According to an article published by the Huffington Post, college students are twice as likely as the general population to be sleep deprived since they are faced with the challenge of balancing academics, athletics, employment and social lives.
First-year Anna O’Brien said that the transition from high school to college drastically hindered her sleep schedule, making it so she rarely gets a good night’s sleep.
“On a typical night I usually get four to six hours of sleep. I tend to procrastinate with my course load and end up having to stay up late to do it. The added stress of trying to get all my work done before morning also contributes to why I can never fall asleep,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien added that, since she is involved with both the Women’s Rugby and Women’s Lacrosse team, finding time during the day to get all her work done between classes and practices gets pretty challenging.
“I have rugby practice Monday through Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with games on Saturday. For lacrosse, we have practices Wednesday and Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. with weekend practices on Saturday’s from noon to 2:00. On top of my class schedule and trying to fit in some sort of downtime, getting my homework done at a reasonable hour to ensure a good night’s sleep is almost impossible,” O’Brien said.
In terms of managing her time between classes and practices, O’Brien said that her biggest time management strategy is avoiding naps during the day.
“My biggest thing is not taking naps, even when I am extremely tired. When I have downtime I try to make the most of it and get some piece of homework or studying done so I don’t have to stay up as late that night doing it,” O’Brien said.
She continued, “Since I do not take naps I am pretty exhausted by the end of the day, which makes falling asleep somewhat easier when I finally go to bed. I also make it a point to wake up at the same time every morning, even if I have a late afternoon class, so I can spend that time working on anything I have to do.”
Aside from course loads, stress and hectic practice schedules, O’Brien said that technology also factors into her sleep deprivation.
“When I am laying in bed I am constantly looking at something on my phone. I don’t have too much time to check it during the day, so when I finally do I spend a lot of time texting and checking social media,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien added that Netflix is another form of technology that distracts her from sleeping at night. “I can watch Netflix for hours. At the end of the day when I don’t have homework or practice, I like to just lie in bed and find something to watch,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said that her lack of sleep will affect her mood as well as her ability to focus and get her work done the following day.
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“After not getting a good night’s sleep, sometimes I will wake up and just automatically be in a bad mood and that’ll really stop me from being able to get anything done that day. Since I have so much going on I cannot afford a day where I don’t cross off anything from the list of things I have to do,” O’Brien said.
Like O’Brien, senior Rachael Levy said that stress as well as a heavy course load make it so that she only gets three solid hours of sleep at night,since she is constantly thinking about the work she has to get done the next day.
“I try not to stay up too late doing homework because then when I try to go to bed my mind is still awake and thinking about school. I think that it is important to take some time to unwind and relax before going to bed, otherwise it is impossible to fall asleep,” Levy said.
Levy continued, “I think that having a different schedule every day contributes to people’s sleep schedule because you can’t get on a cycle that you can repeat everyday. Some days I have to stay up late and then I can sleep in late and then there are other days where I have to get up early so that messes up my sleep schedule.”
Senior Kiera Bisenius also weighed in on how academics prevented her from having a solid sleep schedule.
“Balancing my time between school work and everything else I have going on is difficult, but I always manage to get my work done. Sometimes I procrastinate with any homework or studying that I have to do, which causes me to stay up later than I wanted to,” Bisenius said.
Bisenius said that, although she ends up having to stay up late to get her work done, she uses her mornings to finish any other assignments that she couldn’t get to the night before.
“Waking up early the next morning and spending a few hours in the library are the best ways in which I get stuff done. If I sleep badly the night before, I’ll most likely have trouble focusing the next day but I always manage to complete all my assignments because I know not doing them is not an option,” Bisenius said.
When it comes to technology, Levy said that she has to silence her cell phone completely and make sure her television is completely off in order to fall asleep.
“Sometimes I don’t turn my phone on silent and then I get distracted by the noise it makes when it rings, which causes me to stay up later than I anticipated. If I try to fall asleep with my television on the noise and lights will also keep me from falling asleep,” Levy said. Bisenius added that her cell phone, as well as Netflix, easily distracts her when she is trying to go to sleep.
“When I finally stop working on homework and get into bed I’ll end up playing on my phone or watching an episode or two of something on Netflix. Even if I am exhausted at the end of the day, I’ll manage to get distracted from being on my phone or watching a TV show and stay up even later,” Bisenius said.
She continued, “Sometimes I can easily fall asleep with my cell phone on and my TV still running, but there are other nights when I need to turn everything off in order to fall asleep.”
As a result of having poor sleeping habits, Levy said that she sometimes finds it difficult to stay focused in class or get anything done the next day.
“When I am really tired in class and can’t focus, I find that my exhaustion really impacts my note taking skills along with preventing me from studying to my full ability,” Levy said.
Levy continued, “I try and push through the day and get everything done, but doing so on three or four hours of sleep is very difficult.”
In terms of changing any daily habits to ensure a better night’s sleep, Levy said that she does not see a way where she could alter anything in her life because she has such a heavy course load.
“Now that it is my senior year, this first semester is by far one of the busiest I have had. I would like to be able to change parts of my daily schedule so I can have more downtime and go to bed at a reasonable hour, but I know right now that isn’t too realistic. Poor sleeping habits just comes with being a college student,” Levy said.
Brogan Wessell can be contacted at bwessell@kscequinox.com