by Peggy Spencer
Daily Lobo columnist
Good morning. How did you sleep last night? Did you wake up without an alarm this morning, feeling well-rested for your first class? Do you ever? Many college students consider sleep to be a luxury they can't afford or a necessary nuisance that takes up valuable time. At the same time, many of you report sleeping difficulties. One way or another, sleep is an issue for most.
According to a survey done in August 2006 by the Institute of Public Policy, 25 percent of UNM students identified sleep difficulties as the biggest factor interfering with their academic success. UNM students reported getting enough sleep to feel rested in the morning an average of only 3.7 days per week. Recently, the news reported a study done at St. Lawrence University in New York that showed an inverse correlation between sleep and academic performance. In other words, the less sleep the students got, the worse they did in school. Surprised?
How much sleep do we need? It varies depending on the person, usually somewhere between six and 10 hours a night. More important than how much you sleep is how well you sleep. Sleep is not just a period of flat-out unconsciousness for your body to rest. It is a highly organized series of physical and mental states, called stages of sleep. There are five of these, and we need them all. They are:
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Stage One: Drowsiness. During this stage, we drift in and out of sleep, and can be awakened easily. Eye movement is slow and muscle activity slows. This is the stage in which some people experience a falling sensation followed by jerking awake.
Stage Two: Light sleep. In this stage, eye movements stop, and brain waves slow.
Stage Three and Four: Deep sleep. When you are in deep sleep, you are hard to wake up. If you are wakened during this time, you will feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes. There is no eye movement or muscle activity in deep sleep.
Stage Five: REM sleep follows deep sleep in the normal sleep cycle. REM stands for the rapid eye movements that are seen during this stage. Also during this stage, blood pressure and pulse rise, arms and legs become temporarily paralyzed, and males have penile erections. Dreaming happens during this stage. We spend about 25 percent of our sleep time in REM, and if we lose REM sleep, we suffer. REM sleep stimulates the parts of the brain used in learning and is vital to psychological health.
The whole cycle described above lasts about 90 to 100 minutes. Early in the night, the sleep cycles contain lots of deep sleep and short REM periods. By the end of the night, this has reversed, and by morning, REM and light sleep predominate.
Sleep troubles are common and can be caused by anything from a noisy roommate to stress to diagnosable sleep disorders like insomnia or narcolepsy. Insomnia is common among college students. The disturbed sleep of insomnia can mean trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, waking too early or some combination
of these.
The first step in dealing with sleep problems is to acknowledge that sleep is vital to your health. Just like food, water and air, your body needs sleep. Tempting though it may be to deprive yourself in the interests of studying, don't do it. Say no to No-Doz. Don't pull all-nighters. The fallout isn't worth it.
Now, I'm not stupid, and I've been to college. I know you'll do it anyway from time to time. I did. Sometimes you have to. But most of the time, please do try to sleep well. By this, I mean get enough sleep and get good sleep. Here are some hints for good sleep hygiene. If you have trouble sleeping, these should help.
1. Make sure your bed is right for you. If you're not comfortable, you won't sleep well. Keep the room temperature comfortable.
2. Keep regular sleep hours. Try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Do not nap during the day if you have insomnia.
3. Exercise during the day. Even 20 to 30 minutes of brisk walking helps, but don't do it right before bed or it might keep you up.
4. Watch out for stimulants. If you use caffeine, stay away from it in the afternoon and evening. If you smoke, nicotine withdrawal might wake you up too early. Alcohol keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep and robs you of REM. So even though a drink may make you drowsy and help you fall asleep, your sleep won't be healthy sleep.
5. Relax with a warm bath about an hour before bed, since it is the fall in body temperature that stimulates sleep. You can also try stretching or other relaxing routines that you set for yourself.
6. Use the bedroom only for sleep and sex. This is training your brain.
7. If you aren't sleeping, get out of bed. Go to another room to relax until you get sleepy. Trying too hard to go to sleep will backfire on you. Turn your clock away so you can't see it and obsess about
the time.
8. Eat a small, starchy snack at bedtime or drink warm milk. No big meals close to bedtime. Some say calcium-magnesium supplement helps.
If none of this works, and you're not getting the sleep you need, please come see us at the Student Health Center. Call 277-3136 for an appointment.
Peggy Spencer has been a UNM student health physician for 16 years. E-mail your questions to her at Pspencer@unm.edu. All questions will be considered and all questioners will remain anonymous. This column has general health information only and cannot replace a visit to a health care provider.
