Students Sleep Schedules do not Reflect a Healthy Amount of Sleep Needed
By: Jase Wanlass
Staff Writer
A healthy amount of sleep is important to students in college, but seems like such an impossible thing to achieve.
Staying up into the early hours of the morning to finish an essay may seem like a normal routine to many college students. However, even when there is not homework to be finished, many students are still staying up until 2 a.m. to binge on Netflix or surf social media. Leaving many with just a few hours for sleeping followed by an early morning class.
The result is sleep deprivation. Many Green River College students are caught in this vicious cycle of no sleep mixed with long days and high stress, which is affecting the quality of their schoolwork and their everyday life.
“When I don’t get enough sleep, it’s hard for me to focus in class,” said Sunghyeon You, a first-year Green River College student from South Korea. “I like to hang out with friends at nighttime, and sometimes we stay up too late. Then I am really tired the next day and don’t do well in my classes.”
As an international student, You is not only adjusting to his college life as a freshman, but also adjusting to the American culture. He also faces the daily challenge of speaking and learning English as his second language.
Sleep for You is essential, as he balances his many responsibilities as an international college student. He feels that getting better sleep would help him be more successful in his schoolwork. “I think that getting more sleep would help me do better in my classes, especially in English class because it’s so hard.”
For college students like You, sleep can sometimes be underrated. A majority of students often feel that sleep can wait. That it is actually better to get a few more hours of studying in instead of getting the proper rest that they need during the night. A recent study performed by the University of Georgia found that on average most college students get six to seven hours of sleep per night. This is not enough, considering that experts recommend eight hours of sleep consistently each night.
Tanner Nygren, a student and member of the basketball team at Green River College, feels sleep is crucial for a student’s overall physical and mental health.
“As a student athlete, establishing healthy sleeping habits is important,” Nygren said. “I need to make sure I go to bed at a good time, get good rest, and wake up at a decent hour so that I’m ready for my schoolwork that day and for my practices. To help me get good proper rest I try to stay off my phone at night, and I also make sure I get all my homework done during the day.”
Researchers say proper sleeping habits are important for a variety of reasons. Some of the key benefits of developing healthy sleeping habits are improved cognitive performance, better memory capacity, boosted social competence, and improved decision-making skills. These are attributes that are crucial in becoming a successful college student and being able to handle different daily tasks.
Like Nygren, there are many possible things students can do to get the sleep needed to be successful in their daily endeavors. The Student Health Services of Oregon State University compiled a comprehensive list of tips for getting good sleep. The list includes maintaining a regular wake and sleep schedule, not eating within two or three hours of your planned bedtime, limiting afternoon naps to one hour or less, and other helpful tips for developing healthy sleeping habits.
If students create healthy sleeping habits while they are in college, not only will it help them become more successful in schoolwork, but it will also help them retain their health for the many years to come.
Photo Cred: Flickr
