Very interesting article. Yes good sleep, quantity and quality wise, is very much essential for all humans to be healthy not only students. It has become a fashion to sleep late nowadays due to the availability of plenty of entertainment accessories on hand.
For students, good sleep is very much needed which is completely neglected either due to too much of homework and project work or due to too much of getting involved with their smartphones and TV watching or all combined.
Students are at the starting age. They haven’t even entered next phase yet. If they continue to forego sleep, their health is sure to go for a toss and they will end up as wrecks. They will have no life and no future at all. It’s that important. So have a nice sleep everyday please for your own sake.
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When I went to college, I had bad sleep habits. Pulling all-nighters was one thing, but even when I wanted to go to sleep, it was difficult because my mattress wasn't the right fit.
I wish I came across IDLE Sleep's mattresses earlier! Their double-sided mattresses provide cooler sleep and reduce pressure points. All of their mattresses are handmade in the USA and they also offer a 120-night sleep trial.
1
My son is a college freshman and I can't imagine him being able to follow any of the tips living in a dorm,
2
Pretty cool that this turned into a high school class discussion group. Kudos to the teacher!
Article: An Underappreciated Key To College Success: Sleep
This week in the New York Times an article regarding something coming close in future caught my eye. College is becoming a topic very relevant in every aspect of my life, college. This article brought up the point of 24 hour libraries, which I noticed all the colleges I have visited have. I never looked at this in a negative light. I figured a 24 hour library could be extremely useful i the event of an all nighter spent cramming for an exam. All nighters: however, are not the best way to study and may lead the student to perform even more poorly on an exam than they nay have with a good nights rest. I l also found the link between mental illnesses and sleep deprivation interesting. Depression, anxiety, and ADHD can all be symptoms of sleep deprivation which many college students suffer from. I am hopeful that with the knowledge I have obtained about the importance of sleep as well as the helpful tips enclosed in the article I will be prepared for the conflicts i will face in college.
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As a highschool student taking mostly AP classes, this article has truly inspired me to take my sleep seriously. Highschool is extremely hard and stressful because there are so many things to study for and so many tests to take for each class; therefore, good time management is important. This article made it clear that if I am having a hard time with managing my time efficiently and am not benefiting mentally and physically while I am in highschool; God only knows how well I would do if I go to Medical School for college. Where there are constant interruptions in sleep time and sleep deprivation risks increase. This was a huge wake up call to not procrastinate, to be effective, and to manage my time wisely so that I will have enough time for personal/ mental care.
This artical, written about good sleep inspired me. It is because I’m a high school student, and there are five tests to take. There are lots of summer holiday homework too. It says that after 16 hours from the last sleep makes the brain start not working. Actually, I don’t really study for the tests that much. It might be better to say, I don’t want to. On the other hand, I often use time to finish my work. It sometimes takes until getting over being sleepy at midnight. Reading this article, it made me bare in mind about improving two bad habits. One is to fix my sleep, such as not using phones, and sleep and wake up earlier at Sunday. Other one is to not to keep the homework until the date it is due, and finish it earlier.
I thought the good point of this article is that to write some examples so it become easier to understand the topic. As my own opinion, I think there are one more merit to take a good sleep. It is the decreasing of time students being sleepy during class.
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This article by Jane E. Brody engrossed me in The Times this week. It is one of the truest thing I have read on the students’ downfall on academics and extracurricular. Nowadays, authorities are excessively concerned with ‘internet addiction’ and ‘drugs addiction’ that they often seem to overlook the most important factor behind the students downgrading performance on academics and sports: Sleep.
As a senior in high school in Kathmandu, I know how stressful can this period prove to us. Getting into a college of one’s choice is the foremost priority of all high school students. We are so obsessed by this thing that we spend long nights awake doing our home works, project works, etcetera, putting our health at stake, in the hope of getting stellar grades which could get us on our favourite college. Even though I know without having sound sleep I cannot perform well on my school, but still I am compelled to spend sleep deprived nights because it is crystal clear that if I do not submit my assignments on time, I am surely going to get bad grades which in turn will hinder me from getting into my dream-school. Looking upon this, some educational reforms are quite mandatory, if the country want to produce a healthy and creative students/citizens. This was the only thing I wished author could have stressed more on.
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I found interest in this article as, ironically, I am currently working on summer homework at midnight. Even though I am still in high school, I connect with the article as I am evidently guilty of staying up late. Although I have improved my sleep schedule over the past few years, I often continue to lose sleep due to procrastination of assignments or staying up on electronics. This article does well to display the negative effects of sleep deprivation, which include lack of brain functionality, depression, and anxiety. This should motivate everyone to follow a healthy sleep schedule to not only do better in school, but to better their lives in general. Going into senior year of high school, it is important for me to get rid of my unhealthy sleeping habits so that I can get off to a strong start in college.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/well/an-underappreciated-key-to-colle...
This article interested me because as a highschool student going into junior year, I struggle constantly with getting enough sleep and prioritizing my school work over my health. Bettering my health and sleeping habits would show vast improvements in my school work, physical, and mental health. This article opened my eyes to the problems sleep deprivation leads to. Once we are awake for about 16 hours, we act as though we are legally drunk. That is crazy to learn especially because I have gone to school and taken tests after pulling all nighters. Sleeping habits are very important to build because studies have shown how much grades have improved from your overall average to your chances of graduating. Imagine if you had just bettered your health and built good habits how much more successful you would be. As someone who is always stressed and dealing with anxiety sleep is very hard to control, but studies show that not sleeping makes the stress and axiety even worse. This article really enlightended my views on sleep and health
An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep
What drew me to this piece in the times this week is how much I have come to value sleep as a senior in high school. In the past four years, sleep has been very hard to come by on some days and I have personally felt the effects of sleep deprivation. After not sleeping much the night before, it became almost impossible for me to get anything done and even harder to think logically. To prevent this from happening more often, I had to make sure not procrastinate and get work done in a timely manner. While my sleep schedule has definitely improved, there are still nights where I get insomnia and can’t fall asleep no matter what I try. In addition, balancing social life, studying, and sleeping has also been challenging for me because I often want to include all three into my life but the time simply isn’t enough. As I head into college, I need to be even more aware of my sleep schedule because college classes will undoubtedly more challenging which requires more time to study and more sleep to do well on tests.
“An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep”
Jane E .Brody
As a high school senior, reading this article has opened my eyes on how to attack the next chapter in my life. I am a victim of sleep deprivation and I wholeheartedly agree that our brain functions do decline. After understanding the significant consequences that occur due to lack of sleep. This article has encouraged me to create a new schedule and to learn how to manage my time not only because it will help me in the future, but it will benefit my health. Though this task is not easy and will take time, in the long run, this will help me pay attention more in class and do better in my future endeavors.
“An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep”
Jane E .Brody
It is safe to assume that anyone who has read this article has indeed fell victim in being sleep deprived or, at least I have. Ironically enough, I’ve written my own research paper about the dangers of getting insufficient sleep and the performance it can have on your education. Yet, I have failed miserably in taking my own advice and getting the proper amount of sleep. It is easy to say to yourself that you’ll go to bed at a decent hour, then it is to follow through with that plan. It is kind of like making a commitment to go to the gym. It is simple to draw up a workout schedule and include what areas of the body to focus on; however, it takes a lot more effort to go exercise. I thought perhaps reading this article would finally encourage me to go to bed. What I have gained so far from this article are some great suggestions like going to bed at a consistent time every night and keeping your sleep schedule consistent every single day. Though I am bound to pull a few more all-nighters, I do intend to make huge adjustments to my current bedtime routine.
I started reading this article because it is my summer holiday now and I felt that my night routine wasn’t going well. Many students from my school posts Instagram,Twitter, Facebook, or send message to each other at late night. When I was young, I didn’t think that sleeping quality and quantity really mattered to my daily life but through this article, I’ve learned that how sleeping gives us a big impact and how important it is for not only college students but for all humans.
The article was very easy to understand as the writer used many specific examples(studies) and numbers. It had strong points and was trustworthy.
