Sleep Deprivation Amongst College Students

Many college students are affected by sleep deprivation. Our youth have yet come to realize how much sleep plays a valuable role in one’s day. Some causes of sleep deprivation ranges from stress to poor time management. Scientifically speaking, “sleep deprivation exists when sleep is insufficient to support adequate alertness, performance, and health, either because of reduced total sleep time or fragmentation of sleep by brief arousals.” (Pressman) Most college students are unaware that lack of sleep cause many of their illnesses. College students that are sleep deprived usually suffer from a range of psychiatric symptoms. I surveyed 8 people at Alabama State University and out of those 8, 6 of the participants were sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation can be extremely harmful to college students and has loads of negative effects.

It is said that on average a college student should get at least 8 hours of sleep. In today’s society an average college student gets only about 6 hours of sleep at night. This is mainly because students are up late studying, there is too much noise in the dorm halls, something is troubling one’s mind, etc. “Stress about school and life keeps 68 percent of college students awake at night- 20 percent of them at least once a week.”(Lund) Majority of college students have an irregular sleep pattern during the week. Because of this many of the students try to make up missed time sleeping longer hours during the weekend. By doing this, the students’ mess up their “internal body clock”. “This erratic pattern can take a toll on students’ well-being, especially when coffee and high caffeine energy drinks are added to the mix.” (Witman, 2012) The fact that their body clocks must get used to a different routine may ...

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