A growing percentage of college students do not sleep enough because of many reasons. Some students are taking too many credits and participating in different extracurricular activities. Other students have to work for hours to pay for their school. Although college students can shorten their sleep time and save the time for other activities, they are supposed to realise that they should not do it. A recent published scientific article, Partial sleep deprivation activates the DNA damage response (DDR) and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in aged adult humans, has shown that insufficient sleep is linked to cell damage which may contribute to an increased risk of chronic disease. Another study, The influence of sleep deprivation and obesity on DNA damage in female Zucker rats, has indicated that prolonged and regular sleep deprivation can kill up to 25% of certain brain cells on those mice in the experiment. Sleep deprivation is associated with genetic damage in brain cells in some levels to human beings. Since the damaged brain cells require a long time to heal, college students are supposed to get enough sleep on a regular basis to ensure their brains can have a good rest.
What causes lack of sleep?
Some people do not realise the importance of adequate sleep, so they choose to stay up late to socialise or watch television shows. For individuals who are busy with work, frequent travelling tends to disrupt their regular sleep circles. Moreover, health problems such as snoring, sleep apnoea can disturb people’s sleep many times during the night. People who have these problems always wake up without feeling rested or refreshed. The sleeping environment is another factor that has the effect on sleep. People usually are not able to sleep well if their bedrooms are too hot or too cold or they have noisy neighbours. Some life habits can also be disruptive. For example, drinking coffee or listening to electronic music close to bedtime make people sleep less likely.
![By Mikael Häggström. When using this image in external works, it may be cited as follows: Häggström, Mikael. "Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014". Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. (All used images are in public domain.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effects_of_sleep_deprivation.svg)
Effects of Sleep Deprivation. Häggström, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014”. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. (All used images are in public domain.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons. Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effectes_of_sleep_deprivation.svg
Consequences of insufficient sleep
Poorer health condition is the price of inadequate sleep. Researcher have indicated that obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and frequent mental distress are associated with sleep loss. Also, lack of sleep impairs people’s performance. People who need eight hours sleep per night only get six, they have the poorer concentration on their daily work comparing to their peers. For students who give up sleep and study for the whole night, they are less likely to get better grades because sleep loss slows their reaction time and makes them have poorer memory.
Sleep tips
Research shows that students who sleep more get better grades. I have some advice for college students and adults who suffer sleep loss. You may drink warm water or milk before you go to bed. Warm milk helps people fall asleep and sleep better. You can also remove distractions in the bedrooms such as game players or computers, and shut down all digital devices while sleeping. Last, try not to consume too much alcohol or caffeinated beverages hours before bedtime.
Please watch the video below and check how sleep deprived you are.
Video credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvfMOPTsU_0
Xi Chen
