Sleep Loss and College Student Performance

The college experience is of great value in providing emerging adults with a structured environment in which they can gain the knowledge, skills, and independence to chart their own path, become successfully employed, and contribute to society. However, this experience comes at great cost given rising tuition fees and ballooning student debt, and thus, it is vital that the college years be as efficacious as possible. A potential obstacle to maximizing success in college is the high prevalence of sleep loss and irregular sleep schedules among college students.

 

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Sleep loss is defined as obtaining inadequate sleep to support adequate daytime alertness. How much sleep a young adult needs is not clearly known but is thought to be 8 hours. Most college students are sleep deprived, as 70.6% of students report obtaining less than 8 hours of sleep. Sleep loss and sleepiness are caused by a host of reasons and have numerous negative consequences.

How does sleep loss affect a student?

It is revealed by some researchers that the lack of sleep contributes to several aspects of a student's life: physiological and psychological health [1]. First, sleep loss increases the greater risk for some diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure [2]. Although hard activities during a day cause student feeling tired, but other works (e.g., homework, proposal, and thesis) might be done in the bedtime. They may consume food with high sugar or caffeine in order to endure more hours for studying or doing homework rather than sleep. Moreover, these kinds of behaviors strongly affect physiological health [3]. Second, the psychological health, specifically student’s mood, is also correlated to the sleep loss. Research revealed that students who don’t get enough sleep significantly contribute to the development of depression or anxiety, irritability, or lack of motivation [4-6]. Hence, they who suffered from sleep deprivation are more at risk for alcohol and drug use, stress, and suicidal behavior [7]. In short, sleep disturbance significantly disturbs both the physiological and psychological health of students.

How to get enough sleep as a student?

A good sleep habit is a key way to get enough sleep as it can improve the quality of student’s life both physiologically and psychologically. The most important of practicing good sleep habit is to get a sufficient time to sleep, which is 7-8 hours per day as recommended by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) [8]. There are several tips to improve sleep quality as students in university life. First, create a good sleep schedule. For example, going to bed early (e.g., around 10.00–11.30) to get the chance for a full night of sleep, or getting a consistent amount of sleep each night. Second, avoid doing exercise before sleep, as it might cause keeping awake during bedtime. Third, make a restful sleep. For examples falling asleep with the lights on and computer on, or eating foods and/or drinking caffeine before sleep are not a healthy way to get restful sleep [9]. Fourth, sleep education. Giving an education for students to well know about circadian rhythms, sleep hygiene, and muscle relaxation by school newspapers, and lectures could improve the student’s sleep quality [10]. However, because of deadlines, sometimes students have to work during bedtime even worse exceed 24 hours. A research suggested that taking sleep naps, for example 20 minutes or 2 hours naps powerfully improve concentration and alertness [11]. Another research suggested to take a banking sleep before tiring events could help sustain performance and alertness, also speed recovery [12]. Therefore, practicing good sleep habits by following these tips, the students will get benefits to improve the overall life quality.

References:

1. Banks, S. (2007). Behavioral and physiological consequences of sleep restriction. Journal of clinical sleep medicine, 3(05), 519-528. 
2. Medic, G., Wille, M., & Hemels, M. E. (2017). Short-and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption. Nature and science of sleep, 9, 151. 
3. Sanchez, S. E., Martinez, C., Oriol, R. A., Yanez, D., Castañeda, B., Sanchez, E., ... & Williams, M. A. (2013). Sleep quality, sleep patterns and consumption of energy drinks and other caffeinated beverages among Peruvian college students. Health, 5(8B), 26. 
4. Regestein, Q., Natarajan, V., Pavlova, M., Kawasaki, S., Gleason, R., & Koff, E. (2010). Sleep debt and depression in female college students. Psychiatry research, 176(1), 34-39. 
5. Brooks, P. R., Girgenti, A. A., & Mills, M. J. (2009). Sleep Patterns and Symptoms of Depression in College Students. College Student Journal, 43(2). 
6. Wong, M. M., & Brower, K. J. (2012). The prospective relationship between sleep problems and suicidal behavior in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of psychiatric research, 46(7), 953-959. 
7. Williamson, A. M., & Feyer, A. M. (2000). Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occupational and environmental medicine, 57(10), 649-655. 
8. Hirshkowitz, M., Whiton, K., Albert, S. M., Alessi, C., Bruni, O., DonCarlos, L., ... & Neubauer, D. N. (2015). National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary. Sleep Health, 1(1), 40-43. 
9. Hershner, S. D., & Chervin, R. D. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature and science of sleep, 6, 73. 
10. Dietrich, S. K., Francis-Jimenez, C. M., Knibbs, M. D., Umali, I. L., & Truglio-Londrigan, M. (2015). The effectiveness of sleep education programs in improving sleep hygiene knowledge, sleep behavior practices and/or sleep quality of college students: a systematic review protocol. JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 13(9), 72-83. 
11. Milner, C. E., & Cote, K. A. (2009). Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Journal of sleep research, 18(2), 272-281. 
12. Rupp, T. L., Wesensten, N. J., Bliese, P. D., & Balkin, T. J. (2009). Banking sleep: realization of benefits during subsequent sleep restriction and recovery. Sleep, 32(3), 311-321.