At the last, it gives us the suggestion:”Go to bed and get up every day at approximately the same time, weekend included” As it is my summer break, I always stay up till late night or sometimes I don’t sleep for the whole day busy talking with my friends on phone. The article was very helpful as it gave an opportunity to me to rethink about my sleeping habits and about my health care too.
I thought the article would be more interesting if it mentioned that “ Why people (mostly teenagers) think that they are sleepy during the day but they fell that they are active at night” or any other advantages which gives us if we sleep.
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'An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep'
I thought this article would be appropriate because of the back to school season. I know that I am trying to get back to my normal sleep schedule. All around schools and social media everyone comments on how they do not get enough sleep. They put off assignments and are forced to do them late at night, making that assignment, not their best work. Also, it is a trend to stay up all night to talk to their friends, even if it is to study. Even though this is an article on college, I think this can be applied in all grades and even jobs.
What really allure my attention about "An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep" by Jane E. Brody is how much sleep deprivation really does have a huge impact in ours lives. Im a junior in high school who like most teenager take sleep for granted by going on own phones at night. as a high school study its in my best interest to be informed and do everything possible so i can be successful especially for college. i concur with the article because i do feel like your perfomance rely on your sleeping habits when it come to academics and sports. overall this article is really beneficial when it come to students who are aiming for success in college or even any other challenges in life.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/well/an-underappreciated-key-to-colle...
As a high school junior who is starting to think about college, and also a big fan of sleeping late, this article about sleep interested me because it explained the effects of good and bad sleep habits in college. Though it makes sense that students would perform better in both school and sports with a good amount of sleep, it could be a struggle to go to bed at a reasonable time, considering all of the homework, tests and papers that students have to do. The tips provided by the article for good sleep habits are useful for students to help them be able to perform better at all classes and activities during the day.
The article "An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep" by Jane E. Brody stood out to me over all the others because it's very reasonable, relevant and most importantly true, yet not a facile goal to achieve. I, myself, am not a college student, however I am still a student that adores sleep. After reading this article, I do greatly agree that sleep is one of the most important keys to academic success. However, almost all students have after school activities such as extra help for a class, sports practices or games, music rehearsals, club meetings, etc. The average student participates in half, or all, of these listed above and most likely all students want time to themselves instead of coming home from school and doing their homework right away. All of this time takes away from their sleeping schedule, which in conclusion means less sleep. Due to sleep deprivation, students tend to do worse in school or may potentially fall asleep in school or miss their ride. Most students with lack of sleep start to procrastinate and become less aware of current studies and homework. As a result, students learn less and tend to get lower grades than others who have a well planned sleeping schedule. In conclusion, students should plan a well organized schedule for everyday. Making sure their grades are intact, extra curricular activities are well managed, athletics are controlled and most importantly, 8 or more hours of sleep while not becoming stressed about school.
The article that interested me this week was "An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep". Throughout our years of high school, myself and many of my friends deal with copious amounts of school work and homework. Added onto sports practices, music rehearsals, extra classes, and other extra curricular activities, many students end up finally going to sleep in the early hours of the morning. While kids and teens are constantly told how they need a "full night's sleep", many fall short of the hours needed to be considered healthy. Consequently, due o extended amounts of homework and a lack of sleep at night, students may fall behind in their schoolwork, or even fall asleep during class. As a result, students have destroyed sleep schedules, and enter college with horrible sleep habits.
After reading this article, I need to redo my sleep schedule. Although I had a vague idea of the dangers of sleep deprivation, (both from firsthand and through stories) I never knew just how much it effects. Compared to the recommended 8-10 hours a night, I get around 6-7, and occasionally 8 if I'm lucky. This article brings up a very important point when it discusses the correlation between sleep deprivation and brain function. On average I stay awake for over 16 hours, which gradually wears in the brain. Rather than waking up feeling refreshed after a long nights rest, I normally have to crawl exhaustedly from my bed to the nearest coffee machine. This article also brings up a valid point on how schools almost encourage students to not get much sleep, in between the overload of homework to the early start time of school (especially around finals). While I'm not surprised on how a lack of sleep lowers brain functions, I am surprised on how not having a consistent sleep schedule can be equivalent to international flight jet lag. After reading this article, I'm going to do a lot more to make sure i get a healthy amount of sleep nightly
My husband, Dr Stuart H. Garber has been writing about sleep issues for many years and developed a natural solution for sleep that is his best selling Formula as it is effective with zero side effects. It is hard for a student to turn off their brain after a late night study session for a next day’s test. They can take the liquid remedy and quiet their thoughts to fall asleep and wake up refreshed to do well the next day. He just went back to school at 63 to gain information to help him develop remedies for animals so he has been personally using the formula for the nights before his tests (especially his 2 day final exam) for the course. He got an A in his course at his advanced age which you can image was helped by his ability to sleep the night before his tests. And to add to his stress, he took the course in a different state and slept in a motel each weekend of the six month course. Google his name and sleep to learn more.
For most students in Singapore, we probably would relate greatly with this article. In general, I sleep at around 11.30pm - 12 midnight and wake up at 6am every 5 days a week. Which essentially mean that I get up to 6h of sleep. School is always hectic. We have afternoon activities (we call it Co-Curricular Activities), projects discussion, consultations with teachers and even tuition which many students in Singapore has. All these activities require so much energy and with the amount of sleep we have these days, our body might not be able cope with the high workload and stress we face.
I personally never pull all-nighters. The reason is simple: even if I plan to study till 4am, I will literally plonk on my desk with my pen in hand asleep. My body simply can’t stay awake after long school hours and afternoon activities. Studies have shown that after being awake for 16 hours in a row, brain function starts to decline, and after 20 hours awake, you perform as if legally drunk.
After reading this article, I must admit I am guilty of the lack of sleep for my body. I feel like sleep is something I should be in control of, and be aware of my body’s condition, similar to how I should say “thank you” to my body for helping me go through the day-to-day activities with sufficient amount of quality sleep.
The article I chose to read this week was, "An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep," written by Jane E. Brody. As a teenager who on average gets about five hours of sleep, I was quickly fascinated with what this article had to say. It seems crazy to me that our bodies thrive on needing so much sleep when in reality most of the population doesn't get any where close to the appropriate amount. For me, there just aren't enough hours in a day to get a full night of sleep. Playing three sports with AP classes, theater and ASB I am constantly struggling to find time for family let alone sleep. It worries me to think about what my life in college will look like. Especially after reading this article, I am extremely concerned with burning myself out. I am thankful that this article not only made me aware of the physical problems that sleep deprivation can cause in your life, but that it also provided a list of ways to avoid it. Furthermore, I was shocked to learn from this article that after 20 hours of being awake you act as if your are legally drunk. This fact along with the rest of the article was a good reminder of how important sleep is.
So simple: 8 hour rule.
8 hours of sleep
8 hours of academics total (lectures/labs/studying)
8 hours for 'you'
Doctors know this. But teaching hospitals rely on residents to provide care. They're doctors who benefit from thousands of hours of experience. Over a few years, over 100 hours a week, all nighters in med school and residency.
If the effect of a sleep deprived student is a C instead of B, how about the resident who forgets to provide proper care?
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Sleep... It's such an integral part of who a human being is. Sleep is taken for granted so often that nobody even thinks about it anymore. A college student is probably the most affected by this since their sleep schedule could be off trying to cram for an exam or they could just want to sleep in too often. Although I'm not in college, I completely get the whole "I can't sleep because I have to study." I've spent many a time trying to cram for a test until 3 in the morning. But this could affect the student in more than just one way.
Stress is a main factor of sleep deprivation, so it might just add to that stress since I know I'm more stressed when I don't get enough sleep in my system. One study showed that a students GPA fell by 0.02 and the chance of them dropping a course increased by 10%, which is crazy if you think about it. This means that students will be more likely to drop out of college. 1 in 3-4 students will fail to graduate, and stress is potentially the main reason for that.
From what I've seen about sleep, it only ever helps a student improve in education and daily life. I do enjoy the fact that this article helps those who are having trouble sleeping by including ways to improve sleep. Especially the avoiding caffeinated and sugary beverages or foods since I know many of my friends use those things to stay up later. Overall, this article was very insightful and helped me learn how to sleep better while also trying to help educate my friends about the topic.
