College vs Sleep by Mary

College vs Sleep by Mary - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

We all have heard the phrase “the early bird catches the worm”, but what if the early bird is too early each morning? Early mornings and late nights fueled by that last minuet attempt to cram before big exams are almost a rite of passage when a student enters college. There is a culture in college that encourages students to forgo sleep in order to finish assignments or study for tests. Twenty-four seven libraries, coffee carts, food venders and even tutoring enable students to burn the candle at both ends in order to fill our days with Netflix binges, naps, and the occasional serious college activity, like class. Students have a cliché, invincible attitude that they are young and sleeping three hours a night is not negatively affecting their health or academic performance. Sadly, I am one of those students. You know the ones who you see sleeping in the library, wearing the clothes from the night before, and surrounded by a million coffee cups. As a senior in college you would think I would have the whole “sleep is more important than cramming” thing figured out, but shockingly staying up for forty-eight hours straight to finish assignments has not taught me anything. Therefore, I am going to conduct my own research by making my New Year’s resolution to try and get one more hour of sleep per night.
Before beginning my own clinical trial, I decided to do a little research to see just how important it is to REALLY get a good night sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, a full night sleep for adults is seven to eight hours of sleep a night. With that mind-blowing statistic, just how many adults in the United States actually get a full night sleep? The answer: Only about fifteen percent of the population ages nineteen to sixty-four sleeps less than seven hours per night. Therefore, seventy-five percent of the population that age range is getting what is considered a full night sleep according to the National Sleep Foundation (2011). I am not sure how it is humanly possible to get seven or eight hours of sleep per night, or how so much of the population is able to achieve the seemingly impossible. However, there are numerous studies that show the importance of sleep on academic performance and overall health. For example, some higher level cognition functions and processing capabilities are hindered by sleep deprivation (Killgore, 2010). Killgore’s study is just one of many that demonstrate that if a student is trying to learn quantum physics, getting a good night sleep is more important than staying up tell sunrise cramming. Although, a goodnight sleep is not going to help anyone a great deal when trying to learn quantum physics.
In conclusion, it is undeniable that the invincible attitude of college students in regards to sleep could be negatively affecting their academics and health. In an attempt to improve my own health and perhaps grades and stress level, I have decided to cast away the college culture of pulling all nighters and am making sleep more of a priority. Hopefully by increasing my amount of sleep per night by even one hour will make my brain a bit happier and help all of those anatomy terms fit in there. Research has shown that getting a full night sleep is important for your brain and health; thus, I better start listening to the expert, as should the rest of my fellow college students. Perhaps it is time that we change that old saying to something more modern, like “the well-rested bird gets the worm.”

Annual Sleep in America Poll Exploring Connections with Communications Technology Use and Sleep. (2011, March 7). Retrieved January 11, 2016, from https://sleepfoundation.org/media-center/press-release/annual-sleep-america-poll-exploring-connections-communications-technology-use
Killgore, W.D. (2010). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. Progress in Brain Research. 185: 105-129
Morgenthaler, T. (2013). Adult health. Retrieved January 11, 2016, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/faq-20057898