Give Your Body a Treat, and Get Some Sleep!

By Kahleel Bragg

Staff Writer

Have you ever been in class and started slowly dozing off in the middle of a lesson? If so, then you were probably suffering from sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a condition of not having enough sleep. Online articles have shown that not sleeping enough can affect a student’s performance in the classroom. Therefore, all students should be getting the necessary hours of sleep every night, and should view sleep as a very important priority.

Sophomore Arianna Rodriguez believes sleep is very essential to college students. “Yes, sleep is very important to me,” said Rodriguez. “However, I don’t get enough of it because I usually stay up late doing homework, and I have to wake up early for my commute to school from Queens.”

An online article by Loreal Lynch, titled “Student Sleep,” published on Nov. 10, 2011, states that a lack of sleep has a negative effect on college students in a number of ways. Lynch writes that sleep deprivation leads students to have poor judgment, memory, moods, and grades. According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, students who were limited to about 4.5 hours of sleep a night were more stressed, sad, angry, and physically and mentally exhausted. In her article, Lynch also shows that students who stay up late have a cumulative GPA average of 2.65, while students who go to sleep earlier have a GPA average of 3.05.

Richard Renelique, a sophomore Broadcasting major, knows he needs good amounts of sleep in order to perform well in the classroom. “I can’t function well without sleep. I try to get at least 8 hours, but it’s kind of difficult to do that in a dorm like Riggs Hall because of the non-stop partying and loud music.”

The proper amount of sleep to get is anywhere from seven to nine hours for a student, according to Time magazine author Laura Blue. In college, there are many distractions that prevent young adults from getting sleep; some students who dorm hang out with their friends too late, some watch all of their favorite TV shows, others have jobs, and some participate in sports teams at school, and the while trying to juggle all of those activities in one night. It is extremely essential to give the body the amount of rest it deserves. Sooner or later, a lack of sleep will catch up with you.

Robert Gramstad, a senior English Literature major, believes enough sleep is mandatory for every student. “When I first started college, I was able to deal with five hours of sleep and just catch up by napping on weekends. But now, I have three jobs and I’m taking 21 credits, so I try to get at least seven hours of sleep a night in order to maintain energy throughout the day.”

I believe at least seven hours of sleep a night is necessary for all students. During my sophomore year, I used to get three to four hours of sleep a night, so I’ve been down that sleepless road before. Not only did it have an effect on my moods, but also it had a terrible effect on my grades. I tried to do a lot of things last year, during my first year in college, and sleep was not one of them. Now I know the importance of a good night’s sleep, and not only are my grades better, but I’m smiling a lot more too.

This article is not meant in any way, shape or form to substitute professional medical advice.