Sleep More and Learn More

Originally published in July 2006 issue, Reflections Magazine

Many people excel at their chosen profession with very little sleep. Some of them claim they don’t have time to sleep. Others claim they don’t need much sleep. Biographers have written that Thomas Edison slept 45 minutes a day. He kept a cot in his lab and slept in 10-15 minute spurts throughout the day and awakened to a new invention. His neighbor Henry Ford slept four hours a day and changed the world. Dr. Eduardo Padron, president of Miami-Dade College, told Miami Herald reporter David Ovalle he can attend six commencement ceremonies in one day because, “I sleep very little.” The rest of us need a lot more sleep yet we don’t sleep enough.

You may need to sleep more if to awaken every morning you need an alarm clock. The right amount of sleep depends on the individual but experts recommend between six and nine hours daily.Many of the students I talk to want to do it all and with only 24 hours in a day few of them sleep enough. Some doctors say many college students suffer from chronic sleep deprivation.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic define good sleep as enough sleep so that on the following day you feel alert and happy. Plus as I mention above you shouldn’t need an alarm clock to awaken you if you’ve slept enough.

According to Consumer Reports on Health only a third of college students in the United States sleep eight hours every night. Fifty percent sleep less than six hours. Ever since Edison gave us 24- hour illumination Americans have slept less and less.Darkness commands the brain to sleep but now it’s hardly ever dark. At night, in the darkness, the pineal gland in the brain discharges melatonin a hormone that tells our brain it’s time to sleep.

People who sleep less than six hours have a 1.5 greater chance of death than those who sleep the recommended amount. However, keep in mind that those who sleep more than nine hours have a 2.5 greater probability of death. Thus you need to find the right amount for you. Good sleep (together with exercise and proper diet) constitutes the third essential component in a long, healthy life. Students who don’t get enough sleep deteriorate and age quickly. In other words they run out of fuel fast because sleep refuels the body.

How can you tell if you need more sleep? College students with symptoms of sleep deprivation have poor concentration, reflexes, memory and dry skin. These college students also find it difficult to learn, solve intellectual problems and write. They often feel tired and irritable. They have a bad temper and lack a sense of humor but worse they endanger themselves and the rest of us. More than 500,000 people every year fall asleep at the wheel and crash. Many college students work nights so they sleep even less and are even more dangerous on the road. Medical researchers see a correlation between sleep deprivation and illnesses like diabetes. Plus, you compound any illness when you weaken your immune system through a lack of sleep. If you awaken more tired than when you went to bed, if you yawn often, if you feel tired all day, if you always need the alarm clock and if you sleep away half the weekend you may need to change your sleep habits.

Increase the amount you sleep and you increase your ability to succeed in college. It’s that simple so don’t worry, be happy and learn

Copyright Bert Lorenzo