--Original published at Psychology 105

Due to my schedule, my sleep habits tend to vary widely. On a typical day, I wake up around 7:00 for class. I usually don’t get back to my room until around 8:00 at night after going to class, work, and anything else I have planned for the day. Even when I get back, however, I still usually have hours of homework and studying that need to be done. On a given night, as I’m sure might be the case for many other college students, I get maybe 5 hours of sleep. I don’t think this is an adequate amount, especially because that’s how much I get daily. Another problem I have is that although I am very sleep deprived during the week, I tend to binge on sleep on the weekends. If I don’t have to go to work on a Saturday or Sunday, I’ll usually sleep for about 12 hours. I think that having such a varied schedule is probably what is harming my sleep cycles the most. It would be beneficial if I had a specific time I decided to go to bed and wake up every day and a realistic sleeping goal would probably be about 7 hours per night. I do think there are other things that I could do that would help improve my sleep habits too. Since it’s hard for me to get more sleep, it’s important that the sleep I get is very sound and uninterrupted. A lot of times I’ll do things like use my phone before bed, which is commonly advised against. I also tend to use the snooze button a lot in the mornings, and I think minimizing this may help me get out of bed a little easier and help me regulate my sleep better.

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

During the Ted Talk about Sleep: the presenter offers a question that is often neglected: “Why do we Sleep?” This question is often overlooked, due to us simply accepting sleep as reality. He offers 3 Theories, with different reasons and logic as to why we sleep. To restore and repair all the things we damaged during the day, to conserve the energy we still have, or simply to increase our brain’s capability to store knowledge. Although all of these theories are sound: the most likely is the last theory mentioned.

During the Ted talk, the presenter begins explaining the restoration theory, with backup being mostly the fact that certain genes in our system are only turned on at night time. Although not in depth, this argument can be fairly sound for the case, yet not enough to validate it as the most likely candidate for why we sleep.

Next is the energy conservation theory.  The theory suggests that when we sleep we save energy we would’ve spent if awake. This theory simply isn’t true, as the brain is still active during sleep, as said in the Ted talk. Brain waves still use up calories we consume, with no evidence as to if less calories are being spent during sleep in the talk.

The last theory is the Increase our ability to store knowledge. the ted talk starts off telling us about how Sleep deprivation decreases our ability to think, as well as with the tendency to fall asleep during the period of drowsiness. The opposite is also true, with getting a good night’s sleep giving better creativity and cognitive ability. The neural networks that are often more used and thus deemed “important” have their connections strengthen, while the ones not used as often, and thus deemed “not important” are severed. This organizes the brain’s more important things to be more easily remembered, and occurs during the sleeping process. This action is also further strengthened by the first theory’s notion that certain genes are only active at night time, thus making the third theory the most likely. Although the ted talk gave the strongest suggestions for the third theory, this is just a theory.

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

Sleep is the periodic, natural loss of consciousness. It is so common for college students countrywide to struggle with sleep deprivation. There are many negative effects of sleep, including worser work ethic, negative moods, and lowered efficiency. I, as a college student and an athlete, struggle with juggling practice/games, homework, and studying all while having time to eat, go to class, and sleep. I would say on average I sleep between 5 and 7 hours a night. This is not a sufficient amount of sleep for someone of my age to wake up and feel energized, at my full potential for school and my athletics. I sleep so little because I have practice till 8 or 9:30 and we sometimes have away games that we return to campus at as late as 12:30. This means that studying and finishing homework takes place later because practice ends later. Often times I am up studying in my room or working on assignment in the library till 12:30-1.

A realistic amount of time I spend sleeping that I hope to reach is 8 hours. I am planning to achieve this by getting as much studying and homework done before practice so that after practice I can focus on unwinding and going to sleep much earlier. Another way that I hope to improve my sleeping habits is putting my phone on my desk before I get in to bed because I have read that the screen time you spend on your phone can keep you awake for thirty minutes after looking at it. This is in hopes that I will be able to fall asleep faster, ultimately providing me with longer amounts of sleep.

--Original published at Garrettscollegeblog

It seems that as age increases, time of sleep at night decreases. I remember in middle school and elementary school going to sleep between nine and ten with no stress about homework, tests, or school in general. Also, the lack of a job or a phone removed any reason for not staying at home, especially on school nights. The only reason at that age to stay up late came from a late soccer or basketball practice. In high school, however, many late nights manifested from sports, friends, jobs, and schoolwork. Falling asleep by ten progressively became midnight or one at the earliest.

