Monday, March 3, 2008
Healthy sleep often falls by the wayside in the lives of many college students.
Homework, jobs, stress and a social life make it difficult to attain the eight hours of sleep per night recommended by the National Sleep Foundation.
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Sleep Awareness Week
Monday: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Recreation Center Tuesday: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mrs. E’s Wednesday: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Anschutz Library Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Kansas Union
To tackle this and other sleep-related health issues on campus, Student Health Services is sponsoring Sleep Awareness Week at the University of Kansas Monday through Thursday.
Kara Boston, Shabbona, Ill., senior and coordinator of Sleep Awareness Week, said information would be available to students at tables on campus throughout the week.
Sleep deprivation, drowsy driving and strategies for better sleep were among the topics Boston said would be covered.
“For college students, you want to be social and do well in school,” Boston said. “Sleep is just as important. It really affects your life full circle.”
Carole Guillaume, a physician at Watkins Memorial Health Center certified in family and sleep medicine, said college students had developed many unhealthy sleep habits, or what she called bad sleep hygiene.
That includes taking naps during the day, maintaining an inconsistent sleep schedule and using the bedroom to do homework or play video games rather than dedicating it to sleep.
“There are so many more stimulating things in the wee hours of the morning now than ever before and that’s a distraction,” Guillaume said. “It makes it hard to relax.”
To improve sleep habits, Guillaume said students could remember to avoid certain things before bedtime, like caffeine, nicotine, exercise and alcohol.
According to ETR Associates, a health education company, drinking caffeine three to six hours before bedtime can double the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.
Guillaume said nicotine and exercising a few hours before bedtime could have a similar effect. She also said alcohol caused a jolt of adrenaline once it wore off, keeping a person awake for much of the night.
Guillaume said the best way to improve sleep hygiene was for students to make sleep a priority by managing their time during the day to allow for a consistent bedtime.
“Make sleep something enjoyable to do,” she said. “You will have more energy, more vitality and do better in any activity you pursue.”
Students with specific questions about sleeping habits or disorders can get the contact information of sleep specialists on campus at the Sleep Awareness Week information tables.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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Comments
Sleep awareness week confronts bad student hygiene
It would be nice to have time to sleep more than three or four hours a night. There's always spring break.
Sleep awareness week confronts bad student hygiene
Napping during the day is actually quite beneficial if done properly, and is more and more frequently being encouraged by employers with such innovations as on-site sleeping quarters. A 15-20 minute nap provides just enough rest to increase alertness upon waking up, without dipping into deeper stages of sleep that would affect circadian rhythms and the normal sleep cycle.
If nothing else, the napper who oversleeps can use a natural melatonin supplement to help reset her/his circadian rhythm. Not ideal, but there isn't much about the college lifestyle that appeals to ideal sleep patterns.
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