@Anna I think this deserves a 3.5-4. It includes many details and facts about the article that provide new ideas. It is skillfully organized with paragraphs that separate each idea. There is a lot of sophisticated vocabulary and a control of conventions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/well/an-underappreciated-key-to-colle...
This article interested me because it opened my eyes about how much we don't pay attention to something that is so crucial and enjoyable in our lives . Students who pull all-nighters in effort to be successful on an upcoming exam, almost always do the opposite. According to Jane E. Brody, when you've been up for more than 20 hours, you perform as if you are legally drunk. It is ironic that when we stay up intending to better, we do significantly worse than we would have if we got the proper amount of sleep. Colleges should really focus on addressing this issue that almost every college student suffers from.
This article interested me this week because of this mere fact: sleep is essential. We think about it everyday when the alarm goes off, when we're at work or when we're at school, but we really don't evaluate the benefits. We just know that it's a beautiful thing.
The article discusses how it is extremely crucial for us to make sleep a priority; when setting foot into highschool and college, it is even more so since it can affect grades and graduation statistics. The article states that, "sleep quantity and sleep quality equal or outrank suc popular campus concerns....predicting student grades and student's chances of graduating."That fact right there is a bit eerie: sleep can make or break us? Seems obvious but really?
In another portion of the article it says how twenty-four hour libraries contradict the argument that sleep is essential. In fact, these libraries "encourage students to pull all-nighters." There are benefits to this of course: being able to get the A on the assignment. There are also downfalls though; lack of sleep can affect the mental functions and eventually it'll show in the student's work, that's of course if they function normally.
In all, it should be more encourage for us to take the initiative and put sleep first when our body is worn out. This will ultimately lead to a healthy success rather than a stressful one.
This article about college, I Found very interesting. I first clicked on this article because it talked about a tip on how to be successful in college. I will be going to college next year so this title really did grab my attention because I do wanna be successful in college. I was really curious to read this article because I want to do good when I go to college in just a year, so it would be helpful to know different tips and tricks to help. This article claims sleep is the tip on being successful. It claims this will be a major factor in helping students to be able to really apply themselves. I found this very interesting because I know some nights, in high school, I don't get a lot of sleep. When this happens I can tell im off my game and dont do my best in school the next day. So I found this trip really helpful because it made me realize it does me no good to stay up late. Im always better off just getting sleep. Once I go to college I will get a good night sleep every night so i'm ready to learn and study the next day. I really feel like this could help me to be very successful in college which is just a year away. That is why I chose this article, because sometimes it can be scary to think about college but I figured the trick in this article could help me be successful in college and make it less scary.
This particular article stood out to me because I see sleep deprivation affect most of my friends and occasionally me. I am going to start looking at colleges soon and I already know that the workload will be almost twice as hard or be challenging. Getting a good night sleep, especially when school is in session, is very important to me because I know that I do not perform as well if I wasn't well rested. A few surprising facts I found out while reading was that only a few institutions are doing something about the growing problem of their students dropping classes and not being able to graduate due to lack of sleep while some are doing to exact opposite by having 24-hour libraries open. Also that when your brain functions for 20+ hours people act like they're legally drunk. So the students who stay up all night thinking that will help, they are doing more damage than good. This article interested me very much because I knew students were having a problem with sleep but I never knew how bad it could get or that it can affect graduating rates. In my experience, my sleeping schedule already gets messed up at the beginning of the year due to sports and getting adjusted to waking up early but I learn to adapt and re-arrange my daily schedule to help fix my sleeping schedule. This article opened my eyes to the dangers of sleep deprivation and gave me insight on how to help with it.
I blame social media...kill Facebook and the world is better, although most college kids now got burned by it in middle school so already quit...
my son was born with insomnia. he had a horrible time going to elementary school and being there at 715 am. the stress and pressures and lack of sleep both my children suffered in k to 12 make college seem easy. at least in college you can pick the time if day for your classes, get fresh air and go to the bathroom.
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another issue that your article makes me think about are my 2 children who taught me after they were born that I actually needed to rest. then they started school and finished elementary school with dark circles under their eyes and a whole pile of stress and test anxiety long before the 3rd grade, by the time they went to middle school it was a fact that if you were on a sports team you would not be able to make good grades because they came home every night with a minimum of 2 hours of homework after a 7 to 9 hour day. then high school actually seemed easier as nd Ky oldest whi will be a college junior sees college as an amazing chance to manage her schedule after the regimented and sleepless first 12 years of education, I think 16 years of education free to the public is an obvious must do, as one reader pointed out most kids that can have to work or go into debt. but when our country gets serious about overall health that will hopefully be a good time to get serious about children sleep and REAL education. from birth to death...
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as an architecture student in the 1980s, we were expected to sleep very little to prepare us for a career that is deadline based and not based on any work hours. I never really had any problems with grades or projects, in spite of little sleep ( of course I did not participate in any social activity or sport in college) that would have been impossible architecture was our social world and our team..and when I started work I was ready for the grueling work. I think after about 6 years working and I had my first child , took 8 weeks unpaid time off, I may have felt pretty tired. But I went right back to work 8 weeks to the day. our next child arrived 18 months after the first and as I adapted my work schedule a little I never worked less than 50 hours a week and started to get very little sleep at all.
In the long run for me, the toll of years of little sleep became daily headaches, and depression. so my point is dont br fooled into thinking it will never catch up to you. some people like me may actually not need as much sleep. But a lack of it over time will catch up to you and have serious health risks, no matter what your grades or career decisions are.
The amount of sleep that an individual gets during college years is very crucial. If a student does not get sleep, his/her grades will most likely be negatively affected. According to an expert on college sleep, being awake for more than 16 hours can cause the brain to function deficiently. Even worse, as the year goes on, there is an increase in rigorous work that could burden students if they have irregular sleeping patterns. Likewise, the possibility of students dropping a course would probably soar and their GPAs most likely plummet. I chose this article because I found it alluring that many college students, who receive insufficient sleep, suffer greatly in their academics. Additionally, it was fascinating to see the vast amount of students who drop out of their courses due to lack of sleep.
I read the book "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker and it was life changing for me. I had no idea how much your physical and psychological well being relied on sleep and how important it was. I had read brief articles like this before but until I read the book with all the details and research I didn't pay much attention. Relevant to this article on students...the book pointed out that learning is enhanced with sleep. If you have students study and then sleep, they retain the knowledge better - so staying up all night studying is not the way to learn.
The article “An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep” caught my attention since i will soon be going to college as well as that I don’t normally get good sleep. I thought this article might give advice as to how to sleep better or fall asleep and to my surprise it does. The article starts off by describing how important the amount of sleep you are getting everyday is. Throughout my years of going to school i have noticed a difference in my sleeping patterns from when i was going to middle school compared to high school. In middle school i would normally go to bed at the same time early and finish my homework pretty fast without stressing out that much. Though as i entered high school i began to stress out more as there were a lot more tests to study for and more work to do. My sleeping patterns began to go crazy, meaning everyday i would sleep at a different time late into the night a lot of the time near or past midnight. Due to this i really do see why sleep is so important and can have a lot to do with your success in college. Though i think sleep is not only just important for you to succeed college. I believe that the article should have also tried to address that sleep is important in general not just for college but for work, high school, life etc. Overall, this article was helpful since it informs readers on what they can do in order to get better sleep. As well as that it addresses possible reasons as to why someone may be having sleeping problems.
How is it possible that there is no mention in this article of the degree to which Adderol and other ADHD drugs are used by students for whom they are not legally prescribed? You have to be living (or sleeping) under a rock not to know about the tremendous prevalence of illicit amphetamine use on campus. The temptations of Adderol, et.al. are many, among which is the fact that the reduction in perceptiveness and clarity referred to in this article as byproducts of sleep deprivation do not apply to those on speed. You may not like it, and you might even say that the perception of increased focus and attentiveness when using these drugs is more exaggerated than the reality, but the fact is that speed does make for better concentration and focus, at least in the short term.
