SLEEP AND UNIVERSITY

The importance of sleep to a university student is pretty obvious. We all know that if we are tired from a lack of sleep, it’s difficult to stay alert and awake in lectures, and concentrating on academic tasks is difficult. This section shifts away from the biological and addresses the sleep needs of a university student.

Sleep and Daytime Performance

As stated above, there is generally a very obvious correlation between sleep and daytime performance. Still, a study was done and published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research about this relationship. It was found that students who were considered “poor” sleepers suffered in daytime performance compared to “good” sleepers. Even though the difference in number of hours of sleep between these two groups was, on average, only 1.14 hours, the measures of daytime performance were significantly different. Good sleepers averaged 7.28 hours of sleep per night and reported fatigue and concentration difficulty measures of 2.70 and 1.80, respectively, on a scale from 0-7 days/week. Sleepiness was measured using a scientifically accepted sleepiness scale (the Stanford Sleepiness Scale), and this group was rated 2.72 on a scale from 0-7. In contrast, poor sleepers averaged 6.14 hours per night and their measures for fatigue, concentration difficulty and sleepiness was 4.95, 4.35 and 3.70, respectively. After statistical analysis of these figures, the researchers were able to conclude a correlation between less sleep and lower daytime performance.

Another important conclusion from this study is that an individual’s total sleep time is more important than sleep efficiency (a measure of sleep quality) in terms of its effect on fatigue, concentration difficulty and sleepiness. However, this conclusion is based on the sample group used in the study, who experienced high sleep efficiency. Further research would need to be done to determine if total sleep time is still this important in individuals who experience low sleep quality.

Lastly, this study observed that highly-distressed poor sleepers reported lower daytime performance compared to low-distress poor sleepers. This is an important observation because other factors, such as distress (psychological), may also have an effect on daytime performance. It is possible that this difference between high-distress and low-distress poor sleepers means that individuals in the poor sleepers group did not actually require as much sleep as those in the good sleepers group. This explains the difference because if the high-distress group did not accept this fact, then despite sleeping enough to not feel tired, distress regarding their sleep problem may have been the cause of their fatigue. In contrast, the low-distress group may have accepted this idea, and therefore felt less fatigued because they were not as distressed about their apparent sleep problem.

This final idea from the study implies that it is very important to know how much sleep YOU personally need to be and feel healthy, and strive to achieve that much sleep. Since we are all different people, your sleep requirements may differ from the people you know. Another person, even a well-educated researcher, can only provide a guideline for you to follow. Only you can know the amount of sleep you need, and this knowledge is key to feeling well rested for school.

Napping

Daytime sleepiness is commonly remedied by a quick nap. Studies have shown that this is an excellent way to improve alertness during the middle of the day, when energy levels tend to drop. It is often said that napping will affect your ability to have a good night of sleep. However, a 2003 study on napping done at the University of California showed that in young adults, afternoon naps do not affect nocturnal sleep quantity or quality.

Repeated changes in sleep schedules

University class schedules vary each day in the week, so a student’s sleeping habits may vary accordingly. While the difference in sleep pattern may be very small (e.g. a shift of one hour), studies have shown this still may have an effect on sleepiness and daytime performance. A study done by the University of Arizona in 1996 compared the reported sleepiness of two groups of college undergraduate students sleeping a minimum of 7.5 hours per day, one with uncontrolled sleep schedules and one keeping regular sleep schedules. The results indicated that a regular sleep-wake schedule was correlated with reduced daytime sleepiness. Additionally, a study done on flight attendants suffering from constant jet-lag (resetting of the circadian rhythm to synchronize with the local light-dark pattern) described a possible relationship between long-term repeated disturbances in sleep schedules and decreased cognitive performance. Two group of flight attendants, one with a long recovery time to jet-lag and another with a short recovery time, were compared in this study. The group with shorter recovery time showed elevated cortisol levels due to stress, which then appeared to correlate with reduced temporal lobe volume and deficits in spatial learning and memory. A possible explanation for this observation is that high cortisol levels induce hippocampal (the region of the brain associated with memory) atrophy. Even though the variation in a student’s sleeping schedule is not as drastic as the jet-lag experienced by the flight attendants, the benefits of keeping a regular sleep schedule is still apparent in this study.

Drinking Tea or Coffee

Students and adults often attempt to maintain alertness by repeatedly consuming tea or coffee. However, caffeine may have an affect on sleep, even if consumed hours before sleep. A 2002 study on the effect of caffeinated beverages on sleep demonstrated that coffee or tea, if consumed repeatedly in a day, helped maintain cognitive performance. However, as a result, there was a significant decrease in overall sleep time, along with negative effects on sleep onset and sleep quality. It was also found that tea had the same effect as coffee regarding alertness, but was less likely to negatively affect sleep.

Alcohol and sleep

Many university students often wonder what implications alcohol has on sleep. Mainly, the concern appears to be whether it is healthy or not to go to sleep drunk. Unfortunately, there are not many studies on how alcohol affects sleep. One of these studies, done in 1996 at the University of Zurich, investigated the effect of a moderate dose of alcohol on sleep. A group of middle-aged men were given alcohol (0.55g/kg body mass) approximately 6 hours before their scheduled bedtime. As a result of the alcohol, it was reported that sleep efficiency (a measure of sleep quality), total sleep time, stage 1 non-REM sleep and REM sleep were reduced. Therefore, it was concluded that alcohol has an effect on sleep stage distribution and the sleep EEG.