Anders Bjork

Research Paper
Professor Bain-Conkin
Writing and Rhetoric
Sleep Deprivation Among College Students
College is a time to learn, grow, have fun, and become the grown-up
person you are supposed to be. How do you describe college in a simple
word? I would use the word filled or overwhelming. College is filled with
activities, new friends, new experiences, classes, clubs, sports, social
gatherings, and of course homework. Most college students find themselves
overwhelmed with things to do, activities to participate in, classes to attend,
sports practices, papers to write, and exams to study for. However, college
students often are missing out on one of the most vital things that they need
to fully develop and grow as a human being. That thing is sleep. Fact, most
college students suffer from lack of sleep or sleep deprivation. Proper and
adequate sleep is necessary for being able to reach their full potential. The
average college student does not get enough sleep because of all the
activities and commitments they have in their life. Sleep deprivation among
college students is seen as normal. Everyone knows it is not good to get
insufficient sleep but they are unaware of the truly detrimental effects it has
on individuals. Sleep deprivation is a real and serious problem for college
students.

Sleep deprivation occurs when a person does not get enough sleep to

function properly. It affects alertness, performance, and both mental,

physical, and emotional health. There are two types of sleep deprivation:
acute and chronic. Acute sleep deprivation is little to no sleep and usually
lasts one or two days. On the other hand, chronic sleep deprivation or sleep
restriction, occurs when an individual routinely sleeps less than the amount
required for optimal functioning. Most college students suffer from chronic
sleep deprivation. This means that the average college student does not
give their body the proper amount of sleep that it requires. But exactly how
much sleep does the body need?

Sleep experts have discovered that the body must get at least seven
hours of sleep each night to function properly. However, for optimal
functioning nine hours is recommended each night. College students need
these nine hours if they want to succeed in the classroom and in their other
activities especially at Universities that are both extremely academically and
athletically demanding such as the University of Notre Dame. Why is this
amount of sleep such necessity for us to function properly? Well first of all
sleep helps to repair your body by producing extra protein molecules while
you're sleeping to strengthen your ability to fight disease and disorders such
as diabetes and mood disorders. These protein molecules help your immune
system greatly while you sleep. They mend the cells of your body to combat
stress, pollutants, and infectious bacteria. In addition, sleep keeps your

heart healthy by reducing inflammation levels in your body that are linked to
heart disease and strokes. This helps to keep blood pressure and cholesterol
levels in check to ensure a healthy heart. Stress is a big issue for all people
especially busy college students who live a very fast paced lifestyle. Sleep
reduces stress by lowering blood pressure as well as levels of stress
hormones. Sleep also reduces stress as it allows for a state of relaxation.
Another necessity of proper sleep is that it improves your memory. The
brain uses sleep to organize and correlate memories. This allows the brain
to better process the experiences and knowledge gained from the past day.
Lastly, proper sleep helps control body weight issues as the body regulates
the hormones that affect and control your appetite. Sufficient sleep can help
prevent weight gain and obesity problems because it maintains your body
and keep it healthy. The benefits of proper sleep are numerous and very
advantageous. But, the average college student is missing out on these
benefits.

According to a study conducted by the University of Georgia Health

Center, college age students average about 6-6.9 hours of sleep each night.
A second study that was conducted by Lee Ann Hamilton, assistant director
of health promotion and preventive services at the University of Arizona,
discovered that college students average about 6.5 hours per night. She
feels this number is generous as students tend to over-report in these

surveys. She believes that the actually average is even less that 6.5 hours!
As mentioned before, in order for the human body to function properly it
needs at least 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. The simple answer to why
college students re unable to obtain proper sleep is because there is so
much to do in our modern society especially for college age students that
are all together at the same place. Obviously there is class and homework
which takes up most of time for college students and often keeps them up
late. But, students do not want to miss out on college fun and therefore
other factors keep them from sleeping as well. One of the main factors that
lead to sleep deprivation among college students is technology. From
texting, to Facebook and twitter, to video games and movies, technology use
takes up a lot of time for college students. Technology can be almost
addictive and is easy to spend hours using. It often causes college students
to stay up late and even disrupts them from sleep unnecessarily. Technology
provides a 24 hour distraction especially with wireless Internet and smart
phones that students typically sleep next to while they are on. Technology is
a likely explanation as to why students in the 1960s and 1970s got an
average of two more hours of sleep each night than current college students.
Other factors that cause lack of sleep include countless activities, clubs, and
sports. Also, parties and trying to prove oneself play a role in college
students sleep deprivation. Often times college students want to out due
the other to gain a higher social status. They want to get better grades,

excel more in sports or activities, consume more alcohol, or stay up later

than the next kid as they see this as a way to become popular or cool.
However, this often leads to less sleep or disrupted sleep cycles which
actually prevents these students from reaching their full potential. The
affects of sleep deprivation take quite a toll on people even though they may
think its not really affecting them.

The affects of sleep deprivation are extremely detrimental. Recent

studies seem to suggest that sleep deprivation can have as bad as an effect
on your GPA and class participation as binge drinking or marijuana use.
Sleep deprivation has physical, mental, and emotional damages. Not getting
enough sleep negatively effects the immune system, the brain and memory,
blood pressure, and reflexes and causes fatigue, laziness, and grogginess. It
puts people at a much greater risk for a number of diseases and health
problems. Such health issues than sleep deprivation can lead to include
obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, mood disorders, and
shortened life expectancy. In addition, it causes lack of focus and interest as
well as tension, irritability, confusion, reduced efficiency, general lower life
satisfaction, and even can lead to depression. Chronic sleep deprivation
(which most college students suffer from) has long-lasting negative effects
that build up over time. The reason for this is because of sleep debt. When
an individual does not get the amount of sleep needed on a certain night,

the amount of sleep they miss out on is added to their sleep debt. For
example, if person A sleeps 6 hours one night, they owe their body two
hours (because 8 hours is the necessary amount). So, these two hours are
added to their sleep debt. In order for a person to pay back this debt they
need to get 10 hours of sleep the next night. Continual lack of the
necessary 8 hours can build up quite a lot of sleep debt. Therefore, a person
suffering from chronic sleep deprivation may still feel tired even when they
sleep for 12 hours on Saturday night because their sleep debt has
accumulated so much that one or two nights of good sleep cannot pay of
this debt. The only way for a person to rid themselves of the negative
effects of sleep deprivation completely is to pay back all of this debt.
Researchers are not sure what costly effects that long term sleep debt can
have or if it is even possible to repay all of this debt. Chronic sleep
deprivation can be a vicious cycle that is almost impossible to get out of.

In conclusion, most college students suffer from the very real and
tolling problem of sleep deprivation specifically chronic sleep deprivation.
These students are missing out on the benefits of proper sleep that ensure
proper health, provide energy, and give them the opportunity to reach their
full potential in whatever it is they are working toward. Instead, they
receive the negative effects of chronic sleep deprivation that are extremely
detrimental to a persons physical, mental, and emotional health. Once in

the cycle of lack of sleep, it is very hard to come out of it and be free from
sleep deprivation. To combat sleep deprivation, college students need to be
very disciplined especially with time management. It is vital for health to
avoid accumulation of sleep debt. College students need to be aware of
these negative effects so that they have motivation to plan ahead and get
sufficient sleep to avoid the damaging effects of sleep deprivation.

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