By Michelle Duong
Fell Asleep in Class Again by Fenchurch
Have you felt tired lately? Cramming your papers and tests in the last minute with infinite amount of caffeine and deprive your body of sleep? The changing millennium has caused new problems to arise in our community. Sleep deprivation is increasing among students and is one of the most significant concerns in society. A poll that was taken by the National Sleep Foundation showed that the average sleep time of students was 7 hours in 2001 and in 2009 the average was 6.7 hours; this is a 4 % decrease in eight years. There have been cases that showed students with less sleep performed more poorly in school than students who received an adequate amount of sleep (Carpenter, 2001). The amount of sleep per night causes fluctuations in alertness, especially in students’ behavior in the school setting throughout the day. The US Centers for Disease Control recommends that adolescents should receive approximately nine hours of sleep each night to function optimally (CDC, 2008). Similarly, sleep deprivation in adulthood can lead to many motor vehicle accidents and alter behaviors (NIH, 2008).
When our body is deprived of sleep, the immune system’s ability to defend against antigens decreases. Eve van Cauter performed a study at the University of Chicago, where subjects were deprived of sleep and were exposed to a strand of the flu virus. The blood tests of the sleep-deprived subjects indicated a significant difference in the number of produced antibodies compared to the control group who received adequate amounts of sleep. The statistics gathered from the study indicated that the sleep-deprived group produced 50% fewer antibodies than the control group. Sleep is also an important time for our bodies to regenerate especially in the neural regions, and it help us to processes information and events that happened throughout the day (Myers, 2007).
Another study was done to examine the effect of sleep on students’ performances in school at the University of Minnesota. The goal of the study was to determine how students’ academic performance changes if school starts at a later hour. The previous school time started at 7:15 AM and ended at 1:45PM. For the study, the school hours shifted to 8:40 AM and ended at 3:20 PM. The result of the study showed that on average students received one more hour of sleep, improve academically and the rate of tardiness among the students decrease (National Sleep Foundation, 2009).
Next time when you should decide to cram through your work at the last minute, think about how miserable your body would be. Sleeping not only helps you to stay alert during classes and improve in your school’s performance but allow you to be more cheerful and less agitated around your friends (Pinsky, 2006). For that reason, if you are an ill-tempered person, maybe you should sleep more, although this might not be the case for everyone.
References
Carpenter, S (2001). Sleep Deprivation may be Undermining Teen Health. Monitor on Psychology 32(9), 36-41. Retrieved May 14, 2009 from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.html
Center for Disease Control (2009). Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Sleep.
Myers, D.G. (2007). Psychology: Eighth edition in modules. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
National Institute of Health (2009). Sleep—Information about Sleep. Retrieved March 4, 2009,
from http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih3/sleep/guide/info-sleep.htm.
National Sleep Foundation (2009). Later School Start Time. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/c.huIXKjM0IxF/b.2511711/k.9022/Backgrounder_Later_School_Start_Times.htm
Pinsky, M.R. (2006). Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine. New York, NY:
Springers.
I believe that sleep helps me study. Many studies have been conducted to explore the link between sleep and learning. In one study, subjects were taught a finger tapping sequence and tested on the sequence 12 and then 24 hours later. Subjects performed the sequence 20% faster and 35% more accurately after 12 hours of sleep. Subjects who stayed awake for the 12 hours after learning the sequence showed no signs of improvement. But when these subjects were tested after 12 hours of sleep, they also performed the sequence 20% faster and with 35% more accuracy (Walker, 2002).
Matthew P Walker. American Scientist. Research Triangle Park: Jul/Aug 2006. Vol. 94, Iss. 4; pg. 326, 7pgs
Comment by Gaby Van Auken — October 6, 2009 @ 7:40 pm
I think an article like this is extremely relevant considering that as college students we are sometimes forced to stay up later than we’d like in the efforts to finish our work. From personal experience, i can say that not getting enough sleep can lead to lower performance in school. A couple of weeks ago I stayed up all night to finish a paper and when i was done I started to get ready to go to class. I though I was doing pretty well because all through my shower and breakfast I felt fine. When my teacher handed out a paper though I couldn’t comprehend a word of it. I had to read the sentences multiple times to be able to connect the thoughts to each other. The style of writing wasn’t difficult at all but it was like my brain just wasn’t up for the job. I have definitely learned the value of sleep when it comes to school.
Comment by Maria Zapata — October 31, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Sleep deprivation is commonly seen in college students. The believe that over time, their bodies become used to a lack of sleep and can still work efficiently. As this article explains, this is not true. The body needs rest to keep its immune system functioning well and to allow the brain to rest so that neurons have optimal function. One interesting find is that sleep-deprived people lack the ability to be as creative as they would usually be, which leads them to use repetitious words and overused phrases. This also leads to some difficulty in forming sentences from thoughts. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690
Though it may seem that your body has become accustomed to a lack of sleep, it really is not working to its full capacity. Rest is vital to proper functioning.
Comment by 105 Student — November 2, 2009 @ 9:01 pm