Do you repeatedly hit the snooze button? Do you sleep extra hours on weekends? Can you fall asleep as soon as you lie down?
If you said yes to any of the above questions (or if you attend Dartmouth at all), you are likely to be sleep-deprived. "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," Benjamin Franklin once said.Living up to Benjamin Franklin's advice is almost impossible at the Big Green. In 10 short weeks, we have to learn and grasp knowledge at an incredible rate in addition to doing as many extracurricular as we can pack into our iCal. Our eternal dream during midterms and finals is to just get ENOUGH sleep. Unfortunately, according to Dr. James Maas, a professor and past chairman of the Department of Psychology at Cornell University, "Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury."Get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night? Go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day? "What a joke," some of you might say. "I'm perfectly fine with only five to six hours of sleep." Although it is true that each person's body functions differently, the optimal amount of sleep for an adult is known to be 8.1 hours on average. Why do we typically need eight hours of sleep? Our sleep has two distinct states of consciousness: non-REM and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Physiologically, non-REM is a state of both physical and mental quiescence, a shutdown across the board. REM, on the other hand, is a state in which our brains become highly active. Our cortex gets bombarded by electrical activity that has been generated within the brain itself, resulting in the dream experience. "People think they can still function well with small amounts of sleep. That's not true," Michael Sateia, a professor of Psychiatry and the Chief of the section of sleep medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said in an interview. "There is good experimental evidence that demonstrates that the extension of sleep hours can significantly improve one's alertness and performance."And that nap in-between 10s and 12s is not enough; deep sleep is essential."Both non-REM and REM states are critical," Sateia added. "In general, the consequences from both non-REM and REM deprivations for students will be memory and learning impairments."On Feb. 19, Active Minds, a student organization dedicated to increasing awareness of mental health issues and providing relevant information and resources, organized an event showing Maas's lecture on sleep. More than 150 people showed up. All of the men's crew team was there as a mandatory activity. It was clear that Dartmouth students are concerned about their sleep deprivation and sleep disorders."I personally found that getting more sleep on a consistent basis increased my energy level and reduced my stress," Alison Peterson '10, the president of Active Minds, said. "I can definitely say that getting more sleep has positively affected every aspect of my life."However, sometimes we do have to stay up late, whether for pong or papers. Can we ever learn anything useful on how to avoid extreme sleep deprivation, sleep disorders and insomnia?
Let's talk about naps first.
We often complain how we get incredibly tired even after getting enough sleep. Don't worry. It's not because there is something wrong with your body. Interestingly, there is an inborn tendency to nap. The human body is just as inclined to rest in the middle of the afternoon as well as at night. The "post-lunch dip" in alertness occurs whether or not food is consumed. We have a significant drop in body core temperature and alertness at night, and a similar but smaller drop in the middle of the day. So is it a good idea to nap? It really depends. If you have difficulty falling asleep at night, naps are not for you. Sleeping during the daytime, especially for longer than 30 minutes, can cause nighttime insomnia. However, naps are helpful in many ways besides reducing stress. Regular 30 minute naps are shown to greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. Taking regular naps can be healthier than adding 20 extra minutes to already adequate nocturnal sleep. But we barely have time to meet our paper deadlines! Do we have time for naps? Fortunately, a nap should ideally be only about 15 to 30 minutes in duration. If you nap longer than 30 minutes, your body falls into deep sleep, which is difficult to wake from. Surprisingly, a 15 minute nap is sufficient to turn the nervous system off and can recharge the whole system. Even if you are severely sleep-deprived and must nap longer than 30 minutes (yes, we often are), you shouldn't sleep more than an hour and a half, which is a complete sleep cycle. And don't expect to be fully alert until at least an hour after that nap.
How does caffeine correlate with sleep?
Caffeine speeds up brain waves and increases heart rate and blood pressure, which is why we love it. However, it takes about six hours to exit the system, so it's better not to drink coffee after lunchtime unless you're counting on a late night. In fact, the first reason why a person might have disrupted sleep is caffeine. Reducing your caffeine intake is one of the best strategies for sounder sleep.
What is the relation between sleep and exercise?
Surprisingly, morning exercise can be harmful to your alertness because it PROMOTES sleep, and you will have a long day to go. According to the research by National Sleep Foundation, afternoon exercise (from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) is the most ideal. Avoid evening exercise within two to three hours of bed time because night exercise could acutely increase your alertness. It will impair your ability to sleep right after. So, if we need to work our snooze schedule around time at the gym, which of those activities will be sacrificed first? So if you're working out to keep your figure in check that brings us to the next question.
What is the relation of sleep to our weight?
Why do we get hungry so often? Why do we go to Novack after every chapter? Here's a possibility. According to the research of University of Chicago Medical Center, sleep deprivation causes hunger. When sleep is limited to four to six hours for six nights, leptin levels go down and appetite increases in spite of adequate food intake. The decrease in leptin tells our brains, "Time to eat. We need more food." The reason is that our body interprets sleep deprivation as stress.
What other factors are contributing to our restfulness? Why can we sleep more than enough one night and still feel drained the next day? Well, there's a probably a good reason for that, if that night happened to be a Friday or a Saturday (or a Monday or a Wednesday for that matter).
Is there any connection between alcohol and sleep?
The clear reality is that alcohol adversely affects sleep. Alcohol initially deepens sleep for a couple of hours. The problem is that alcohol is rapidly metabolized. Then, you don't just go back to your normal free alcohol condition. Instead, you will have a rebound causing an increase of your brain activity, which will produce lighter sleep and more fragmentation of sleep. "Some students think that alcohol helps them sleep more soundly," Kari Jo Grant, Coordinator of Health Education Programs, said in an interview. "But the quality of sleep will be very poor. If you do that more than once a week, it can accumulate and hurt your body. You will feel groggy even after getting 10 hours of sleep. Having no drinks three hours before bedtime is recommended."
What are pong lovers to do then?
"There isn't anything you can do to ward off the effect of alcohol on your sleep," Sateia said. "Strategic napping might be helpful, but it's just best not to drink too much prior to your bed time."So what do we do with all this information? The answer should be clear."The will to sleep more is really the way," Peterson said. "Think about it and give up the idea that you have an ability to control sleep. Commit to it. Isn't happiness the end of our goal? Get enough sleep. Your stress level will plummet down to the floor."Healthy sleep has been proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity. Enough sleep also makes you happier and more energetic. As future doctors, lawyers and I-bankers, Dartmouth students will likely continue to have busy lifestyles. In addition to mastering your major, take your time in college to learn to sleep well. Just one more thing to add to the to-do list before bed.
