What Is the Effect of Lack of Sleep on College Students on Brain and Behavior?

The consequences of sleep deprivation during the teenage years are particularly serious. Teens spend a great portion of each day in school when it starts early; resulting in a lack of sleep. Ultimately, sleep deprivation affects a student’s academic performance. When students lose sleep, they disrupt their sleep cycles and their bodies respond by decreasing their ability to concentrate and complete complex tasks. A prolonged period of cumulative sleep deprivation will affect their physical and mental well-being and consequently their capacity to learn.

There are a few factors that are essential for life such as breathing or eating, but one of the most essential factor is sleep. Even though the amount of sleep people need differs from one individual to another, the fact is that eventually everyone needs to sleep. People know the importance of sleep, but due to the increased workload and the pressure of society people are getting less sleep. As a result, there has been an increase interest on the effects lack of sleep has on the mind especially the memory of a person. Many questions arose about the relationship between sleep and memory due to the fact most high school and college students have become sleep deprived. For example, does more sleep mean higher grades?

Overall, students are not getting enough sleep. If colleges cared about their student’s success, they would ensure that their students are getting enough sleep. By allowing students to better understand the importance of sleep, colleges would increase their student’s overall GPA, thus producing more successful individuals. It is the colleges responsibility to improve their programs as to allow their students to get a sufficient amount of sleep. By discussing the importance of sleep with the student, sleep disorders and disturbances may decrease. Knowledge is

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

Sleep Deprivation is the issue that prevalent among university’s first year students. According to Hershner & Chervin (2014) , half of the university respondents indicated daytimes sleepiness and 70% attain insufficient sleep .

The students could rate their current mood on a scale from zero to seven. The higher the

Students who usually stay up late and get little sleep do not think of the consequences for the next day. Frequently, a majority of these students arrive at class only to fall the next day only to fall asleep after the professor starts the lecture. The poor behavior problem usually leads to low attendance rates and poor grades among sleep deprived students (Johnson). For first time freshmen, sleep deprivation has been known to cause a variety of issues that can lead to grave harm. Sleep deprivation can cause slow reaction time as well as headaches and nightmares more frequently. The mind will fall asleep if it cannot get enough sleep causing it to not function properly. Some side effects insomnia are feeling fatigue, depressed or a feeling of the body being completely drained (Haynes). One of these issues

Being sleep deprived can also affect driving, can affect performance in school, and can lead to illness (Iarovici, 2014, p. 32). Social activities in college contribute to sleep problems, for example, drug use and heavy alcohol drinking (Iarovici, 2014, p. 32). However, sleep problems are not only caused by unhealthy lifestyles. Sleep problems during college years, a major time of development, can be a sign of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder (Iarovici, 2014, p. 40). However, there are students who try have tried everything to fall asleep (e.g., not drink alcohol or caffeinated drinks) and they still experience sleeping problems. Some people have genes that cause them to be more alert during the night than in the morning, and others have delayed sleep syndrome, in which circadian rhythms are abnormal (Iarovici, 2014, p. 42). Delayed sleep syndrome is more common in young adults and interestingly, people obtain enough sleep, but they tend to fall asleep during the early morning than during the night (Iarovici, 2014, p. 42). Even though the individual may be getting eight hours of sleep, such a shift in sleeping time can lead to individuals feeling depressed because they cannot enjoy the activities others enjoy during the day, and can lead to individuals having

Later classes lead to better grades. Students who said they got poor grades reported getting twenty-five minutes less sleep a night and going to bed an average forty minutes later than kids with good grades did. Cognitive function and psychomotor skills are closely related to sleep, and numerous studies have correlated sleep loss with significant decreases in children and adolescents’ performance (Wolfson 1). Studies of middle school and high school students reported that more sleep, earlier bedtimes, later weekday rise times, and less daytime sleepiness were associated with better grades in school and greater motivation to do one’s best in school (Wolfson 2).

Research has shown that one’s grade point average is directly correlated to one’s sleep (Chiang, 2014; Hershner & Chervin, 2014). Along with that, sleep affects one’s grade point average through a psychological standpoint, as in the brain’s functionality (Kelly, 2001; Milan 2005). Where on the other hand, others say that sleep length have nothing to do with grade point average at all, it’s due a lack of commitment to work and study hard, in an efficient way. (Hershner & Chervin, 2014; Milan 2005). Yet, many students lack sleep and hurt their gpa’s doing so, with no adjustments being made to change. With the overwhelming amounts of studies that are being examined is why

Sufficient sleep is a biological necessity for the normal functioning of humans, it allows the body to rest and to replenish itself so that it is able to serve its function of living. In addition, mental and physical health depend on the amount of sleep we get. Most adults and students value work and college much more than sleep, this is due to the academic, career, and materialistic demands. Researchers have noted a positive correlation between lack of sleep and decreased physical health, mental health, and academic performance. Sleep consists of two cycles: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), which are sleep patterns that alternate throughout the night. Firstly, sleep begins with non-REM sleep lasting about 90 minutes followed by REM sleep lasting 10-30 minutes, then the cycle repeats itself. REM sleep is the most important phase of sleep because the body is internally awake, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm. Thus, an uninterrupted REM phase of sleep is necessary for integrating previously learned material, and giving the individual a feeling of being well rested and refreshed. Many individuals will put sleep off so that more work hours, and school work can be fit into the day in order to get a better outcome such as job promotions or better academic grades, but I believe that sleep deprived people show a low performance in daily tasks due to suffering from mental, and physical health disorders.

Given the thought of Middle Tennessee State University’s final exams are in five weeks makes most if not all students anxious. Procrastination begins, stress rises, and sleep decreases with most students. According to Brown University, “In a 2001 study, only 11% of college students have good quality sleep, and 73% have occasional sleep problems.” This means almost three out of four quarters of college students have sleeping problems such as insomnia. However, sleep is very important to the human body mentally and physically. When sleeping, the human body feel refreshed because the brain is working less and relaxes the muscles. Nevertheless, there will still be sleep deprivation, but it can lead to fatigue, irritability, and memory problems (Bernstein 147). As a college student sleep more, the grade point average, memory, and immunity will increased. The solutions to sleeping more are time management and a nightly routine.

Weaver from Oklahoma State University. According to the authors “the purpose of the present study was to determine if sleep deprivation and/or poor sleep quality in a sample of non-depressed university students was associated with lower academic performance” (Gilbert, Cameron. 295). The study was also made to determine the relationship between sleep deprivation, sleep quality, and academic performance (Gilbert, Cameron. 298). It was hypothesized that by the end of the study, participants who had higher levels of sleep deprivation and poorer sleep quality would have lower academic performance (as indicated by grade point average [GPA] and course incompletions—drops, withdrawals, and incompletes) than participants with little sleep deprivation and good sleep quality (Gilbert, Cameron. 298). By the end of the study, the authors discussed the results in the following narration:

Many college students suffer from sleep deprivation due to poor sleep behaviors. Sleep hygiene, behaviors that are conducive to restorative sleep, is often lacking in college students (Marhefka, 2011). Some of the behaviors that most college students demonstrate that promote inadequate sleep hygiene are irregular sleep-wake schedule, lack of a quiet sleep environment, consumption of caffeine after lunch time, napping for an extended period, and

Sleep deprivation has become a common problem among college students. In Ball State University, there are students complaining about daytime sleepiness. Some of them couldn’t