"Zombified" Students Roam Residence Halls

Sleep Deprivation May Cause Problems in College Students

by Tiffany Pfeiffer

Des Moines, Iowa (Feb. 5, 1997)-- Sometimes during the school day, first-year college students appear more like baby birds, huddling for warm comfort amidst their nests of thermal sweat-suits and cushioned sneakers. But if one were to glance down the freshmen hallways of a Drake residence hall at 2 a.m., they'd see that the zombified chicks are up and at 'em (sort of) as they attempt to finish the work they were either too busy, too tired or too burnt out to start earlier in the evening.

Whether they feel overwhelmed by pressure to make the grade in a vicious college environment, or discover that part of their new-found freedom is to add a few bonus hours to the day with the party, then study plan, first-year students seem to have an especially difficult time fitting ample sleep into their schedules. But as many will admit through their own unpleasant experience, proper time management is the only way to establish the fine line between an "A" and a nervous breakdown.

"Students should get organized by the time they're in college. They should know what you have to do to cheat on a 24-hour day," Dale Steffens, supervisor of the sleeping disorders unit at Iowa Lutheran Hospital, said. "Most college students don't get the amount of sleep they need (seven and a half to nine hours a night) because they have 'social insomnia'; they party or put off studying, get four or five hours of sleep, and build up a sleep debt which eventually has to be repaid. Sleeping in late on the weekends doesn't make up for the intermediate stages of rest they needed throughout the week."

By lacking a stable sleeping schedule, college students throw off their body's natural rhythm and delay their "sleep phase system," Steffens said.

"Everyone has what's called a 'circadian rhythm' that responds to things like sunlight, eating, drinking and body temperature. A person will naturally have sleepy points throughout the day, but when their sleep lacks consistency, it might shift these low energy points to a later time," Steffens said. "If they try to get up for an early class, their body says it's still asleep and doesn't allow them to think and learn effectively."

As a first-year piano performance major and honors student, Melissa Korte said she needs sleep in order to fully concentrate on her practicing and abnormally hectic schedule. But she never lets herself relax until all work is done.

"If I have a 10 o'clock class, I'll usually get up earlier to practice. I never take naps and don't watch TV; things like that make me feel so idle. A lot of people must think that's crazy, but I'm just not a big waster of time," Korte said. "For practicing, I can't have 'fake' energy like caffeine, I have to organize my day well enough that I get everything done and sleep at least four or five hours. I don't like to give anything up; I figure since I'm paying for college I should work over and above my capabilities."

Other freshmen like journalism major Renee Jagielnik value sleep more than forced studying when their bodies have been worked beyond a healthy capacity.

"I think sleep overrides studying a lot of the time. If you don't have enough, your body isn't going to function; you're not going to think straight. A half-hour mini-nap does wonders," Jagielnik said. "If I have a big test the next day, I wouldn't force myself to stay up by drinking caffeine or taking Vivarin. I'd just wake up at my normal time and hope I know what I'm doing. At least I wouldn't fall asleep during the test."

To achieve a somewhat equal balance of necessary sleep and study time, first-year broadcast news major James Simmons said he often wakes up early in the morning when he feels more alert.

"There's been times when I've gone to bed at like midnight, awakened at 5 a.m., dumped some caffeine in me and got to work. I usually work better and faster in the mornings than I would have if I'd forced myself to stay awake the night before; I think it's a personal thing," Simmons said.

However, what remains a relevant factor for all college students is that lack of sleep can have detrimental short- and long-term effects which partying every other day will not ease.

"Besides having excessive sleepiness, digestive problems and lack of concentration in the short run, sleep deprivation builds up to a point where the person is going to have to repay it, no matter how 'inconvenient' that time may be," Steffens said. "And those students who spend their free nights 'relaxing' by drinking will not be fully rested because alcohol disrupts sleep patterns; they might awaken throughout the night and not know it."

Overall, first-year students agreed that if there's one thing they've learned about maximizing sleep time, consistency is the key.

"I made it this semester so I have a consistent 9 o'clock class everyday. When I used to get more sleep on certain nights, it just teased my body. Even having a busier schedule one day than the next can be hard to handle," Simmons said.

As first-year students have become more acquainted with college rigor and demands, Korte said she feels they have a responsibility to keep themselves organized and healthy.

"It's the student's choice to do what they want. If that includes going out every night, they need to grow up and act more judiciously in their time management," she said. "When you stay up all night to write a paper you've known about forever, you're only hurting yourself. This is college; there's no time to catch up."

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