I recently completed a graduate program and at least a third (and more likely half) of the students were copping and using Adderol to get through exams and end-of-semester presentations. People were selling pills for anywhere from $5 to $10 each, and most sellers were either selling their own prescriptions or those they stole from siblings or got from friends. I was an older student with kids of my own who knew the pitfalls of the post-speed crash and could ill afford to endure them, but it's almost impossible to discourage students from taking a drug that seems to have no real downside if not abused regularly and which might give you an edge -- especially when it seems everyone you know is taking it.
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amphetamine use and its epidemic started in the 1930s and ended in 1969. it was an epidemic then and it is re emerging now. watch "take your pills" a Netflix documentary and you will see the current college situation but most importantly the history of amphetamine and pep pills as an American and international tradition. take those pep pills....the pharmaceutical companies and doctors are just figuring out ways to sell sell sell, they know it works. historically etc. WWII was the epitome of the end game of amphetamine misuse...
I direct a program for both undergraduates and graduate/pro students who are pregnant and or parenting through their degrees (Student Parent HELP Center, University of MN-TC. This is a constant worry for us, as we have many moms and dads return to classes weeks after delivering a new born. Non-traditional students who are working, parenting or caring for other family members are at particular. Would be fascinating to see a feature on these students!
1
I am 75 years old, have had a mastectomy and have written a book, See Jane Beat Cancer: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed about my cancer journey. One of my challenges has been getting a good night sleep. Admittedly I have different issues to deal with than college students. My issues are due to aging, side effects of chemotherapy and the medicines that I take, and the dry climate of Denver. These are the tactics that have helped me:
Daily:
About 16 hours between waking up and going to bed
45 minute nap before 3 pm
30 minutes of exercise at least 3 hours before bedtime
Starting 2 hours before bedtime:
Turn off phone and computer
Take warm shower
Drink Chamomile tea and eat a snack
Meditate 20 minutes
Journal
Just before bedtime
Take 3 mg liquid melatonin
Rinse mouth with Biotene (for dry mouth)
Use the rest room
Stretch calves (to prevent restless legs)
One drop eye gel in each eye for dry eyes.
1
In my college days, I often took sleep over studying. I was an engineering student. I think I only did one all nighter in my entire college days and not for a test. If I had a test, I was in bed by 11. The strategy worked for me.
This article brought up many intriguing points. It informed readers how students, at college specifically, do not preform their best due to lack of sleep. Surprisingly, studies showed that sleep deprivation is commonly caused by anxiety, depression, and ADHD; lack of sleep is not caused by alcohol and drug use as much. I found this interesting because almost all students try to be successful in school, especially at a college level, however there are factors holding them back. If students could get more sleep they would be able to improve their abilities. The article brought up helpful points for students. For example, wake up and go to sleep consistently, do not eat large meals before bed, and have a comfortable sleeping environment. Contrary to most beliefs, sleep is affecting students school work more than alcohol and drugs. I found this interesting because it is not what I thought. I also found all of the sleeping tips helpful. This article was very informative and helpful.
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@Sommerlyn Jones
"studies showed that sleep deprivation is commonly caused by anxiety, depression, and ADHD"
The worst part is, sleep deprivation can also exacerbate these issues! It's a terrible cycle.
In law school, I never crammed. Never studied all night. My roommate crammed and studied all night. He never understood why, with my seemingly less intensive study habits, I outperformed him. Maybe it was sleep. Oh, but on weekends I partied like it was 1999. Sure it probably threw me off my circadian rhythm, but it also gave me a needed outlet. So there it is again: find a balance. PS after you have kids forget about it and don’t even bother trying....
3
More than 50 years ago, I learned the value of a good night's sleep before chemistry exams. I would fall asleep while studying, then go to bed. I always did well on tests when I got a good night's sleep. I never pulled an all-nighter and never understood why others did. I preferred to sleep then and still do.
1
Some sources of stress cannot be removed, nor can "sleep hygiene" help, and this article will only add (greatly) to the stress level of students in that situation. Empathy would be more helpful than dire warnings.
2
In addition to the bullet points offered on sleep
hygiene I would add this:
You should not do anything in your bedroom aside from sleep, get dressed, and engage in romantic activities (always safely and consensually!). That means no reading, no studying, no hanging out, no listening to music and definitely no TV watching.
This and the bullets offered in the article may not be possible for those living in dorms. Nonetheless, when feasible, these guidelines will help ensure both ease of falling asleep and restful sleep.
@Omentum Never mind that millions fall asleep many nights watching TV.
One size fits all rules do not fit all.
2
These recommendations are nearly impossible to follow in the usual dormitory environment, especially when the student has a roommate, as is often the case freshman year.
2
I think Ms. Brody has raised a very important issue, and I find most of the arguments purporting that getting sufficient rest in college is impossible to be unconvincing.
Uncooperative roommate? Look for someone more compatible and switch. Yes, this will take some effort, and in my experience, it's well worth the trouble.
Noisy hall? Ear plugs. Lots of them. For studying, try a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
Hot, stuffy room? Keep in mind that extra electronics can put out a great deal of heat, so leave the large screen TV and gaming system at home. Also, tower fans are awesome.
Cluttered environment? Clean up your stuff! Dorm rooms are suffocating because students bring too much to school and don't maintain it neatly. I couldn't rest with all that going on either.
Electronic distractions? Try to study somewhere other than your dorm room, like the library or a quiet common room. Between study sessions, stow your electronics out of sight in a desk or backpack. Make your room into a refuge for rest.
At night, create a routine to close out the day. Take a shower, brush your teeth, and put on your PJs. Close those awful black out curtains, turn on your fan, and get some much-needed rest. Your body and brain will thank you.
Here's a tip my eldest came across that helped her. Loft your bed and leave your electronics below. You'll be less tempted to use them at night because it's a pain to climb down and retrieve them once you're under the covers.
12
I drank a lot of Coke to stay awake. If you’re a student reading this article and know you won’t follow most of its advice, at least BRUSH YOUR TEETH! And Floss. It’ll save you future discomfort and money.
2
"An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep” has interested me in the Times this week.
Although I do agree with the author of this article in that the sleep habits of college students due tend to become worse as the demands of assignments, sporting events, social gatherings, etc. intensify and become more prevalent, I cannot help but address the fact that this is only in regards to college students. This also qualifies as my reasoning as to why this article has interested me. I do understand that the title of the article tells me that the focus falls upon college students only, and yet I cannot help but question the reasoning as to why high school students aren’t addressed as well for the following reasons: In addition to the development of common core studies amongst high schools all across the nation, students are facing conditions just as harsh and as laboring as college students. College level courses are taken as early as sophomore year, I know his because I have experienced it. Many students within high schools take multiple AP classes in addition to honors, clubs, and extra curricular activities, all while, for some, playing a varsity sport every season and finding a way to get to that band lesson once a week, or even more. High school students wake up as early as 6am, maybe even 5am if you take drivers ed, only to finally get sleep after midnight when all of the homework is done. The mental health of our high school students is at stake. We need help too.
3
I agree and I think from kindergarten to 12th grade my children suffered more lack of sleep and stress than one day in college. college was a welcome change, fresh air, no early classes and bathroom when you needed to not 6 times s year. etc etc. their elementary school started at 7:15 am. both my children had dark circles and felt exhausted daily. so it's not just college.
The same recommendation can be made for aspiring doctors. The ridiculous and dangerous tradition of depriving them of adequate sleep during various stages of training is bad for them, their patients and quite frankly, just plain stupid.
18
While there is a strong tradition of this in medical training, nowadays it often simply comes down to staffing.
For example: two hospitals (Of 6) that I train in require 24 - 27 hour shifts. This is because they’re both trauma centers that require trauma surgical staff to be on site 24/7. Split day/night shifts requires more residents than rotating call shifts. For us it would mean pulling residents from other services around the city where they are also needed. Our administrators and chiefs have tried to rework the schedule to provide relief. However there is no way we can maintain all of our commitments without those long call shifts. If we fail to maintain those commitments then you do not get to have trauma centers. That would be bad.
