According to a 2005 survey from the American College Health Association, “a mere 13 percent of college students responded that they had been able to get enough sleep to make them feel rested in the morning.” And from what I’ve seen at our library, I’d say the unhealthy trend is still continuing.
My good friend found difficulty in balancing her sleep and study schedule, especially in her first semester at Pitt. You could find her in the Hillman Library, after her day classes, until it closed at 2:00 a.m. But that wasn’t the end—she’d transfer over to the Cathedral of Learning, open all night, until about 5:00 a.m. Then, she’d come back to her room and stay awake until 7:00 a.m. At this time, she’d take a “nap” and wake up early for class and exams. Slowly, this spiraled into a cycle of “all-nighters” that left her exhausted and forced to sacrifice the majority of her social life. Even worse was that she wasn’t happy and her hard work wasn’t even paying off.
This is a drastic case, but too many of us are constantly in the library, up all night trying to make progress in school. And in addition, research form the Associated Professional Sleep Societies even says, “A morning person is apt to get better grades than a late riser.” But how can we be morning people if we’re still up from the night before when morning rolls around?
Many students turn to caffeine in the form of coffees, energy drinks, or sodas. The excessive use of caffeine gives us a boost, but then the majority of studiers will then face the crash and burn. Others will take short naps and get right back to work throughout the night.
From my own experience, I’ve found that staying up too late to study isn’t helpful. It’s difficult to function properly when you’re running on no sleep. It just can’t be worth it when you have to drag yourself to a class that you end up falling asleep in. Our attention is drawn to staying awake rather than to the material that our professors present. Then, if you try to take an exam when you’re too tired, the material you’ve studied may be blocked in your memory because you’re so sleep deprived.
I understand having to stay up relatively late to get some work done, but I recommend putting the books down when it gets excessively late and getting some sleep. You can always wake up early the next day before classes to finish up any work. Sure, this may not work for everyone based off our different, hectic, and stressful schedules, but it’s helpful to be aware of the amount of sleep our bodies need. Research from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) says that adults need approximately seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If we can aim to meet this, our bodies will function much better. Not to mention it’s much better for our health in the long run: The NSF links short sleep duration with scary consequences such as an increase in body mass index, an increased risk of diabetes and heart problems, an increased risk for psychiatric conditions including depression and substance abuse, and a decrease in our abilities to pay attention, react to signals, or remember new information. These are serious effects of sleep deprivation!
Therefore, try to get studying and work done throughout the day. I am just as guilty as most of us for being a procrastinator and waiting until the very last minute to work on large amounts of work. Remember the importance of sleep and try to avoid sacrificing sleep for excessive studying—especially since it probably won’t get you the results you deserve.
Sources:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/familyhealth/sleep/articles/2008/06/09/college-kids-and-sleep-4-tips
http://www.campuscalm.com/did_you_know.html
For more valuable information from the National Sleep Foundation, click http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need