- Sleep is vital for maintenance of balanced cognitive and physical health, promoting learning, brain development, and recovery of bodily systems.
- College students are at high risk of developing poor sleeping habits due to increased stress, social demands, and university schedules that can disrupt natural sleep patterns.
- Thoughtful course scheduling, education on the importance of sleep, and initiatives to promote healthy sleep habits could help mitigate the effects of sleep deprivation among university students.
2. “Sleep is a required activity, not an option.” (National Institutes of Health, 2003)
3. • Promotes energy
conservation, nervous
system recuperation,
& emotional regulation
(Siegel, 2005)
• 20% adults habitual
poor sleepers (Editor, 2000)
• 60% college students
poor sleepers (Lund, Reider,
Whiting, and Prichard, 2010)
4. “Sleep plays a significant role in brain development.” (BBC, n.d.)
5. • Restoration &
recovery of bodily
systems (Harvard Medical
School, 2007)
• Energy conservation
• Memory
consolidation
• Protection from
predation
• Brain development
• Discharge of emotions
• (National Institutes of Health, 2003)
6. • Period of restfulness
in which the body may
repair itself. (National Institutes
of Health, 2012)
• Brain development &
plasticity. (Harvard Medical School,
2007)
• Maintenance of the
immune system. (Egydio,
Pieres, Tufik, and Andersen, 2012)
7. • Procedural memory
formation(Gals, Plihal, Wagner, and
Born, 2000)
• Learning new tasks.
(Stickgold, James, and Hobson, 2000)
• “Deep sleep…primes our
brains to function at a
higher level…” (Randall, 2012)
8. Sleep deprivation is associated with “reduced levels of performance, daytime
sleepiness, and [other] adverse health effects.” (Cheatham, n.d.)
9. • Problems with learning, focusing, reaction, making
decisions, solving problems, memory, controlling
emotions, and coping with change. (National Institutes of Health, 2012)
• Decreased concentration & attention span. (BBC, n.d.)
• Death/maiming due to automobile & industrial accidents.
(BBC, n.d.)
• Development of neurodegenerative disease. (Konnikova, 2014)
10. • Hallucinations
• Thought disorder
• Psychosis
• Other negative
symptoms
• (Petrovsky, Ettinger, Hill, Frenzel, Meyhofer,
and Wagner, Backhaus, and Kumari, 2014)
Suffers may not realize they are
sleep deprived & experiencing
negative symptoms. (National Institutes of
Health, 2012)
11. “Sleep deficiency can cause problems with learning…” (National Institutes of Health,
2012)
12. • Increased stress, pressure to succeed, & social demands
contribute to disordered sleeping habits amongst college
students. (Cheatham, n.d.)
• Sleep deprivation in college may lead to stress, academic
issues, & chemical dependence to regular sleep/wake
cycle. (Miller, Shattuck, Matsangas, and Dyche, 2008; Lund et al, 2010)
13. • Generally require
greater than 8 hours
of sleep per day. (Miller, et
al, 2008)
• Increased variability in
sleeping schedule
(bedtime each night shifts)
(Miller et al, 2008)
• Students may be
classified as “morning”
people or “night” people.
(Azevado, Sousa, Paul, MacLeish, Mondejar,
Sarabia, Rol, and Madrid, 2008)
14. “…young adults show a delay in sleep schedules, irregular sleep
patterns, and sleep loss associated with school and university
schedules.” (Azevado, et al, 2008)
15. • Morning / Evening
course blocks that
allow students to
attend based on
biological preferences.
• Duplicate sections
that include early and
late start times.
16. • Scheduling that allows
for daytime rest/nap
breaks.
• May help alleviate
daytime sleepiness.
• Sleeping for as little
as 24 min. at a time
increases cognitive
performance. (Randall, 2012)
17. • Educate students on
importance of sleep
as a study aid.
• Seminars, workshops,
printed materials.
• Involve professors as
“frontline” defense
against sleep
deprivation.
18. • Sleep is vital for maintenance of balanced cognitive &
physical health.
• Sleep has a large impact on learning & brain
development.
• College students are a risk of developing poor sleeping
habits based on university environment.
• Sensitivity to unique characteristics of college sleepers,
thoughtful course scheduling, & proactive outreach may
help to mitigate effects of sleep deprivation amongst
university students.
19.
20. • Azevado, C.V.M.; Sousa, I.; Paul, K.; MacLeish, M.Y.; Mondejar, T.; Sarabia, J.A.; Rol, M.A.; Madrid, J.A. (2008). Teaching
chronobiology and sleep habits in school and university. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(1), p. 34-47.
• BBC. (n.d.) The science of sleep. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/articles/whatissleep.shtml
• Cheatham, S. (n.d.) The relationship between quality of sleep and stress in college students. Baylor University. Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/5131613/The_Relationship_Between_Quality_of_Sleep_and_Stress_in_College_Students
• Editor. (2000). Why do we sleep? Nature Neuroscience, 3, p. 1225.
• Egydio, F.; Pieres, G.N.; Tufik, S.; Andersen, M.L. (2012). Wound-healing and benzodiazepines: Does sleep play a role in this
relationship? Clinics, 67(7), p. 827-830.
• Gals, S.; Plihal, W.; Wagner, U.; Born, J. (2000). Early sleep triggers memory for early visual discrimination skills. Nature Neuroscience,
3, p. 1335-1339.
• Harvard Medical School. (2007). Why do we sleep, anyway? Retrieved from
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep
• Konnikova, M. (2014). Goodnight. Sleep clean. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinions/sunday/goodnight-sleep-clean.html
• National Institutes of Health. (2003). Information about sleep. Retrieved from http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/
nih3/sleep/guide/info-sleep.htm
• Lund, H.G.; Reider, B.D.; Whiting, AB.; Prichard, J.R. (2010). Sleep patterns and predictors of disturbed sleep in a large population of
college students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(2), p. 124-132.
• Miller, N.L.; Shattuck, L.G.; Matsangas, P.; Dyche, J. (2008). Sleep and academic performance in U.S. military training and education
programs. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(1), p. 29-33.
• National Institutes of Health. (2012). Why is sleep so important?
Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/
topics/sdd/why.html
• Petrovsky, N.; Ettinger, U.; Hill, A.; Frenzel, L.; Meyhofer, I.; Wagner, M. Backhaus, J.; Kumari, V. (2014). Sleep deprivation disrupts
prepulse inhibition and induces psychosis-like symptoms in healthy humans. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(27), p. 9134-9140.
• Randall, D.K. (2012). Rethinking sleep. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html?smid=pl.share
• Siegel, J.M. (2005). Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep. Nature, 437, p.1264-1271.
• Stickgold, R.; James, L.; Hobson, A. (2000). Visual discrimination learning requires sleep after training. Nature Neuroscience, 3, p. 1237-
1238.