The Brand (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 20, Ed. 1, Monday, April 25, 1994 Page: 3 of 8
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Xpril2$ 1994 jtdVllTtS 3
Are You Just Drowsy or Sleep Deprived?
j
College Press Service
Sleep. It's a biological neces-
sity but how many of us consider
it as important as breathing or
eating? Every night millions of
Americans hit the pillow a little
later than they would have liked
only to wake up to the piercing
sounds of their alarm clocks for
another tiresome day.
College students are infamous
for skimping on sleep and then
snoozing through classes. Not
unlike many other students Bryan
Marenstein aUniversity of Wash-
ington sophomore says he usu-
ally makes it to bed between 3 and
4 a.m. averaging six or less hours
of sleep per night.
"Earlier in the quarter I got a
lot of sleep in the library-on the
couches the chairs the ground
anywhere I could find a place to
lie down" Marenstein said. "I got
so much sleep at night that I was
really tired during the day."
Most sleep research experts
agree that young adults need an
average of seven to nine hours of
sleep per night
"But whatever the reasons
maybe a combination between
academic social and work de-
mands students end up getting
five or six hours on the average"
said Michael Vitiello associate
Sleep and Aging Research
Program.
A 1982 Stanford University
study found that when placed in a
dark quiet room college students
fell asleep faster on the average
than other adults. This has led
many researchers to the conclu
sion that most college students are
chronically sleep-deprived.
"When I teach an 8:30 a.m.
intra class on any given day if I
have 200 students there I may
have one or two with their heads
down collapsed" Vitiello said.
Since Edison's invention of
the lightbulb a 24-hour society
has arisen where individuals can
stay up through all hours of the
night.
But nature may be partially to
blame for the chronic sleep depri-
vation of millions of Americans.
Our bodies' biological clock or
circadian rhythm is set to a 25-
hour schedule-one hour longer
than the solar day.
"What that means is that it is
easier for people to stay up
later...But the problem is that you
still have to get up at a fixed time
the next day" Vitiello said. "Al-
most by definition it's very easy
for you to (cut off) your sleep and
end up sleep-deprived."
Additionally those who suf-
fer from mid-aftemoon drowsi-
ness can blame their body 's circa-
dian rhythms. It has been docu-
mented that around 3 p.m. a drop
in body temperature triggers a feel-
ing of sleepiness resulting in the
notorious mid-aftemoon nap.
There are definite differences
between losing sleep for a few
nights and habitual sleep loss.
Even one night of shortened
sleep can impair mental functions.
In laboratory tests sleep-deprived
individuals were unable to add up
simple columns of numbers or hit
certain buttons in a select pattern.
"Their performance deterio-
rates reaction times slow and ac-
curacy diminishes" explained
Carol Landis University of Wash-
ington assistantprofessorof physi-
ological nursing.
Although individuals can
sometimes override the immedi-
ate adverse effects of a shortened
night's sleep Landis does not rec-
ommend all-nighters before the
day of a final.
Researchers have not been
able to connect sleep deprivation
directly to any physical illness in
humans.
"The longest research con-
ducted on humans shows that we
can be awake as long as eight and
a half to nine days without any
reports of physical illnesses"
Landis said.
But a well-known 1964
American Cancer Society study
did find that the amount of sleep
an individual receives can affect
mortality. Subjects who habitu-
ally slept less than six hours or
more than 10 hours were more
likely to live shorter lives said
Landis.
Signs of sleep deprivation are
all too common in a society that
devalues the importance of sleep.
Those who are sleep-deprived
suffer from obvious symptoms
such as fatigue and a general feel
ing of daytime sleepiness. They
often can be spotted in a series of
"microsleeps" or miniature epi-
sodes of sleep resulting in droop-
ing eyelids and continual head
nodding.
Another sign of sleep depri-
vation is falling asleep within five
minutes after crawling into bed.
"Some people think that if
they're out as soon as their head
hits the pillow...that they 're a good
sleeper but it actually may mean
that they have a sleep disorder or
they are chronically sleep-deprived"
Landis said.
On the average Americans
fall asleep seven minutes after
getting into bed Fully-rested
people fall asleep after 10 to 15
minutes in bed.
Some-sleep deprived indi-
viduals fall into a pattern of rely-
ing on caffeine to wake them up in
the mornings and sleeping pills or
alcohol to ensure a sound sleep at
night.
Vitiello warned against reli-
ance on drugs. "If you have your-
self a double espresso each morn-
ing in a couple hours you may
find yourself lower than before."
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The Brand (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 20, Ed. 1, Monday, April 25, 1994, newspaper, April 25, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth97591/m1/3/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hardin-Simmons University Library.