HEALTH &
WELLNESS
No More All-Nighters
POOR SLEEP HABITS IN COLLEGE CAN TANK YOUR GPA
8
HOLIDAY 2018 | (201) FAMILY
CATCH SOME Z’S
Experts offered a list of tips for students
to follow to help improve sleep health:
• Eat foods rich in vitamin B, calcium
and magnesium
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Limit caffeine intake after 2 p.m.
• Create a bedtime routine
• Keep naps to less than one hour
Ming and a team of experts surveyed
New Jersey high school students in
2015 to study the relationship between
a student’s bedtime and sleep duration,
and instances of chronic headaches and
hypersomnolence (excessive daytime
sleepiness or nighttime sleep), as well
as their academic performance. The
findings, which were published in The
Japanese Society of Child Neurology,
were consistent with other studies that
showed a higher occurrence of head-
aches and hypersomnolence with lack
of sleep. But the most important results
showed that those with sleep depriva-
tion were likely to do poorly in school,
Ming says, adding that students don’t
perform well in school when the sleep
state known as REM — an acronym for
rapid eye movement — is interrupted.
Luckily, sleep experts say, one thing
college students can try to control is
picking courses that fall during the
time they’re most awake. “If your sleep
schedule is misaligned with your class
schedule, then your normal daytime
and academic performance is compro-
mised,” says Ming.
Academic advisors at New Jersey City
University sit with first-year students at
some point during the first six weeks of
the semester to do a time assessment.
“By far, almost all of their schedules
show they actually have more stuff to do
than there are hours in the day, and
I don’t think that they realize that,”
says Bailey.
The university offers a one-credit
course for first-year students called
“Orientation to College” that helps them
learn how to navigate college and time
management, talk about getting enough
sleep and other self-care rituals nec-
essary for success. Students are also
advised to avoid pulling “all-nighters,”
which is when they give up sleep to
get more studying done.
“Consistent all-nighters correlate
to more stress, overeating and
underperforming,” says Bailey.
At its New Brunswick campus,
Rutgers offers two mental health
educator workshops by peers that
directly address sleep issues.
At Ramapo College in Mahwah, the
health services team sees an influx of
students mostly in the first week of
school and during mid-terms and finals,
says Debra Lukacsko, the associate
director of health services.
And to address students’ concerns
outside of school, it’s important to over-
come the stigma associated with asking
for help, Bailey says. “A lot of our stu-
dents have trouble asking for help. “But
my job was created to help, so there’s
no shame in asking for help when it’s
needed.” ●
W
hat keeps
college students
awake at night?
If it’s grades,
then they’re
digging an even
bigger hole for themselves. Poor sleep
habits in college can have a direct nega-
tive impact on a student’s GPA, research
shows. That’s right. One of the more
widespread traditions of college life —
pulling the “all-nighter” to study more
— is bad for you.
Many stressors affect college stu-
dents: socializing, classes, studying,
figuring out how to pay for books and
tuition, juggling work and school,
relationships, and problems at home.
“When does a baby sleep? When
everything else is OK — they’re dry,
fed and the stressors are off,” says Jodi
Bailey, associate vice president for
student affairs at New Jersey City Uni-
versity. “It’s the same with our students.
They’re not going to sleep if all these
other things are affecting them on a
day-to-day basis.”
But if a college student doesn’t get
adequate sleep, the struggles they
face could get worse; their academic
performance will be in jeopardy, and
their overall health could be at risk.
“Once you have chronic sleep depri-
vation, not only will you not do well in
school, but you’ll develop more serious
physical and mental health issues,” says
Xue Ming, a professor and doctor of
neurology at Rutgers University. Ming
has studied sleep health for 14 years,
and has been practicing pediatric neu-
rology for 21 years. She says students
could develop cardiovascular problems,
higher cholesterol levels, and increased
anxiety and agitation.
WRITTEN BY CATHERINE CARRERA