Residents, attending physicians, and program directors will all tell you that this is a major reason if not the sole reason that the culture of grueling hours still exists. Simply put, there is a labor shortage. Lobby congress to fund more training positions (medicare pays a portion of resident salaries) if you want it to change. This funding been capped for two decades at roughly 10 billion per year.
6
learn how to power nap. call it a mindfulness exercise to get traction. 20 minutes to half hour is enough. if you are really good you can do it sitting up.
you will be surprised by the energy it releases.
5
"An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep" has interested me in The Times this week.
Although I do agree with the author of this article in that the sleep habits of college students do tend to become worse as the demands of assignments, sporting events, social gatherings, etc. intensify and become more prevalent, I cannot help but address the fact that this is only in regards to college students. This also qualifies as my reasoning as to why this article has interested me. I do understand that the title of the article tells me that the focus falls upon college students only, and yet I cannot help but question the reasoning as to why high school students aren’t addressed as well for the following reasons: In addition to the development of common core studies amongst high school all across the nation students are facing conditions just as harsh and as laboring as college students. College level courses are taken as early as sophomore year, I know this because I have experienced it. Many students within high schools take multiple AP classes in addition to honors and clubs and extra curricular activities, all while, for some, playing a varsity sport every season and finding a way to get to that band lesson once a week, or even more. High school students wake up as early as 6am, maybe even 5am if you take drivers ed, only to finally get sleep after midnight when all of the homework is done. The mental health of our high school students is at stake. We need help too.
4
"I’ve yet to meet a parent whose teenage child, especially if male, doesn’t sleep until 11 a.m. or later on weekends."
Unless something in society has changed dramatically in the past 15 years, you must not meet many parents. All of my high school friends and I were up by 8 a.m. on weekends, and without an alarm. Then again, we were the types watching Buffy slay the vampires - not the types hanging out with them.
4
The key to success in college is to take a nap every day.
I used to schedule my classes so that if possible I had no classes after lunch time. It was worth taking 8 o'clocks to have free afternoons.
Nap time, playing hearts, and playing ping pong were the keys to my academic success.
5
The article is missing any mention to Matthew Walker the researcher who is saying the most on "Why We Sleep" -Luigi
Sleep is for the dead. I have a limited amount of time on this planet. I prefer to sacrifice sleep.
5
Remember that sleep depravation is a classic technique for torturers.
Don't do that to yourself!
12
During the school year staying up past midnight to study was no stranger to me. But I do believe there are other ways to increase academic success, following a schedule has always been helpful to me. Being an athlete, staying at school from 8 in the morning to 6 o'clock at night has been normal since my freshman year. I have learned that fitting in studying or homework at any possible moment has been key to keeping a semi decent sleep schedule. When the author talks about how a single sleep disturbance can significantly lower your GPA("or each additional day of sleep disturbance a college student experienced each week, the likelihood of dropping a course rose by 10 percent and grade point average fell by 0.020") I was surprised. This is because of how many times I feel my sleep schedule is disturbed, from tests to a long away game for a basketball or baseball team. I am happy that I discovered this article before the school year starts and I will be sure to focus on sleep and keeping a normal schedule during the upcoming year.
1
I like the concept of college dorms that are organized by circadian rhythm. Put the morning people with the morning people and the night owls with the night owls.
11
Ms. Brody may be right, but something tells me that publicly nagging her grandsons is not going to achieve the desired result!
9
I'm disappointed the article avoids the actual issue: Kids take illegally purchased ADD meds to stay up. This has been going on for as long as I remember, but I think it's much more socially acceptable now. Kids are very open about it and think it's normal. They want to burn the candle on both ends - study, work, and party - and they don't want to walk around tired like zombies, so considering they are immature, the solution they land on is not to budget their time better, but to take drugs.
if you think your own kid won't do this, the vast majority of you are fooling yourselves. Please talk to your kids. Pill popping (and crushing and snorting them too) is common in high school as well. The pill popping segues into coke for upper class kids, which is also very popular in certain populations.
This must be discussed. To pretend the solution is telling your kid to sleep more, not drink coffee, and not watch the computer, is very very naive.
8
Many dorms, especially those for freshmen, are terribly overcrowded. Rooms that probably started out as adequate singles are now occupied by two or even three students. Even assuming that the roommates are compatible and courteous -- not a given -- it is very hard to study and even harder to sleep when rooms are so crowded.
No, college students don't need luxury accommodations. But they do need privacy and quiet conditions to thrive and succeed. Just because it's possible to cram one more bed into a room doesn't mean that it should be done!
23
Bedrooms are for sleeping. Use common areas for television watching and video games and the library for studying. The walking between each will do you good as well. Spending four years in a barracks and having only a Day Room to escape to shows it is quite possible to live compactly and austerely.
4
After high school where I had to wake up at 6AM to catch a 7AM bus to make it to class by 7:40 AM, college was a breeze. Most classes didn't start until 10 AM, and I could walk to them from the dorm. The few 9AM classes were mostly deserted and other students would always want to borrow my class notes.
The dorm was loud with partying students up late on Friday and Saturday nights, so I signed up to work on Friday nights and did my assignments during the day on Saturdays and Sundays. Saturday night I didn't try to fight it. By Sunday night the procrastinators were quietly cramming in their rooms and I could go to sleep early.
14
I'm not sure any of this is really news anymore. High school and college students have known for some time that their sleep habits have an impact on their performance - my instructors in both college and high school were quite vocal in encouraging their students to get more sleep, especially before exams. The problem is, telling someone they should get more sleep doesn't do any good if the circumstances causing them to end up sleep deprived and delirious don't change. I remember staying up until 2 or 3am regularly in high school because I had so much work to do (and extra curricular activities and community service) and was terrified of getting poor grades that would impact my ability to get into a good college. Teachers and academic advisers told me that my mental and physical health was more important than my grades, but everything my college applications asked for suggested otherwise.
Once I did successfully get into college, learning good time management skills saved me from a few all-nighters - but it took me years to figure that out, because I didn't have much guidance in developing those skills. Some of my peers had to work late into the night in order to pay down their student debt and their tuition bills. Again, we were told how important it was to get enough sleep, but my university didn't do much to facilitate that.
The problem isn't that students don't know they need more sleep. The problem is that they're part of a system that doesn't value their health.
63
"I’ve yet to meet a parent whose teenage child, especially if male, doesn’t sleep until 11 a.m. or later on weekends, throwing their circadian clock out of whack in a perpetual struggle to make up for a serious midweek sleep debt."
How about instead of blaming the kids, we blame the adults who insist on having school start way earlier than most teenagers' wake cycles? Kids are used to constant exhaustion because adults force them to be up at the crack of down, and going to bed early doesn't help because their bodies want to be awake. Most of what I remember about high school is utter and complete exhaustion.
25
Our circadian rhythm is regulated by a genetic pathway and is virtually impossible to change. If you are a night owl, you cannot change yourself to become a morning lark. Teenagers are programmed to be night owls, which is a problem in college and even more so in high school.
That said, there are cues the body uses to reset the clock: (blue) light is extremely important, food also plays a role. cutting out light at night (especially screens) and getting light in the morning can help. Cutting late night eating can help too.
12
It was never mentioned but sleep from my understanding is psychotherapeutic. At a minimum it helps us to sort things out. The wise phrase "Sleep on it" is fraught with depth and truth Jane has offered excellent advice for college students. It always struck me as odd that the two biggest, likely decisions of one's life occur in our twenties when we are least prepared. Who will we marry and how will we help support our family? I think those decisions and the one's we make daily in college are buttressed by excellent sleep habits. Thoughtful article, Jane.
4
Kids need to take dozens of AP classes, getting a 4.0, while excelling at a sport and doing some remarkable charity work, just to get in to a lot of these colleges. Is it any wonder they have learned that sleep is not a priority?
52
@dave: I appreciate the stress that many students put themselves through to gain access to highly-selective colleges/universities, but surely you recognize the hyperbole in your statement. Lots of high school students are accepted to fully-accredited, selective schools and go on to succeed even without a 4.0 or a complete suite of AP coursework. Dozens of AP classes? Come on, you know as well as I do that your assertion isn't even possible much less required.
