If you don't snooze, you loose

By Sarah Youngs
Staff Writer

Most college students have stayed up all night and crammed for exams, thinking it would help them remember that last piece of information to achieve a passing grade. Or, you go to sleep at a normal time every school day, though when Friday and Saturday roll around you’re up until the wee hours of the morning and stay in bed until after lunch. These scenarios are some of the reasons that sleep deprivation in college students is on the rise.

According to www.Islumber.com, “Sixty percent of college students are sleepy throughout the day and 30 percent fall asleep in class at least once a week.” Sleep deprivation has mental and physical effects on the body.

Many people think that the only effect that sleep deprivation has is that you will just be tired the next day.

However, www.sleepdeprivation.com declares that some effects include, “depression, slurred speech, hypertension, heart disease and most commonly weight gain.”

Getting enough sleep will not only make you attentive to what is happening in class, it will also help you maintain a healthy weight. Many college students only get three to four hours of sleep per night and obesity in college campus is on the rise. These two factors are closely related and getting a good night’s sleep is vital in maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle.

Most students believe that they cannot fall asleep before 3 a.m. There are many tips that www.reterm.com have given to help us all get a good night rest. Some of their tips include establishing a relaxing bedtime routine. Do not just fall into bed and think, “this is going to work.” Take a relaxing shower, brush your teeth, possibly read a portion of a book, then go to bed. This will help get your body to relax, help you fall asleep faster and help you to have a better quality sleep.

The Web site also suggests not eating a big meal before you go to bed. One tip that is probably the hardest for most college students is to limit naps to 20 to 30 minutes or eliminate them all together. A lot of students sleep for hours throughout the day after an all-night cram session. This will limit how quickly you can fall asleep at night, and naps should not be more than a half an hour per day.

The last tip is to avoid nicotine, caffeine and alcohol before bed. Drinking all night Friday and Saturday will make you sleep longer the next day and throw off your sleeping schedule. You should keep the same sleep schedule, even on the weekends.

Sleep deprivation is a huge problem on college campuses and has many harmful effects to the body both physically and mentally. Students should use the tips to help avoid this and to maintain more relaxed lives. College is hard enough — not having enough sleep makes it much harder. Go ahead now and have a good night’s sleep.

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