Students dozing in class and napping in the library is a common sight at UCLA, and researchers say this is a definite sign of sleep deprivation, which is very common among college students.
Due to the responsibilities and stress factors many students experience, college students are the most sleep-deprived group of people as sleep is often the first thing they sacrifice, researchers say.
Studies by the National Sleep Foundation show that when sleep is neglected, the effects can interfere with memory, energy levels, mental abilities and emotional moods throughout the day.
This problem becomes evident when a student sitting in class is actively fighting off the urge to sleep instead of concentrating on absorbing the information being presented during lecture, said psychology Professor Dennis McGinty.
He said sleep-deprived students experience multiple micro-sleeps which interrupt the student’s attention by causing them to fall in and out of sleep during boring classes when their body is sedentary and the lights in the classroom are possibly dimmed.
But boredom does not cause sleep, it just welcomes it, McGinty said.
While boredom seemingly induces sleep, Jerry Siegel, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, said students who are suffering from sleep deprivation have an overwhelming desire to sleep in most circumstances and times of day.
He said losing sleep occasionally is not harmful and will not cause your IQ to drop, but longterm sleep loss can interfere with regular functioning.
Students accumulate sleep debt from restricting their sleep to less than five hours a night and sleeping at inconsistent times each day, Siegel said.
But sleeping more than 10 hours a day is not necessarily better for the body. Oversleeping may be indicative of an underlying sleep disorder such as sleep apnea which is relatively common in college students, he added.
The amount of sleep necessary for each individual varies depending upon how their biological rhythm is set.
The body’s circadian rhythms, or its biological clock, creates natural ups and downs in sleepiness and alertness throughout the day, and all humans experience a natural dip in alertness and wakefulness, Siegel said.
Due to these circadian rhythms, the hours of 7 to 9 p.m. are called the “forbidden sleep zone,” because the brain typically releases sleep-inhibiting stimulants, Siegel said.
“There is enormous variation in what is normal,” said psychology Professor Ronald Harper. “It comes down to whatever amount of sleep is good for the individual.”
A way to gauge whether someone is getting enough sleep is to see if a dependence on an alarm clock is present, Siegel said.
An alarm clock going off is a sure sign that sleep restriction is occurring, because if you wake up at the same time every day, the body’s natural stages should guide the mind to wake, Siegel said.
Another way to confirm whether a student is getting sufficient sleep time is if they experience shorter sleep latency ““ the amount of time it takes a person to fall asleep.
The sleep latency of the normal population is about seven minutes once their head hits the pillow. It takes most college students only three minutes to fall asleep, similar to the sleep latency of a narcoleptic person, Siegel said.
“The most important fact for college students to think about is that (sleep deprivation) makes you sleepy,” McGinty said.
Sleeping plays an important role in conserving and restoring energy during certain stages throughout the night, specifically during the non-rapid-eye-movement stages.
When the amount of sleep an individual gets is reduced, these stages may be cut shorter, which consequently make it difficult for the body to function effectively during the following day, according to the National Sleep Federation.
“Sleep is like a dance,” said Edwin Valladares, a graduate student in the physiological sciences. “When it is interrupted, you will not be able to get through the performance.”
Sleep deprivation leads to exhaustion, fatigue and lack of physical energy. These effects can have a negative effect on many normal emotions, causing pessimism, sadness, stress and anger, according to NSF. According to recent studies, NSF has also suggested that social problems such as road rage may also be caused, in part, by sleepiness.
Valladares said he understands the difficulty students experience in trying to sleep at a consistent time each night. “We have a lot of different things to do like research, school work, family issues and stress,” Valladares said. “Having to juggle everything, we end up compromising sleep.”