1
Yeah, but social life and networking matter too. College is about learning but also forming connections, and you can't get that if all you do is study and sleep.
5
Many working-class undergrads spend 20 hours/week at low wage jobs in retail and food service. Their families are unable to cover college costs and these earnings are needed to cover living costs. On top of a full academic load, this part-time work creates a punishing schedule, and sleep suffers. Grades suffer, too. Students may even skip section meetings and review sessions to work more hours, and often miss out on learning opportunities in extracurricular activities. I have even heard of students working overnight hours and missing out on sleep on a regular basis. This is an invisible class divide at public universities. I wish financial aid were generous enough to allow all students to give college their full attention and get enough sleep.
28
@Robin Selinger Exactly: though schools can and should do more to encourage a healthy lifestyle, incl. "sleep hygiene," the most helpful step would be helping with costs and scheduling (that is, making classes available at times that work with students' other commitments).
After all, simply making the library open 24/7 doesn't *lead* to sleep deprivation; no one is fording students to pull all-nighters simply because this option is available, and, in fact, critical facilities like libraries should be open as many hours as possible to accommodate students. However, work, commuting, and so forth take much more of a toll.
I'll finish by adding that not only public, but private universities foster this sleep deprivation, as their tuition is higher, and they often offer less flexible scheduling. However, true to form, America is choosing to deny this economic reality and, instead, place the onus back on the individual. And, of course, critical services like libraries, tutoring, and counseling, which many of the most economically disadvantaged students need even more, are being reduced in the wake of budget cuts.
7
reminds me of a final exam at uni - I had stayed up late stoking my brain with spoonfuls of sugar - made it through the test - that was the end of our study year - so I went with friends to the local pub
I excused myself to go to the toilet - apparently I fell asleep on the seat, and conked out for over 3 hours - when I finally woke up and wandered out, my friends were 'I thought you'd gone home !'
6
I'm sending a link to my new college freshman. But let me point out (as I'm sure other posters have) that those sleep hygiene habits listed at the end really don't apply to dorm life. It would have been more helpful for the researcher to come up with ways for students to improve their sleep in the crazy, noisy, 24-hour atmosphere that is a college dorm.
40
As a small child I hated the “forced” afternoon nap, but rediscovered its restorative virtues in college. My classes always seemed to be in the early morning and I did pull the occasional “all nighter,” so going back to my (relatively quiet) dorm room in the afternoon and being able to doze for an hour or so was bliss.
When I told my mother about my newfound joy in napping she laughed (ironically?!) and talked about how desperately she had tried to grab a short afternoon nap while the four of us horsed around relentlessly. We didn’t know what we were missing!
12
Great advice. I worked construction from 4am until 3pm and then went to school until the evening and picked up a few hours at a warehouse afterwards. I graduated without debt but that’s pretty hard to do. If you support sleep and health, then here’s a solution: higher education or trade school for all. People should not have to work two jobs or go into debt to better themselves. I think higher education for everyone is practical and reasonable. Much more than the proposed Space Force. Trust me, I would’ve loved sleep, but sleep isn’t affordable for a lot of us.
65
@Joe Smith Your comment reminded me of an article I saw recently, about how various firms are capitalizing on our collective sleep deprivation by selling all kinds of goods and services. I couldn't find it just now, but a cursory search for "sleep as luxury" turned up at least three such articles, incl. from the NYT, along with a number of promotional links, of course.
These tips are all fine for students who don't need to work while in college. But for students living in poverty, without families support to buy food and pay rent and tuition, work and studying trump sleep. If a student is forced to choose between getting better sleep and paying rent this month, which do you think they will choose?
35
The writer faults colleges for providing 24 hour study areas tha "encourage all-nighters."
For now, those areas are vitally important. It's the student's choice to use them or not, and the colleges should make them as comfortable and study-conducive, stress-reducing as possible. They should be adjoined to lounge areas where students can take a break and calm themselves and relax, have a snack or commiserate with others struggling with academic challenges or burdens.
This is not to encourage stressful demands or poor time management or least of all (my sworn enemy!) a societal idolatrous obsession with meaningless GPAs and report-card-servitude (self-imposed or externally inflicted), far from it. These need to be addressed on their own. But as long as students are going to be up all night, schools should make the ordeal as bearable, as comfortable, as supportive as possible. The stress can be absolutely brutal. And that's an understatement; in many cases, it probably is enough to generate PTSD symptoms, and there's no question that the stress of those sessions is connected to drugs, suicide, and such criminal behaviors as sexual violence, esp. given the pressures from families, and those connected to achieving grades that appear to justify the financial investment. But I digress....
So-called "safe spaces" may be controversial, "safe study spaces" certainly shouldn't be, 24 hours a day.
13
@Andrew Agreed. I went to college a long, long time ago, but I had a very social roommate and it was impossible to accomplish anything in the dorm. Even if all I did in the library was put my head on the desk and sleep it was my refuge. The only problem was it had all those tempting magazines...
I attended an academically rigorous college. My sleep patterns were bad coming out of high school and just got worse. I averaged 4-6 hours of sleep per 24-hour period, and that would rarely be in one cohesive block at night. The root cause was academic stress -- lots of all-nighters in the library -- but it was also due to poor habits that normalized bizarre sleep patterns. (Binge-watch Netflix until 10pm when I have a problem set due at 8:30am? No problem! I can just stay up until 4am to finish then take a nap after class! Not like this isn't the fifth time this semester.) I graduated with an excellent GPA and no idea how to maintain a functional sleep schedule.
After graduation I joined the working world. For the first time I had an externally enforced schedule where I was expected to not only be somewhere early every morning, but to be awake and fully functional for the whole work day. I'd always thought I was just a "night owl" who couldn't maintain a normal sleep schedule. Nope, turns out I'm perfectly capable of doing so if being groggy during the day is unacceptable.
I particularly think back to engineering labs where I spent hours using heavy equipment in the machine shop on less than four hours of sleep. At the time it seemed normal. Now I realize I'm lucky I didn't seriously injure myself. I wish someone (a teacher? The shop supervisor?) had put their foot down years before and told me showing up to school half-asleep was unacceptable.
44
It amazes me how late parents let their teenage (and younger) kids stay up. Make them get their rest - for the sake of their mental health!!
28
@Mary, that's what kids need to do to get their high school homework done. That's the lifestyle these colleges reward, and the kids take it with them to school.
1
@Mary Hi Mary, TRY getting a teenager to bed early, it is impossible. we tried explaining the science, using a directive, unplugging the internet. nothing worked very well. I imagine he'll believe the sleep stuff when he hits his 20s..... 30s.
1
It’s hard to have sympathy for college students who are not working an outside job & their only job is to go to class, study, eat & sleep.
How tough can this be? I’ll save you the litany of how I walked to school, barefoot, in snow, both ways. But I attended school full-time & had at least three jobs at all time’s during that 7-year period.
Cry me a river. There’s enough time for them to sleep; they simply suffer from FOMO.
6
@Commenter. Most have outside jobs. Some have families.
13
@Commenter No one is asking for sympathy. This is an advice column. I wish I had followed it when I was in college!
24
“One in every three or four students nationally fails to graduate...”
Dr. Prichard may know a lot about sleep but he's way off when it comes to graduation rates. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, "About 60 percent of students who began seeking a bachelor’s degree at a 4-year institution in fall 2010 completed that degree within 6 years." The 3-year graduation rate drops to about 30% for community colleges.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ctr.asp
4
@Alex McCormick Dr. Prichard is a woman, and she was correct, as you just insisted on restating. If it takes 6 years, it is still a failure to graduate in 4.
1
You mention "bedroom" but we're mostly talking dorms that often have multiple individuals sleeping in them. No electronics and keep the "bedroom" quiet, dark and cool? Sounds nice, but again, but how does your dorm roll?
68
@JCal: Anecdotally, when my eldest was paired with a night owl, whose partying habits were causing strife, I counseled her that she could either continue complaining or find a solution. She quickly arranged for a new roommate, one who had a similar schedule and was also struggling with roommate issues. It made a huge difference for both of them. There are usually options.
