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All’s Fair in Tests and Rest (Revised)

Many students experience radical changes in their sleeping patterns when they go off to college. Some students pull all-nighters, while others become early birds in pursuit of that ever-elusive worm.

According to Morningside Director of Student Health, Carol Garvey, sleep impacts a student’s performance in his/her classes even more than they think.

“Morning people, or ‘larks’, average a GPA of 3.18, versus ‘night owls’ who only average 2.84,” said Garvey.

Students who rarely sleep at night, or “night owls”, can develop sleeping patterns like studious vampires while barely getting to see the light of day.

“I get most of my sleep during the day because most nights I just have too much to do by the next morning,” said Morningside senior, Todd Carnes. “I only get about four or five hours of sleep a day, but I consider myself a freak of nature,” Carnes went on.

“I think college kids have trouble balancing their sleep because you have friends that are always trying to get you to stay awake. The difficulty of your major plays a big part, too. Being a computer science major, I don’t sleep much.”

While many –or most– struggle, some students are able get to bed at a decent hour, only to rise very early in the morning to commence their studies.

Take Morningside junior and varsity tennis player, Austin Grundy, for example. Each and every night, Austin tucks himself in no later than eleven o’clock. In the morning, Austin’s alarm on his iPhone sings “Riot”, by Three Days Grace, very shortly after sunrise, sometimes before, varying each semester. Then, Austin starts his day with a cold shower to shock him awake so he can hit the books.

“I go to bed pretty early most nights, said Grundy. “I like to get up early and study instead of staying up late to do it. I typically get up around six-thirty, sometimes earlier depending on how much I have to do. I feel more alert and energized in the morning than late at night after a long day of classes, work, and tennis.”

“Lack of non-REM sleep leads to physical fatigue. Obviously we all want to have stamina to get through our days of work and play,” said Garvey.

“Lack of REM, which is the deep sleep that lengthens in duration the longer we stay asleep at one time, leads to emotional fatigue,” Garvey continued. “That means students are possibly less able to be resilient and patient and even empathetic to others. Lack of these REM can also lead to the development of depression.”

Though uncommon for most college students, oversleep can also generate health problems. According to WebMD, sleeping too much on a consistent basis has been linked to medical problems like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, headaches, and even an increased risk of death.

“The not-quite-fully-an-adult brain needs eight and one half to nine and three quarters hours of sleep per night. When it comes to napping, it is best to take a short nap for about 20 minutes, but not longer than one hour,” Garvey went on. “Remember, the rule of eight does not mean three hours of sleep and five Red Bulls.”

According to Garvey, it is better to take a nap before sleep deprivation sets in, as opposed to after. Many people believe that they can “make up” for lost sleep by sleeping longer on the weekends. This is a common misconception, because lost sleep is lost forever and cannot be “made up”.

For anyone having problems getting enough sleep on average, Morningside’s Nurse Practitioner had a couple of tricks up her sleeve to share.

“Turn off your television before you go to bed. Blue light screens interfere with sleep,” said Garvey. “Also, simply powering down their phones at bedtime would help a college student get better sleep.”

With careful time management, there really is a way for us college students to have our cake and eat it, too. The tricky part is careful time management, which is easier said than done, with deadlines everywhere we look.

~ by Jordan on .

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