Chapter 4 of 6 of Catch Me Studying
Students and Sleep
As funny as it seems to compete for who could get the least sleep, the consequences are not! ☝️
🛌 Many students feel inclined to wreck their sleep schedules for school. Why?! 🤔
This week, we’re exploring sleep for students:
- The Importance of Sleep Health 🩺
- Why Students Don’t Sleep 🧑🎓
- How Much Sleep is Enough Sleep? 💤
- Sleep Deprivation Consequences 😪
- How to Sleep Better and Stay Awake 😴
The Importance of Sleep Health
🛌 How important is sleep? 🤔
Sleep affects your:
- 🧍 immune system, which regulates your adaptive and innate immune responses that contribute to keeping you safe from viruses and other diseases or health conditions1
- 🫀 heart, sleep deprivation could cause inflammation which may lead to cardiovascular diseases and cancer1
- 🧠 brain, sleep disturbance could be the root of depressive symptoms1, and can impact memory and cognitive functions2
🎓 Academically, poor sleep health can lead to not just long-term health risks and consequences1 but academic success can be forfeited due to negatively impacted cognitive functions and memory.2 📉
Why Students Don’t Sleep
⚠️ Did you know? 👇
📖 30.5% of students reported to have less than 6.5 hours of sleep nightly, with 1.2% reported to have less than 4.5 hours, in a study conducted by Brown, Qin & Esmail.2
‼️ That’s almost 1 in 3! 🤯
Sleep health is more important than you think! 🛌
📉 Sleep deprivation negatively impacts students’ cognitive performance, affecting their memory, learning, and academic success.2
😰 12.4% of participants reported that stress was at the core of their lack of sleep.2
How does your sleep health look like? 🙋
How Much Sleep is Enough Sleep?
☝️ It depends on the individual!
Recommended sleep hours may be different for YOU.
But a study finds connections between students with 6.5 hours of sleep or less with an increased risk for chronic health conditions affecting vital organs such as the heart2 🫀
Sleep Deprivation Consequences
🫵 Your lack of sleep does NOT come with temporary health risks.
🚨 When you pull an all-nighter, or you are sleep-deprived, you are at risk of:
🛌 Sleep disorders such as insomnia
🤕 A weak immune system1
❤️🩹 Chronic health conditions1
🧠 Memory issues1
⚙️ Reduced cognitive performance2
💔 Depression2
Your sleep health should be one of your top priorities! 🔑
How to Sleep Better and Stay Awake
In a study by Baranwal, Yu & Siegel, they shared sleep hygiene tips to up your sleep game!3 😴
✍️ Here are a few (I listed more in this Instagram post!):
1️⃣ MEDITATION3
🧠 Practising mindfulness helps quiet the mind, which shifts your brain from sympathetic activity to parasympathetic activity, improving your ability to fall asleep!3
2️⃣ LOW LIGHT3
💡 Studies show that a dark environment improves the function of the brain during sleep, helping it dispose of waste!4
An improved quality of sleep can also improve the brain’s consolidation of memory (and turning it into long-term memory)4 ✨
3️⃣ CONSISTENT SLEEP SCHEDULE3
🗓️ Marked as the most important tip, maintaining the same sleep and wake-up time every day helps to regulate your internal body clocks, reduces daytime sleepiness, and allows you to fall asleep more easily3
📚 Want to check out some books on how to sleep better? I posted some suggestions on this Instagram post, recommended by Penguin Random House!5 📖
In conclusion, your sleep health as a student is way more important than you think, and you should never underestimate the consequences of a small decision you make today ☝️
Rest is healing ❤️🩹
Go to sleep, and sleep better! 💤
References
- Irwin, MR 2015, ‘Why Sleep Is Important for Health: A Psychoneuroimmunology Perspective’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 143–172, viewed 30 April 2024, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4961463/>. ↩︎
- Brown, C, Qin, P & Esmail, S 2017, ‘“Sleep? Maybe Later…” A Cross-Campus Survey of University Students and Sleep Practices’, Education Sciences, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 66. ↩︎
- Baranwal, N, Yu, PK & Siegel, NS 2023, ‘Sleep physiology, pathophysiology, and sleep hygiene’, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 77, no. 77, pp. 59–69, viewed 4 May 2024, <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033062023000117>. ↩︎
- Valverde, A, Hamilton, C, Moro, C, Billeres, M, Magistretti, P & Mitrofanis, J 2023, ‘Lights at night: does photobiomodulation improve sleep?’, Neural Regeneration Research, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 474–477, viewed 1 May 2024, <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36018149/>. ↩︎
- Matejko, S 2020, ‘10 Books That Will Radically Improve Sleep | Penguin Random House’, PenguinRandomhouse.com, viewed 5 May 2024, <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/books-on-sleep/>. ↩︎
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