Lost sleep, can you catch up?

Very often college students stay up late to finish work missing out on needed sleep. The recommended amount of sleep of a young adult is eight hours and this number is not met by many. Sleep deprivation is a serious condition and comes along with many symptoms. These symptoms include things such as a decrease in alertness, memory impairment, stress and an overall poor quality of life. There are many substances that can give you short term energy and hide the sleep deprivation such as energy drinks and caffeine, but they’ll only last a short period of time before you crash. Luckily, there are ways to cure sleep deprivation in the long term and the best way to do that is with a nap.

Naps can be all different types of lengths and depending on the length of your nap will determine the benefits you get from it. Whether it’s a short nap, long nap, or somewhere in between benefits are found. When a quick power nap of 20 minutes occurs the person’s alertness skills will go up. Examples of these alertness skills are things such as typing and playing the piano. Longer naps from approximately 30 to 60 minutes helps improve decision making skills. These decision making skills are things such as memorizing vocabulary or recalling directions. Those types of skills are very beneficial for a college student who is studying for an exam. When even longer naps are taken from approximately 60 to 90 minutes getting into the REM (rapid eye movement) stage helps the student make new connections in the brain and solve creative problems.These are benefits that are very beneficial for someone dealing with sleep deprivation.

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A cup of coffee and energy drinks may seem like the quick easy solve to the problem but it only makes the condition worse. It continuously pushes off the sleep deprivation making the crash even worse once it finally arrives. The only true way to cure sleep deprivation is with a nap. It may be hard to find time for a nap in the busy schedule a college student has but once a time slot is carved out the benefits the nap provides are tremendous.

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/important-sleep-habits

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/the-secret-and-surprising-power-of-naps

http://www.livescience.com/images/i/000/053/210/iFF/sleeping-guy-130426.jpg?1367029012

2 thoughts on “Lost sleep, can you catch up?”

  1. Samantha Marie Grillo

    As a college student I am fully aware of sleep deprivation. I take the occasional nap and I truly do believe that they help me become more alert and able to focus on my work.

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