The Secret to Making College the Best Years of Your Life: Sleep!

Did you know that seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%? So while you’re in college trying to ace that test go to bed and get some rest, you’ll feel much better and more prepared in the morning. Regardless of how much a student may want to sleep, he/she often stays up during the night having different kinds of experiences while trying to make college the best years of his/her life, and often neglecting the consequences. In college, sleep plays a very important role in your life, and some of us just don't get enough. Although some students believe longer hours are the secret ingredient for success (and they are still having all-nighters to try to achieve success), the lack of sleep that occurs while in pursuit of happiness, or A+s, can have a detrimental effect on both the quality of your academic success and your health. According to Jalonta Orzel-Gryglewska, author of the article “Consequences of Sleep Deprivation,” a lack of sleep or sleep deprivation can cause tasks that involve intense concentration or calculations to become difficult and health problems to occur.

In Orzel-Gryglewska's study it showed that sleep deprivation weakened the function in certain areas of the brain up to 15%. This study showed that the weakened functioning of the brain contributed to decreased performance rate on verbal and arithmetic tests, which definitely wouldn't help you on your SATs or more importantly your college midterms and finals. Sleep deprivation is also shown to increase the amount of time needed to do a task and the amount of mistakes that occur while doing the task. Sleep deprivation causes less rational and more superstitious reasoning to guide decision making skills. The use of unfounded reasoning and a tendency to become more paranoid coupled with frustration and anger can lead to fighting and other poor decisions, such as substance abuse.

Sleep deprivation also leads to a decline in mental health, which can have a significant impact on a student both wanting to be at school and being able to attend school. Sleep deprivation has been shown to cause low assertiveness, a lack of empathy, and an increase in negative thinking which can lead to anxiety, stress, or even more serious depression or an unhealthy idealization of suicide. For instance, a well-rested and emotionally sound student can force themselves to go to class even when they don’t want to; whereas someone suffering from depression as a result of sleep deprivation cannot summon the feeling to want to go to class.

Sleep deprivation also interferes with health by causing changes in the normal function of the immune system. It causes some things, such as helper T cells, which are a part of the cell-mediated immune system response to help target and destroy infection and disease, to be lowered, while it causes other things, such as leukocytes, or white blood cells, to increase. These fluctuations in the immune system have not yet proven to be beneficial or detrimental in the long run, but it can prove a problem if an opportunistic infection strikes just when your helper T cells are unusually low. Oftentimes, even missing just one or two lectures due to illness, or other more interesting excuses, can cause a student to fall helplessly behind.

In conclusion, sleep deprivation caused by all-nighters, partying, or even just watching TV can cause decreased focus on problems that involve calculations and a decrease in the quality of your overall health. Before deciding that when you get to college you want to have a double major with a minor, be involved in five clubs, play a sport or two and maybe do just a bit of volunteering to spice things up, remember what will be sacrificed: your precious sleep and any ability you had to apply yourself entirely to any one task, oh and that elusive 4.0.

References:
Orzel-Gryglewska, Jolanta, “Consequences of Sleep Deprivation”, International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, Vol. 23, Issue 1, http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=101&sid=25bef6d5-1011-4df4-81cf-e8f5b74c5558%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=50282342

Sleep Facts, http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm
Tapasparida, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapascreation/2536115479/