My parents, over the summer, repeatedly said, “Make sure you get your sleep in now, you won’t once you get to college,” knowing that in the short future I would experience my first semester of college matched with a fall sport. Although my experience only expresses half of a semester, I can surprisingly say my sleep habits have improved from high school to college. With less class time during the day I have much more time to get work and studying finished much earlier in the day. My schedule also allows for sleeping in where my high school schedule forced waking up at six every morning. So far this semester I average six to eight hours of sleep each night, with subsequent naps throughout the day, if time allows.

A realistic goal for a college student without a job would be what I am acquiring right now. When waking up after a night with that amount of sleep I feel refreshed and ready to take on the day. Some improvements I would make pertain more to sleep schedule than habits. With the ability to sleep later in the morning, I tend to stay up later at night. If I persistently go to bed earlier, the few days that require me to wake up early would prove to be tremendously easier.

--Original published at Site Title

I think my current sleep habits right now are not awful, but I constantly feel exhausted. A lot of this I think can be attributed to how much busier and more worn down I am this year than last. This is my first year on the soccer team here and it really has been a huge adjustment from last year that I am still getting used to. It really consumes a majority of my time and is exhausting. Typically after practice/games I spend the rest of my nights doing homework or studying until 10 or 11 and then I’m ready for bed. A lot of times I even find myself falling asleep while I’m trying to do work. Typically then I would say I’m usually asleep by 12:30ish, which I think is about the same as most college students, if not earlier, but still isn’t great since I wake up at 7 AM. I feel like growing up I’ve always heard that 8 hours is the standard hours of sleep a person should get a night. I think that number is often hard to achieve with all the things I need to do in a single day, and usually average around 7 or 6 instead since I have class at 8AM everyday. To improve my sleeping habits I could try using the weekends more for getting my work for the week done rather than for relaxing. I usually just do my work throughout the week right before its due but it would definitely be more beneficial to get it done early so my weeknights are not as packed and I can go to bed earlier.

--Original published at Carly's College Blog

When I think of a realistic sleep goal for a college student, a number doesn’t even pop into my head. I want to say 8 hours, because that is what we have been told for years, but I know for me 8 hours doesn’t cut it. I would imagine for people busier than me, like those who are on the sports teams, would require more than that. Everybody is different so I would imagine it would fall between 7-11 hours depending on the person.

I am well aware that my sleep schedule is an unhealthy one. I used to never sleep, I was lucky if I got 4 hours a night. Now, and for the past year, I have definitely been oversleeping. I got to bed anywhere between 9:30 and 11pm and since I don’t have any 8am classes, I usually get up between 9am and 12 noon. That’s about 9-12 hours a night. In addition to that, I tend to take a 1-2 hour nap in the middle of the day and load up on caffeine. It doesn’t effect my work; I still maintain good grades and get all my work done on time, I dance in emotion and am in 2 different clubs. I feel like my sleep pattern would be more unhealthy if I wasn’t apart of any clubs or activities, or if I had poor grades.

One way I could improve my sleep habits are to wake up earlier. I sleep in so late, plus nap, so I think getting up a bit earlier in the morning would be a good place for me to start.

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

As a college student in the science major, I have found myself getting a lot less sleep than I used to. I try to lay down around 10 p.m and be off my phone by 10:30; however, it is becoming more and more likely for that time to be pushed back to 11 or 11:30. Being up a bit later on Tuesdays or Thursdays is okay for me because I can sleep in a bit because my first class is not until 12:30. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays however, I have Chemistry at 8 a.m. which I like to be wide awake for. It also does not help that if I am up past a certain time my body just decides it will be unable to fall asleep. Overall, I think that my sleep habits are decently healthy and that I can get enough sleep to function daily. I think sleep is extremely important for college students because you need sleep to promote mental health and give your brain a break. If you are constantly moving and not taking a break for sleeping and rest, it will have effects on your schoolwork and life in general. Most students see sleep as something to do if you have time but will not make time for it and will pull all-nighters. I think giving yourself, at the very least, seven hours a night will help improve mental health, and schoolwork activity. Then your brain can reset and get ready for another day of learning new information.  College is extremely difficult; however, in order to do your best, you need to be able to rest and give your brain time to slow down.

