sleep deprivation

Sleep Deprivation in College Students Is Serious. You Can Help.

If you’re one of the many parents about to pack their kids off to college, you might be harboring a few concerns. Having done it several times, I can relate to one of these concerns in particular: “Is my kid going to get enough sleep?” It’s a legitimate one:  More than 50% of university students suffer from sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness. Here are some eye-opening statistics from the article, "Sleeping in College: The Impossible Dream?" by Carolyn Burke for Sleep Advisor: Studies show sleep loss can hurt academic performance just as much as binge-drinking or drug use. A study from the University of Arizona found that nearly 25% of student-athletes reported excessive fatigue. Nearly one-third of female students at Brown University suffered from insomnia. University of Georgia students say sleep loss hurts their academic performance, causing lower grades, missing classwork or skipped classes. According to Sleep Health Journal, first-year students are more likely to suffer bad grades due to poor sleep and are 14% more likely to drop a class for every day of missed sleep compared to other undergraduate students. Sleep debt can cause memory problems, mood regulation issues and poor decision-making, according to the University of [...]

By |2023-12-09T15:19:15-05:00August 11, 2022|

How Long Can You Live Without Sleep?

How long can you live without water? About a week. How long can you live without food? About 40–70 days. How long can you live without sleep? About 11 days—and even then, researchers say during that long a period, you would probably nod off without even knowing it, getting a moment here and there of microsleep. How do we know 11 days is the maximum humans can be sleep deprived and survive? In 1965, Randy Gardner was a high school student in San Diego figuring out what to do for a science fair. He decided to set a world record for going without sleep. He did – and lived to tell the tale. Water. Food. Sleep. This is the triad of what is needed for physical survival. The Better Sleep Council, the group that established Better Sleep Month in 1985, recommends five ways to focus on sleep this month and get a better night’s rest: Avoid eating too much or drinking alcohol before bed. If you eat too much, an active digestion system sabotages sleep. And while wine or a cocktail can seemingly help you fall asleep, sleep experts say it  may rob you of the deep quality sleep [...]

By |2023-12-09T15:08:54-05:00May 3, 2018|
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