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Walking through the University on my way to the library one morning, I started to notice the amount of students whose faces spoke volumes about the night before. Dragging their feet, heads hanging down, with hands half-heartedly texting a sympathetic friend… it’s clear that whether it’s rushing to finish essays, reading for seminars or late-night partying, students cannot seem to get enough sleep.
The problem seems to arise from a heavy workload and a very busy social life, which makes it very easy for students to say that we can work now and sleep when we have time! I’m sure most of us would say that sleep deprivation sounds rather serious and we aren’t sleep deprived, just ‘shattered’. But in this modern age where we are constantly ‘plugged in’ to communication and are often found trying to push an extra few hours out of the day (especially if we woke up late after the night before - cue vicious circle!), many more people fit the description than you might think.
But what actually is sleep deprivation and how do you know if you are sleep deprived?
In short (and put simply) it is a condition of not having enough sleep. It can be chronic (which is the more serious and means sleep is becoming a long-lost luxury) or acute (not so serious and tends to be what most students have). This seems simple enough, and shows that acute sleep deprivation is really just a term for something most of us have probably started to accept as a way of life. Typical symptoms that some of you might recognize, are irritability, problems with concentration and memory and inability to cope with stress - none of which bode well for those of you trying to make it through an early morning lecture! If that wasn’t making your day hard enough, it has also been shown that by depriving your body of sleep you increase the likelihood of catching infections. This is because lack of sleep can weaken your immune system, meaning all those dreadful flu viruses can find a cosy home inside your body!
I confess - I’m another student guilty of resigning myself to the idea that starving your body of sleep to get that essay done sounds like a great idea, but what cost does this have on your body? Unfortunately it can be dangerous. Science hasn’t yet uncovered the actual reason why we sleep, but it has found plenty of evidence that lack of sleep (or too much of it) can have significant consequences for our health in the long term. Lack of sleep can contribute towards obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease to name a few. Parkinsons has also been linked to both getting too little sleep as well as getting too much of it. More problems include difficulty with social relationships, decreased productivity, lower test scores and even depression.
Most of us have heard of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, however not many of us will know that the reason why it happened was because some very important people made fatal errors due to lack of sleep. If that thought isn’t sobering enough, this AA report might - apparently sleep deprived young people behind the wheel of a car cause 3,000 deaths or serious injuries in the UK each year.
So how do we avoid all these risks and still manage to fit everything in? Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there isn’t a magic answer to feeling fresh and lively after only a couple of hours sleep (not even after five espressos). The best advice is to set a time when you stop yourself from working and do something you enjoy that is relaxing - like tucking up in bed with a good book or listening to some podcasts or music. It is important to spend some time before trying to sleep in low-level lighting away from bright laptop or television screens that will give your brain the message that it should still be in “awake” mode.
As a general rule we need 6-8 hours of sleep, but for all of you out there thinking you can go to bed at 4am, sleep till 12 and be fine having had your 8 hours - unfortunately you’re unlikely to feel the positive effects that way. The key seems to be in having an earlier bedtime. Obviously this isn’t practical every night, but if you aim for a higher quality of sleep most nights of the week, then these odd nights shouldn’t be too destructive.
For those of you trying to sleep, but who seem to be tossing and turning for hours, making a few small changes can make a big difference. Again - try to spend some time unwinding before sleeping and give your brain the chance to get into sleep mode. Avoid caffeine after late afternoon and try and maintain a regular waking up time so that your body learns that it needs to sleep earlier in order to get enough rest. Another key point is that if you get into bed and feel that you cant sleep, it is better to get up and do something that is calming but which will keep you busy until you begin to feel tired. Staying in bed when awake causes your brain to associate being in bed with being awake.
Whatever it is causing you to lose out on precious sleep, making a real effort to improve it can have a seriously noticeable impact on your general wellbeing.. After a good night’s sleep you can wake up in the morning and get any work or other tasks completed much more efficiently as your body is much more alert. Plus, your body wont feel like someone has been stamping on your limbs all night and you probably won’t give yourself caffeine poisoning trying to keep your eyes open - both of which I would say definitely count as a positive!
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