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

After going through my current sleep habits, it is safe to say that they are pretty healthy, but they could also improve. At the beginning of the school year, I had a big gap between my second and third classes, so I would fit a nap in. This then caused me to be up late at night and have a hard time falling asleep. Now, I try to refrain from taking naps. I preoccupy myself with homework and getting ahead in my classes or going to the gym or hanging out with friends. Because I wake up around 7:30 every morning, I usually try to be in bed and asleep by 11:30. I use the “bedtime” mode on my phone so it notifies me around 10:30 to start unwinding and relaxing. At 11:30 it puts my phone on “Do Not Disturb” to block out notifications so I can get a good sleep. I also use the sleep mode on my Fitbit so it will also tell me to start winding down. Although I’m pretty good about getting a decent amount of sleep, I usually have to take melatonin supplements to actually fall asleep.

Going to bed at 11:30 and waking up around 7:30 seems great because I’d be getting a full 8 hours of sleep. The amount of times I actually follow that is less than ideal. Most of the time I’m up past 11:30 studying or working on assignments or just playing on my phone. I also have a bad habit of setting like 4 alarms in order to be able to hit snooze and feel good about myself.

If I were to make improvements on my sleep habits, I would try to do most of my homework throughout the day so that I wouldn’t worry about it at night. I would also try to start reading at night or doing something other than being on my phone so that my brain can rest and unwind like it’s supposed to.

I think it is important to get a good amount of sleep, but that differs for everyone. For me, I can still function on about 6 hours of sleep. On average, I’d have to say that a healthy amount of sleep for a college student is probably around 7 hours.

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

Since I have come to college my sleeping habits have steadily gotten worse as I am getting less sleep per night. I am always up late studying for an exam or doing work to keep my grades up, though I am starting to feel the effects, as I am starting to sleep through alarms, I have a hard time getting up, and when going to bed I have a difficult time actually falling asleep. I can feel my exhaustion throughout as it gets progressively harder to pay attention in classes or even pay attention to what I am reading as I am going through my textbook. I get on average 6 hours a sleep per night, but a realistic goal for amount of sleep for a college student is probably about 7 or 8 hours. This will allow enough time for students to get enough sleep so they are able to get more out of their day when it comes to paying attention in classes and retaining information while studying.

I can improve my sleeping habits by not waiting to the last minute and procrastinate when it comes to getting work down for some of my classes. This will allow me to not stay up as late when I do not have to worry about the paper that I have due the next day that I had not even started. I can also start to study more with a group of friends. This will allow me to not only learn important concepts but also allow me to have a social life, so I am not trying to squeeze that in between studying.

--Original published at Jayln's Perspective

After assessing my current sleeping habits, I have concluded that they are probably not as healthy as they could be. After I finish doing all my homework, socializing, and spend time either watching TV or playing on my phone, it is usually about 11. Even though I am in bed at 11, I normally have a hard time falling asleep. I am usually preoccupied with thoughts about school and homework, and I think that by the time I actually fall asleep, it is probably around 11:15 or 11:30. I usually get out of bed at around 6:30, and since I am a commuter, I leave for the college at 7:15.

Although being in bed by 11 and waking up at 6:30 seems pretty healthy, I have a bad habit of setting six alarms to wake me up in the morning. Although I do not know much about the sleep cycles yet, I am almost certain that setting an alarm for 5:50 and hitting the snooze button 12 times is not healthy. Even though getting that “five extra minutes of sleep” always feel so good, I do not think it benefits the human body in any way. In fact, I might be doing a disservice to myself.

If I was going to try and improve my sleeping habits, I would aim to be off my phone around 10:30. I think it is important that the brain has time to unwind and detox from screens before it sleeps. If I did this, I think there is a chance my academic performance could improve. Next, I would set either one or two alarms to wake me up in the morning instead of six. If I do this, I may be completing my sleep cycle more effectively.

I think a healthy amount of sleep for a college student is around seven hours. Growing up, I was always told eight hours was ideal, but there is a lot more homework and social aspects that come with college life. Therefore, I think seven is sufficient and reasonable.