when coming to college. These issues in sleep can be related to stress, going out and coming home late, or difficulties in adjusting to the college life. There are many ways college students are able to seek help for their difficulties in sleep. Sleep deprivation cannot only cause fatigue but also health issues such as a weakened immune system. College is said to be one of the best times of someone’s life, but with sleep difficulties it is hard to enjoy all that college has to offer. With the help of peer educators, it is easier to raise awareness and provide help to college students on ways to deal with sleep difficulties.
Everyone has had a time in their life when they felt a little sleep deprived; there was a time in their life when they felt more tired than usual. It was either just a busy work week, or one night accidentally stayed up a few hours longer, but college students bring a new meaning to sleep deprivation. We are reported to be the highest number of sleep deprived people. Sleep deprivation comes in two stages: chronic and acute, whichever category, both come with extreme side-effects. The effects of chronic sleep deprivation form long-lasting symptoms and can lower your body’s natural defense system. One of the more obvious signs of sleep deprivation is yawning and increased irritability. As well as the obvious signs, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to parts of the brain that decreases coordination and decision-making abilities. How many times have we reached a stage of exhaustion and called it “slap happy?” For the other stage of sleep deprivation, acute deprivation is more noticeable as it shows through appearance. Skin can start showing signs of hypoxia, which is when not enough oxygen is reaching the surface of the skin. Sleep deprived people’s skin can appear to be a pale, dull grey color. It is almost expected of college students to be sleep deprived and barely getting five hours a sleep a night. It is true, college students are almost walking zombies during the week. With the balance between classes, social life, working out, extra activities, and those that are
Sleep deprivation is a common issue among people around the world, and everyone has or will experience it in their life. Not getting enough sleep makes it difficult for the body to function properly. Insomnia is a well-known disorder, mainly known in the United States; one in ten adults suffers from this disorder (Kloc). There are many reasons why people end up with a sleeping disorder, and the most common reason is stress. When people do not have enough sleep they behave differently, and do not make the same choices as if they were fully rested. There are four stages of sleep. The fourth stage, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is the most important stage of sleeping. A common side effect of BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) is sleep
Most people will understand that experiencing sleep deprivation or not having enough sleep will cause one to be frustrated. It is not a decent experience to have. Whenever we have sleep deprivation or have little sleep, we become less productive and not concentrated the next day. As these things happen, bosses will scold us or we will fail our tasks. While we fail, or get scolded, the mood at that moment is always annoying and unsatisfying. People who encounter with lack of sleep will know that having not enough sleep is the main cause of it. However, what happens to our bodies when we experience sleep deprivation? How does sleep deprivation lead to these frustrating scenarios? Lacking sleep or sleep deprivation not only lead to these
Sleep is a basic human need- equally as important as breathing or eating. Along with this, a person’s body functions optimally on a certain amount of sleep, similar to how one’s body functions optimally on a certain number of calories per day. However, acquiring less sleep is becoming an epidemic in America. In fact, in the past century, we have reduced the average sleep time by 20 percent (Snyder, 2003). Adolescents are not excluded from this. In actuality, teenagers are notorious for getting little sleep. They have a tendency (more than the average person it seems) to ignore the basic requirement of sleep needed to allow their bodies to function optimally. It is known that adolescents today are busy; many are involved in sports and clubs, academics, community service, etc. Though these things are important, sleep is as well- it should not be the reason for adolescents depriving themselves of a basic necessity. From this information, it can be determined that roughly 50% of adolescents receive shortened sleep (≤ 6.5 hours), which negatively affects cognitive functions including: mood/emotion regulation, visual and auditory processing, concentration/attention, and memory.