Sleep and College Students

Modified: 2023-10-17 (8:25 PM)

Gibson and Bartos (2018) reported (emphasis added): The spring 2017 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) surveyed 63,497 undergraduate and graduate students across the nation about sleep and sleep-related practices and behaviors (American College Health Association [ACHA], 2017). Of those that were surveyed,

• 19.7% reported that sleep impacted their individual academic performance.
• When asked to answer how often they felt tired, dragged out, or tired during the day over the past week,
  • 8.6% responded “0 days,”
  • 30.7 percent responded “1–2 days,”
  • 44.2% responded “3–5 days,”
  • 16.5% responded “6+ days.”
• More than half of respondents felt that sleepiness during daytime activities was “a little problem” or “more than a little problem .”
• Where to you fit?

Why do humans sleep?

• Not all animals sleep but mammals do.
• One theory about sleep is that it keeps us safe at night
  • For humans, nighttime is more dangerous
• Only recently has the world been able to light up the night
  • NASA world at night
• Circadian Rhythms
  • Circadian Cycle in Teens (from NIGMS)
  • Jet Lag
  • Hormones

Sleep Questionnaires (Gupta & Collins, 2020)

• They concluded (emphasis added):
  • Students not meeting public health recommendations for sleep quality and quantity were found to have a significantly lower grade point average and individuals with sleep disturbances and short sleep duration have a significantly higher incidence of obesity.
• WebMD Sleep Habits Assessment
  • Let's look at good and bad sleep habits
• Good Sleep Hygiene
  • Turn off electronics (except for wake alarm)
  • Make room dark
  • Make room cooler
  • Don't use nicotine or caffeine before sleep
  • Wake up at same time daily
  • Make up your own go to sleep routine, you could:
    • read
    • shower
    • meditate
    • whatever, but make one up and stick to it.
  • Have I harped on sleep hygeine enough??

Gibson and Bartos (2018) recommend that colleges:

• Promote sleep hygiene practices across the campus community. Sleep hygiene practices include habits and behaviors to help ensure good sleep quality and daytime alertness (National Sleep Foundation [NSF], 2018).
• Provide on-campus education about sleep health and the importance of sleep duration, sleep continuity or efficiency, timing of sleep, alertness/sleepiness, and satisfaction/quality of sleep (Buysse, 2014).
• Train faculty and staff on healthy sleep hygiene behaviors and how to have discussions with students about making sleep a priority.
• Develop policies and class schedules that promote and encourage healthy sleep practices (Hershner & Chervin, 2014).
• Conduct an environmental scan to identify characteristics in campus living areas that promote or hinder good sleep. Environments that are conducive to good sleep include: ability to dim lighting in residence halls, temperature reduction at night to allow for optimal sleep, use of LED lights for lighting uniformity and energy efficiency (Broek, Cunningham, Kelly, Kielblock, & Prichard, 2014).
• Promote sleep around campus by including designated resting or napping areas, matching roommates with similar circadian rhythms, and regulating accessibility of campus services such as the library, athletic centers and dining halls (Broek et al., 2014).
• Offer specific “wind down” or “wake up” programming on campus (Broek et al., 2014).
• Assess availability of healthy sleep aids versus availability of pharmacologic sleep aids and/or caffeine (Broek et al., 2014).Consider suggesting faculty limit assignment deadlines to 10:00 p.m. or earlier.
• Sleep Pods on Campus
  • Check these out! ZZZZZZZZ

Napping

• Mayo Clinic recommends you nap when:
  • Take a nap when you are suddenly fatigued or have unexpected sleepiness
  • Before you have a long work shift
  • When you nap routinely (e.g., a siesta)
    • Early afternoon is best time
    • Don't nap after 3 pm
  • Try to pick a comfortable (and safe) place to nap
• Mayo Clinic says avoid naps:
  • That are too long
  • Watch out for sleep inertia upon waking
    • In other words, wake up fully before attempting any vital activity
  • That may cause problems with your nightly sleep
• 2020 US Army Manual (FM-722), Holistic Health and Fitness Manual suggests that personnel:
  • 11.1. There are three basic interrelated principles of sleep health: sleep duration, sleep timing, and sleep
    continuity. Of these, sleep duration is paramount because the health and functioning of the brain is primarily
    a direct function of the amount of sleep obtained—the more sleep obtained the better. Sleep timing is critical
    because the brain’s internal clock strongly influences the ability to initiate and maintain sleep as well as
    maximize the amount of sleep obtained. The extent to which sleep is undisturbed by arousals and
    awakenings—sleep continuity—is important because this influences both the duration and the depth of sleep,
    with deeper sleep being more restorative. Ultimately, the promotion of sleep health in the operational
    environment entails optimizing each Soldier’s sleep duration, timing, and continuity to the greatest extent
    possible, given existing mission constraints.
  • 11-14. Insufficient sleep negatively affects not only cognitive performance, but emotional and social
    functioning. Adequate sleep promotes an optimistic outlook and social acuity, but failure to obtain adequate
    sleep on a regular basis (for example, being chronically sleep restricted) makes a person less resilient to stress
    and stress-related disorders including posttraumatic stress and depression.
  • 11-15. If the brain is starved of sleep for long enough, it will eventually fall asleep. Although severe
    sleepiness can be staved off momentarily by increasing environmental stimulation (for example, increasing
    the volume on the radio, opening a car window, getting up and walking around), no amount of effort or
    willpower will maintain wakefulness for long. Humans cannot resist the need for sleep any more than the
    need for air. In much the same way that it is impossible to hold one’s breath until consciousness is lost, it is
    likewise impossible for the sleep-starved individual to resist sleep onset. At some point, the sleepy brain will
    slip into sleep, regardless of any and all efforts to avoid it. Sleep onset under such conditions is not a voluntary
    act. Therefore, severe sleepiness is dangerous not only to the sleepy individuals, but also to people around
    them. Severe sleepiness proves more dangerous when individuals engage in monotonous activities such as
    driving, pulling security, or monitoring equipment or computer screens.
  • “Soldiers can use short, infrequent naps to restore wakefulness and promote performance."

Driving While Sleepy

• Don't do it.
• Video
• CDC on Driving While Sleepy
  • Signs:
    • Yawning or Blinking
    • Losing track of where you are going
    • Missing an exit
    • Wandering over the road
    • Hearing the rumble strip

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