The semester is beginning to ramp up with more midterms, projects, and pesky blog posts (other than SC 200 of course) beginning to pile up. For most, all of this means our sleep begins to suffer, big time. Everyone has always heard that we need somewhere in the neighborhood of seven or eight hours a night give or take but what is the truth, how much do we really need? And if we are not getting the required amount, what can we do to meet it?

According to a large study by the National Sleep Foundation involving eighteen leading scientists and researchers, As young adults we should be getting right in that seven to nine hour range. Although, that number is merely a dream (Hah get it, it’s a pun) for most in college when you factor in projects, studying, and 8am classes. So what should you don’t get enough, because it’s merely a recommendations by the Sleep Foundation right, just load up on caffeine and carry on?

Some claim they feel rested after just a few hours of sleep, but according to the mayo clinic repeated nights of little sleep affects the performance of complex mental tasks. Also the studies among adults shows that people who get less or much more than seven hours of sleep a night have a higher mortality rate than others who get the correct or close to correct amount of sleep.

 The National Sleep Foundation suggests a few ways that you can improve your sleep, and it is mostly is focused on setting a schedule and sticking to it. First, you need to make a sleep schedule and stick to it even on weekends. Doing so will prevent interruptions in your body’s circadian rhythm and allow you to feel the most rested on the least amount of sleep. Also, you should check your bedroom temperature for the ideal sound and lighting. Yes the temperature and lighting can make that much of a difference in how rested you are in the morning. The Sleep Foundation recommends you keep the room between 60 and 67 degrees during your slumber as well as keeping any artificial lighting off while sleeping and dim while preparing to fall asleep, including things like televisions, computers and phones. 

But why do we need to sleep anyway? This is still a largely unanswered question that scientists have looked at for years but still have no definite answer other than a few theories. According to Harvard Med the oldest theory called the Inactivity theory came from evolution and served as a survival function, protecting organisms from harm when they would be most vulnerable, at night. Another theory is the energy conservation theory, which suggest that the primary reason for sleep is to conserve vital energy during times when it is not needed or least efficient to search for food. The final two theories are much more relevant in our modern society, the first are the Restorative Theories that suggest sleeping restores what the body looses when you are awake and allows major restoring functions including tissue repair, muscle growth, growth hormone and many others. Also, when awake neurons in the brain produce adenosine which is a by-product of cell activity and what scientists believe causes us to feel drowsy making us want to sleep. The final recently most well known theory for sleep is the Brain Plasticity Theory. There is not a very good understanding of this theory but it is becoming clear that a large amount of time sleeping is spent in REM sleep where most dreams occur causing an effect on peoples ability to learn and perform different tasks.