What's the deal with sleep deprivation?

So I hate to get all sciency and throw results and numbers at everyone, but I think it's time I summarize all my research. My goals of this project were to identify the main causes, effects and possible solutions to the issue. There are tons of theories out there, but here are the conclusions I found to be most relavent to the general population of college students. I've mentioned some of these causes/effects in a few of my posts already, but I wanted to elaborate on them more with support. Get ready for a lesson on sleep deprivation.


Causes:

• Stress- Stress has been proven to be a huge factor in sleep deprivation, particularly for college students. This is often because the college environment itself causes a great deal of stress. Many students struggle to adapt to the rigors of academia, time management and balancing a job and full-time classes. These stressors become overwhelming for students and instead of proactive solution finding, students become handicapped from their distress and anxiety. This leaves students incapable of being able to cope and bring about relief. In a study done by Hannah G. Lund et al, it was found that poor-quality sleepers (6.47 hours per night) reported higher levels of stress during the week and on weekends, comapred to optimal-quality sleepers (7.61 hours per night). 68% of students concluded that stress was the factor that interfered most with initiating sleep. I can't help but support this study since I have found stress to be extremely detrimental to my own abilty to get quality sleep. The semester has gotten extremely hectic and I've been expereincing a great deal of stress from it.
• Poor sleep schedules- A poor sleep schedule also leads to sleep deprivation. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 59% of adults between the ages of 18-29 denoted themselves as "night owls" (National Sleep Foundation 2008). These adults experience difficulty with falling alseep at an early hour. Instead they fall asleep late, yet are forced to wake up early. This can be identified as a poor sleep habit that many college students live by. Many college students also fail to keep a regular sleep schedule and go to sleep/wake up at irregular times throughout the week. This puts their body clocks out of balance and can lead them have difficulties falling asleep at night (Amoroso 20020.
• Lack of knowledge of a healthy sleep routine- Many college students do not understand what constitutes as a healthy sleep routine. Many believe that they can make up for lost sleep during the week by getting more on the weekends. There are two issues with this. First of all, students who manage to get more sleep on the weekends are still not getting enough to make up for their lack of sleep and this results in a buildup of sleep debt. Second of all, too often students have other obligations that keep them from catching up on sleep. Going out, partying and socializing is often a top priority and this can easily keep students from catching up on the sleep they need.

Effects:

• "Daytime Sleepiness"- Students who have not gotten a night of sufficient sleep often experience this. They feel very sleepy throughout the day, have low energy and their concentration is depleted. As a result, they struggle to perform at their best throughtout the day. I have personally experienced this numerous times during the school day. I often struggle to stay awake during class and find it very hard to concentrate on what my professors are explaining. This leads students to feel both frustrated and discouraged not only in class, but when trying to perform other tasks as well.
• Negative mood/behavioral flucuations- In a study done by Hannah G. Lund et al, it was found that students who had poor quality sleep experienced a higher level negative moods compared to those who had optimal sleep. Such moods include feelings of anger, confusion, depression, fatigue and tension. These negative moods correlate with students falling alseep in school. A study examining the problem of falling alseep in school as a correlate of negative moods in college students found that students who fell alseep in school all scored significantly higher numbers for the negative moods in comparison to those who did not fall asleep in school (Jean-Louis et al.). Overall, negative mood and behavioral flucuations are not a single detrimental affect, but something that leads other negative effects as well.
• Depleted Academic Performance-Students who deprive themselves of sleep are falling asleep in class which in turn prevents them from paying attention in class. Sleep deprived students also experience a decrease in cognitive functioning (June J. Pilcher & Amy S. Walters). Overall, this decreases their ability to perform well in their classes. The National Sleep Foundation found that students who reported insufficient sleep or "daytime sleepiness" reported lower grades, while 80% of students who reported getting sufficient sleep in school were getting A's and B's (National Sleep Foundation). Various other studies have found that students who are getting insufficient sleep are generally obtaining lower GPA's than those who are getting sufficient sleep.

Solutions:


The issue of sleep deprivation in college students is complex. There really isn't a hard and fast solution. The main reason why finding a solution is so complicated is because of the lifestyle college students live. We have so many obligations/priorities embedded in our lives and balancing them all is often a struggle. Things such as keeping good grades, balancing a job, maintaining a social life and getting sleep all make for a busy agenda. When it comes to priorities, sleep is usually undermined. Things such as having a social life and getting good grades come first to many college students. As a result, they learn how to function on insufficient sleep in order to fufill other obligations. This is extremely detrimental to one's health. I've found a few solutions that could lead a start to improving the issue of sleep deprivation in college students.

• Awareness- A first step to this issue is to make college students aware of what they are doing to their bodies by constantly depriving themselves of sleep. Since so many college students do not have proper sleep hygiene, they could definitely benefit from some insight on sleep deprivation. College students need to be aware of the health conditions they are at risk for by constantly depriving themselves of sleep.

-There is a specific program that has proven to improve sleep quality and habits among college students. This program is called STEPS (Sleep Treatment and Education Program for Students) and was tested in a study by Franklin C. Brown, an assistant professor at the Department of Pyschology. In the study, various tests were performed to assess sleep quality/habits, the knowledge of whether or not certain events can be detrimental to sleep and the number of nights students engaged in certain activities known to promote or inhibit sleep. A 30 minute oral presentation was incorporated which explained the impact sleep difficulties can have on mood and academic performance. Students were also provided with handouts on sleep hygiene guidelines. Overall, students who were in the treatment group of this study improved their sleep quality and habits overtime compared to those who were not in the treatment group (Brown et al.). A program like this would be great to have on college campuses. I would suggest making it a requirement for all Freshmen students to attend this program. By exposing students first-hand about the issues associated with sleep deprivation would prevent them from starting or continuing a lifestyle of poor sleep quality/habits.

• Better evaluations for students- Many students who seek intervention through a college psychologist regarding their struggles in college are not being adequately evaluated. In a study done by Steven P. Gillbert and Cameron C. Weaver, it was found that many students who seek help through a psychologist regarding their academic struggles are not evaluated for their sleep habits. Unless the student reported being depressed or it was suspected by the clinician, the clinician would neglect this factor. The consequences of this are that the clinicians may falsley identify other factors as being the causes of these students academic struggles. This leads clinicians to choose therapy that is lacking the key treatment necessary to improve the students academic performance. College psychologists need to make it a routine to assess sleep habits in their clients, no matter what condition they are seeking help for (Gilbert & Weaver).
• Lighten up the course load- Yeah college professsors, I'm talking to you. The amount of coursework college students are given can be rather excessive and often students don't have enough time in a day to get it all done. What does this lead to? Not enough sleep. If students weren't constantly being swamped with so much work, they would be less stressed and wouldn't have to be up so late studying/doing homework. Simply lightening up the reading load in classes would be a good start. The amount of reading required in college is excessive in my opinion and half the time I realize the 2 hours I spent reading a 40 page article were totally wasted. I could have spent that time working on something else or maybe taking a break from schoolwork for change. Overall, college professors assign more work than necessary and they don't realize how this negatively impacts students ability to get healthy sleep. So lighten up the load!