3
@Allison That would work if the college is cooperative. Some deans say "work it out" and others tell the sleep deprived student that all the rooms are full.
Never stay up late to study. Go to bed at a decent time. Wake up at least two hours before everyone else.
21
In 2014 the National Survey of Student Engagement reported on the relationship between first-year students' sleep preferences and engagement in educationally purposeful activities. The results showed a clear advantage for "morning types," ie those who feel their best in the morning and prefer morning activities. Morning types also devoted more time to studying and (perhaps predictably) reported fewer hours "relaxing and socializing."
http://nsse.indiana.edu/NSSE_2014_Results/index.cfm
3
@Alex McCormick. In addition to being a morning type, you have to be a college type. If you can get As in a cakewalk, you can sleep. Way more students now go to college than are actually capable of college work.
12
As an undergrad engineering student at MIT, I had a fraught relationship with sleep.
On the good nights, I fell asleep at 4am and woke up at 9:30. ("Fell asleep" feels more apt than "went to bed," which implies a greater level of intentionality... and also because my desk, or a couch in a computer lab, was as likely to be involved as my bed.)
On the bad nights, I fell asleep at 6am.
And on the really bad nights (a few times per semester), I pulled an all-nighter.
I survived the experience, but I was a wreck for 4 (thankfully not 5 or 6) years.
This article, and particularly its tips on what and when to eat and drink, exercise, etc., skirts around the root cause of my bad sleep habits: poor time management skills -- something I entered college with, and am still working on improving nearly two decades later.
74
@Peter. Time management differs from actual learning. I went to MIT, Mech E, got my BS in four years, never pulled an all nighter although I once saw dawn on the Green building. I did sleep every night, but not 8 hours. However, I got a 3.8 out of 5.0 average and never felt that I had time to actually retain the information.
2
My daughter enters NYU as a freshman in 2 weeks; she found her own sleeping cadence as a high school freshman where she sleeps after coming home from school, eats dinner, and then works until the early hours. She always gets 10 hours of sleep in each 24 hours of a day (and even more at weekends).
Sleep makes a student happy!
15
I'm a performing artist that graduated from Juilliard this spring. I took audition after audition, vowing to work harder for the next one after I got cut, to no avail. It was only when I limited my amount of daily practice and maximized my sleep (9 hours/night!) that I won the audition for my current job. Anecdotal? I think not.
74
@Giovanni Bottesini
Interesting!
3
Those who would voluntarily attend a "freshman morning get-together with a healthy breakfast and conversation about issues that were causing student stress" don't quite seem like the students who would be struggling the most with sleep issues. After completing the whirlwind of freshman year, I realized one of the greatest reasons why I'd sometimes force myself to stay up was not necessarily due to incomplete work, but rather because I didn't want to miss out. Making friends is a stressful affair, especially when college accelerates the period of time it takes to gain a sense of closeness with someone. The nightmare scenario is going to bed early and realizing the next morning that there's been a monumental shift in the group dynamic and suddenly you're not in on any of the jokes. Sleep deprivation can also be a source of strange pride. It was not uncommon to hear students engaged in a sort of one-upping each other over how little sleep they had managed to get the night before.
93
@Caitlin Chan
"The nightmare scenario is going to bed early and realizing the next morning that there's been a monumental shift in the group dynamic and suddenly you're not in on any of the jokes."
Maybe the nightmare of privilege?
11
Yes, not everyone is struggling to survive in a war zone or avoiding being shot by a stray bullet. People have different concerns, and, to an American middle-class first-year in college, this is one of the “nightmare scenarios,” right next to flunking an exam and affording meals.
10
I would say 4 of those bullet rules are not doable, and I wonder if Jane Brody has every actually lived in a dorm?
There is no "other room" for your electronics. You can't really create a "relaxing space" when your "space" is relegated to an extra long twin bed that serves for seating, sleeping, and god knows what else. Quiet and cool? Has that described anyone's dorm room ever? And for all that, you're usually also at the mercy of a strange roommate.
155
@Tatum Many schools have suites where students each get a tiny bedroom with a door and share a common area. I did. And I had a single room for two full years. So that’s three out of four years without a roommate. Unfortunately my sleep habits were still terrible!
3
@Tatum I completely agree. As a college student myself, only a few of the points spoke to me at all. The one pertaining to the "bedroom" clearly shows the author and the AASM have no inkling of what a college dorm room is actually like.
15
@Tatum
I know college has changed a lot since I was there, but I would still add one is not only at the mercy of a strange roommate, who may have a much different class and sleep schedule, but also of all the other students on one's end of the dorm. Not to mention how much a resident adviser type cares to maintain order.
15
Get rid of the social media presence and habits that rob college students... and everyone using social media... of valuable hours of the day. Ditching social media will DEFINITELY open up time for studying, for exercise, for relaxation and for that wonderful, beneficial sleep.
31
My two young adult children now thank me for being a "sleep nazi" and forcing them to go to bed at a reasonable hour throughout high school. They hated me at the time and claimed that NO ONE went to bed at 9:00 or 10:00...but they had to rise at 6:30 to get to school. They continued to value sleep in college and today, and are very successful.
12
I learned that there are three important activities in college.
1) Sleep 2) Studying 3) Partying
You can only do two of them at time efficiently.
15
@Iconoclast Texan
"Partying" is not an important activity in college. It's not. It's gross that there are pressures to see "partying" -- implying drugs and alcohol and big groups -- as normal.
Socializing, on the other hand, is very important.
3
The elephant in the room is buried in the conclusion: students need to turn off their phones.
The human brain evolved on a simple edit: Light = wake up. The constant interruptions of texts, vids, etc. makes deep sleep impossible, and everyone suffers for it. Sleepy drivers kill more than drunks.
Kill your phones, and live life.
44
@R Mandl
For college dorms, put the phone in your desk drawer at night. You will still hear the AM alarm but not be disturbed by light and smaller beeps.
9
@R Mandl My kids use their phones too much. But when they are asleep, nothing wakes them.
2
This reaffirmned my motto "It is better to be well rested than well prepared". Sleep always trumped all nighters.
29
"...rigorous demands of college courses and competing social and athletic activities kick in."
I worked two part time jobs (sometimes more) while a full time student for 5 years, including summer semesters. I managed to squeeze in a tiny amount of time for social activities.
I also didn't rack up any volunteer or creative activities (drama, etc) in high school for the same reason.
I collapsed at the end of every day as rest was essential.
Competing social life and athletics?
Happy for those who have that choice.
14
I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my life, so consequently I did not go to University until I was 29. I did notice a new difference between being an older student and a young one. First you have to go to class, too many young ones skip classes because most universities don't care if you pass or not and don't take attendance. However you learn much by taking notes, most professors will emphasize what they think is important so later on you will actually know what to study. Second, look at the syllabus and manage your time, if a test is coming up don't leave studying for the last minute. Plus the library is a good place for a power nap. While I did occasionally have to pull late night's writing essays, I never had problem with tests.
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Not a research (on humans, controlled, etc.) based study. Someone who studies rats and teaches interviewed students and generalized. You can believe it if you want, but this isn't conclusive evidence. Further, how many successful students crammed, slept little at times, were stressed? A lot, according to my anecdotes.
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@Brian Anecdotes are not controlled studies either!
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Here's another suggestion for college students trying settle down before bedtime, try mindfulness meditation. Colleges should offer free help learning how to meditate although there is plenty of online information.
Fifty years after graduating from college and having started meditating, I wish that useful information about meditation practice was available. I'm sure my grades and my mind would have been much improved.
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I was a happy and successful freshman in high school until one afternoon when I arrived home from baseball practice. My mom and dad asked me to sit down at the kitchen table for a chat. They got to the point and told me I was going to Boarding School. Case closed!
The following September they helped me settle into my new environment and off they went. I had an ok sophomore year with mediocre grades, but I had to fight the sleep demons every day. I simply couldn’t stay awake after dinner! I often envied my roommate as he burned the midnight oil. At the end of my junior year I was asked to leave for poor academic performance. I was a failure!
