Students fight sleep deprivation during finals

As a friend passes by, the girl nods her head. Her nod is not a courteous hello, but rather the realization that if she is to get through the night and into the early morning, another cup of coffee is needed and fast.

The line at the local 7-Eleven is long for 3 a.m. on a Tuesday. She spots a few friends whom she normally would have greeted with a huge smile. Instead, the right side of her mouth slightly curves upward, and she greets her friends with a mumbled hello-goodbye blending. The students stand in line, staring forward like zombies with their Mountain Dew, Red Bull, coffee and any other type of pick-me-up drink.

This time of year has always been particularly good for the local 7-Eleven. It’s exam time. The procrastinators and the perfectionists join together for the all-night study party. It’s BYOC – Bring Your Own Caffeine, and the attire is casual.

Many students find themselves trading in the local pub for the local library during exam week. The library accommodates students who find the need to catch up on their studying by offering 24-hour access. Some students feel that it’s worth cramming all day and night for a week if it means they will score well on their tests.

“Midterms and finals are a huge chunk of your grade,” Bryan St. Eve, a sophomore business major, said, “so it’s totally worth studying late.”

Exams are one of the most stressful times in a college student’s career, but they may not have to be. A little knowledge and preparation is all it takes to turn down an invitation to the all-night party held at the nearest library.

A student shouldn’t feel guilty turning down the all-nighter, either. Research has shown that the body and brain function more efficiently if given the proper amount of rest.

Students need sleep

Many students believe that staying up all night to study for an exam won’t be harmful come test time. Some students go so far as to say that it is better to stay up all night than to get a few hours of sleep and wake up groggy.

SMU’s counseling psychologist Lisa Wechsler disagrees.

“If you don’t get enough rest your concentration and motor skills become impaired. You are slower and not as coordinated,” said Wechsler.

She understands that some students are fooled into feeling exhilarated around test time because the adrenaline kicks in, but they are going to crash eventually. It’s like coming down from a sugar high. Wechsler said that more often than not, the student will crash in the middle of the exam.

Wechsler advises students to set up a regular sleeping pattern for maximum efficiency in their schoolwork.

A study conducted at Stanford University showed that with adequate sleep, students perform much better on tests and their grade point averages rise as a result.

“I don’t perform as well without sleep,” sophomore Spanish major Ashley Huddleston said. “I require at least nine to 10 hours of sleep a night, and if I lose an hour I feel like a zombie the next day.”

Huddleston said she never stays up all night studying.

“There is only so far you can go,” sophomore communications major Lindsay Davis said. “Once you’ve hit the ‘wall’ there is no getting past.”

Sleep debt

Every person has his or her own specific daily sleep requirement. According to a Gallup Poll survey, the sleep requirement for the average college student is well over eight hours. Of course there are the exceptions. Some students function normally on six hours of sleep, and then there are those who need 10 to 12 hours of sleep to feel alert.

“I think it’s personal on how many hours a student should get a night,” Wechsler said. “I don’t think people should get locked in on that magical number eight. They should really take into account their personal history and what has worked well for them in the past.”

Whatever the number may be, if a person does not get enough sleep, a sleep debt is created. All lost sleep accumulates. The longer a person goes without getting enough sleep, then the bigger the sleep debt. Sleep debt doesn’t just go away either. The only way to reduce an individuals sleep debt is by obtaining extra sleep over and above the daily requirement.

Stanford University Center of Excellence for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Disorders said that everyone has a brain mechanism that regulates the daily amount of sleep. The mechanism is called a homeostat. The homeostat works by increasing the tendency to fall asleep in direct proportion to the increasing size of the sleep debt. A person therefore feels tired when they haven’t received enough sleep.

The homeostatic process ensures that most people will get the amount of sleep they need.

It’s difficult for a busy person to make up eight hours of sleep.

“The effects last for several days,” Wechsler said. “It’s not something that anyone can just bounce back from the next day.”

“I depend on caffeine,” sophomore communications major Laura Miller said. “In order for me to wake up every morning, I have a cup of coffee and around lunch time I need a Dr. Pepper.”

Miller admits to being a complex blend of procrastination and perfectionism. She often finds herself spending late hours in the library.

“Even though I put things off, I still want it to be perfect. I don’t ever turn anything in if it wasn’t what I considered finished,” Miller said.

Wechsler advises against using caffeine to stay awake.

“Using caffeine can become a vicious cycle because you are using it to wake up, but then it is prohibiting you from falling asleep when you really need to,” Wechsler said.

Health effects

Listen to a room full of students taking an exam. The room is filled with coughing. It’s not a coincidence. Exams naturally mean less sleep. Less sleep means lower immune systems. A low immune system on a college campus begs for contraction of a virus.

“[A lack of sleep] will affect your immune system. You’re disrupting sleep, and it is going to catch up with you in the form of colds and illnesses,” Wechsler said.

Sophomore business major Kristen Hatcher admits to attending the late-night study party on occasion. However, she said she tries to avoid it all costs.

“If I stay up all night studying there is no doubt that I will be sick by the end of the week,” Hatcher said.