Ask Angel

Dear Angel (are my sleeping habits normal?),
My roommate insists I don’t sleep enough. She wants lights-out by midnight. During the week, I usually have to be up until 2 or 3 a.m. in order to get my studying done. I have 7:45’s every day, so I can’t get up early to study like she does. I admit I am frustrated — it seems like I just can’t get ahead, but at least I’m doing ok with grades. Napping for a couple of hours in the afternoon gets me by. I think this is just part of college life, and my roommate needs to chill out. I really need to keep my grades up in order to keep my scholarship and have a high enough GPA to get into graduate school.
Signed,
Sleep Deprived


Dear Sleep Deprived,
Studies have linked sleep deprivation to a decrease in reaction time, poor judgment, decreased vision, greater difficulty in processing information, poor short-term memory, weight gain, impaired immune and cardiovascular systems, relationship difficulties and a host of other preventable or avoidable health problems. So, yes, sleep is very important to your success both now and in the future.

Since your pressing concern now is doing well in classes, I won’t go into later-life consequences of sleep deprivation, but I will encourage you to consider how the lack of sleep is impacting your GPA. It may be that instead of studying harder, you need to study smarter! It stands to reason that if processing information and shortterm memory is impaired due to sleep deprivation, you will not perform as well on quizzes or exams. Most likely, the quality of daily assignments and larger papers or projects will be substandard due to fatigue. You are also more likely to miss class due to sleeping through your alarm. Fatigue also contributes to decreased motivation and organizational skills and has a negative impact on your capacity to enjoy activities and people outside of class. So, getting sleep can actually mean you will study less and have more time to enjoy other parts of a healthy college life. Here are some things you might try:

• Set a schedule for yourself. Pick a regular time to get up each morning and go to bed each night. This routine should extend to weekends as well. While it is tempting to “sleep in,” varying too far off of your regular weekday routine throws off your biorhythms and decreases the quality of your sleeping and waking time.
• Keep in mind the saying “nothing good happens after midnight.” Studying after midnight doesn’t equate with good grades.
• Try to get a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Keep the time frame similar. Please note, I am suggesting that you get the 8 hours in one time frame. Splitting the time into two or three nap periods does not allow the body and mind to rejuvenate.
• Skip your afternoon nap or keep it to a short 20-minute “power nap.”
• Add some mild exercise into your daily routine. You might consider doing this during the time you currently nap. Not only will exercise make you more alert, it also has the advantage of improving the quality of your sleep. Pay attention to your eating and stress levels—these can interfere with your ability to concentrate, study and do well.

If you are having difficulty falling asleep, there are other techniques that can be of help depending upon the cause. Feel free to stop in the Wellness Center and set up a time to talk about this.