Exactly the same thing happened in college with the same results. I simply couldn’t stay awake in an evening academic environment. The sleep demons were at if again. Meanwhile my hometown peers generally did very in college and later in life.
When I was 22 years old I had some very good fortune. I was hired by a high quality financial institution and went on to have a successful career spanning 40 years. I retired as a Senior Vice President and Managing Director.
I write this to emphasize that sleep disorders can and do cut both ways with significant social and economic costs.
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I never understood the all-nighter thing. I was never able to study effectively after 8 pm. When I had big exams, I would rather set the clock early, like 4 am and study hard until lunchtime.
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@Dev, Different strokes for different folks. The only things I ever really got done in all my years of work before 10am were those that I had plotted out the day before. I valued the time after 5pm to do my best writing or complicated planning. But I have lived and worked with people who clearly were on the same daily rhythm as you.
And to Jane, my late night studying in the 24/7 library 50 years ago actually seemed to pay off. It also let my non night owl roommates sleep then.
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"After 20 hours awake, you perform as if legally drunk."
And yet hospitals continue to endanger patients by entrusting their care to residents who've been on duty for up to 30 hours.
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@Terry I had the same thought! NY made some reforms after one tragedy but later relaxed the new rules.
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@Terry-
And parents wake their pediatricians at 3am for concerns about a teen with a several week long cough, because that’s when they’re thinking about it. Sleep deprivation in physicians has many causes.
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@Terry
Coupled with not letting patients sleep.
Matthew Walker's book "Why We Sleep" could transform society and he has the data to prove it.
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Can you suggest the proper kind of armor a parent should wear when they attempt to get their teenage son up at 8am on Saturday or Sunday?
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@Stu Pidasso may I ask when this normally manifests? I have a 15.5 year-old who rarely sleeps past 7:30am and is usually awake by 6am every day. Just wondering if by "teenage" you mean 17 and 18 or so?
Obviously, this article is aimed for the privileged class of babied teenagers whose parents are paying for them to spend all day worrying about whether their 70k+ tuition is better spent towards academics or athletics. What a difficult choice when you have all these extracurricular commitments.
Good luck getting enough sleep when you are a night school student who has to work full time. I can either work all day, commute, get my chores done, and sleep, or I can work, get my chores done, and stay up until 2am watching lectures and writing papers and hoping I can keep it together enough to wake up for work so I can keep paying my tuition. So to all those 24-hour libraries out there, keep it up because you're my lifeline.
Sorry, but I have no pity or sympathy for an adult who has *all day* to plan out their lives and get enough sleep. If they want to let their rhythms get out of whack, I say let them fail.
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Claire-
I'm sorry you have had it rough and are angry about that. I worked full-time in a difficult field while also attending grad school at night. It was a difficult program but I had a great time with both work and school. Sure my rhythms got out of whack but I figured it out and so do millions of others who do/did the same thing I did. Your current attitude will sink you if you let it.
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@Claire I understand. I commuted 1.5 hours each way to college in NYC because an apartment was too expensive. I took 21 credits each semester so I could be sure to finish in 4 years. And I also worked 20-30 hours a week. I lived in NJ where retail stores are closed on Sunday so I had one day off. I was also bitter about that through school.
But you know what? When I got a job immediately after graduation and all the other new hires were overwhelmed by this high-pressure work world, I was relaxed and entirely enjoying the amazing world of a 50-hour work week and a whole weekend off! Your hard work now will pay off for you later.
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And a wake-up call to colleges to try to avoid scheduling 8 am classes. Most freshman are still teenagers, with typical biological sleep patterns that keep them up late at night.
I do understand that college athletics put pressures on the class day. You don't want to end classes too late in the day, as it interferes with afternoon practice. And if you start classes later in the morning, this might allow just enough time for coaches to think it wise to schedule early morning practices. But I think that it is important to work with coaches and academic departments to come up with class schedules that work for all students.
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@HN
I disagree. I loved morning classes in college because it made me plan better. No late minute morning prep. I got things done the night before and went to bed!
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@HN This seriously misunderstands the problem. Our circadian rhythms are triggered by the onset of light. When you stay up late and get up well past daybreak you are out of sync with your circadian rhythm. The problem is not getting up to early, it is going to bed too late.
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@HN I know quite a few non-traditionall students who love 8 AM classes ot at least are grateful for them: they can go to such a class one - two mornings/ week, then go to work, have school out of the way, and go on with their day.
For the same reason (fitting into an exiting schedule), evening classes work for other students. They're often not popular , however, with those who have evening commitments like club meetings.
As for not scheduling classes in the afternoon because of potential conflicts with practices: that's a question of priorities, which many institutions of higher learning seem to be losing sight of.
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Here is another news flash Ms. Brody: instructors and professors also do better when they get enough sleep, which is often not the case and perhaps surprisingly often for the same reasons students do not sleep well: stress and anxiety, especially brought on by the need to placate ever-demanding students and administrators catering to ever-demanding students at the expense of faculty.
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Now some of those B-'s are understood. For 2 years, I worked from 10 PM to 6 AM on a tug boat in New York Harbor; then went full time to a College on Long Island. Of course, that doesn't explain the other 2 years.
Also, I once did an all nighter before a Chem exam, which consisted of 50 true/false - multiple choice questions on formulae. i got the first 25 right and the rest wrong. My Prof. gave me a re=test.
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It's statistically almost impossible to get 25 consecutive multiple choice questions wrong with random answers, so that was quite an achievement! Regardless, it's a valuable lesson.
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@Pajama Sam
Thank you. A correction: Those last 25 were either answered wrong or left blank.
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@Brian: That was a generous professor!
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People are differently wired and some people do need the sleep and some people can get by without sleep. I am a night owl and staying up several nights in a row was easy when I was younger and I not only did well in college but the work I was doing staying up late was computing science and mathematics (a lot of programming - good programmers who can function well without sleep exist). Even now at the age of 46, I can pull a single all nighter and it's most easily done when there's a focussed task at hand (like a grant application or a paper, etc.).
But several of my mentees/students can't do this - they need their 8 hours and some need more and some can get by with less but they need a fixed amount each day. I myself need to catch up. I can stay up 36 hours, but then I need to sleep 12 hours to feel refreshed. I can sleep up to 18 hours at a time (if I've been up two nights for example). So that's how I'm wired.
I know of a few people who can function well for years without much sleep (<=4 hours day). I'm not one of those people - my average probably is in the 6-8 hour range but it's not evenly distributed like with most people.
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@RamS The activity also matters. I can play poker or video games effectively for long periods. The body releases hormones or something that keep you going. But not when I am studying.
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Thanks.
Advice more specific to college freshmen:
- Don't sign up for an 8 am class.
- Experiment to find the best earplugs. When you find the best type for you, buy several dozen pairs all at once.
- Consider an eye mask so your roommate turning on the light doesn't wake you.
- If you get an opportunity for a dorm room single without a roommate, take it.
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@Steve Sailer
"Don't sign up for an 8 am class"
Why do you think so many lower-level classes start at 8 am? College students are theoretically in college to transition to the professional world. I don't see how always taking late classes helps.
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@Steve Sailer: My kids are weird. They prefer early morning classes and schedule them deliberately, but then neither of them are night owls. Sleep deprivation was much more of an issue in high school, when first bell rang at 7:10 and the school bus picked up at 6:15, meaning that for much of the year, they were awake well before dawn. An 8:00 class is a much-appreciated luxury.
Regardless, when I shared this article with them, they both said that sleep can be difficult to come by for college students who are hard-wired to stay up late, and roommates with mismatched sleep schedules are a recipe for disaster. They agree that a private dorm room and a pair of sound-canceling headphones or well-fitted earplugs are a godsend.
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@Scott Cole
While it may be true that early classes could help young people transition to the workforce, falling asleep in a class doesn't help anyone.
I graduated from undergrad this year and can still remember how stressed I was about falling behind in my 8 am because of how often I would fall asleep!
The worst part about 8 ams is the fact that almost without exception they are classes for freshmen.
Priority registration by seniority allows older students (closer to joining the workforce) to start their day at 11 am or even at noon, while the students who are still acclimating to college classes have to figure out how not to fall asleep in their lectures.
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