Not feeling rested in the morning for many students is no surprise. A large portion of college students worldwide have difficulties with sleep, and sometimes, it is challenging to narrow down on the cause.
It is vital to understand why people need to sleep. Slumber is the body’s way of maintaining brain health and physical health. As there are many ways to keep one’s body healthy, like eating nutritious food and exercising, the most critical component of someone’s health begins with sleep. Humans spend nearly one-third of their lives sleeping, and without that much time dedicated to sleep, the human body would barely function.
One contributing benefit of quality sleep includes promoting one’s mental health–memory consolidation, focus, problem-solving skills and creativity. It also improves one’s physical health– repairs the heart and blood vessels, balances the hunger hormones, regulates insulin activity, promotes growth, development and the immune system.
Good quality sleep consists of an uninterrupted slumber that, for adults, lasts nearly 7 to 8 hours. However, most students share experiencing sleep that lasts less than 6 hours, sometimes segmented, during the night.
As college students, the primary culprit of reduced sleep is usually academics or work; many students have a job while studying in college. Hence, it can be demanding to balance the load of academic work and courses with a job, which usually results in reduced sleep.
Sleep deficiency leads to several other issues that interfere with their daily routine, put their health at risk and affect their academic and work performance, too.
At the same time, students express feeling unrested, have difficulty falling asleep or experience segmented sleep, even when they have the time to attain quality sleep. A few factors may contribute to these experiences.
Getting insufficient sun exposure, intaking caffeine or taking naps after 3 p.m., eating large meals late at night, lacking exercise and using technology right before bed may lead to erratic sleep patterns.
How and when people feel sleepy are controlled by hormones and sensory receptors in the central nervous system.
Adenosine is a neurotransmitter in the nervous system that regulates relaxation and often is what makes people sleepy; adenosine levels peak before bedtime, fall during slumber and slowly build up after awakening and throughout the day until it is bedtime again. Melatonin is a hormone that is secreted by the pineal gland in response to darkness and also contributes to sleepiness. Finally, cortisol, the stress hormone, plays a vital role in waking people up in the morning.
So generally, one would ideally expect to see cortisol levels high in the morning and adenosine and melatonin levels low, while cortisol decreases at night and adenosine and melatonin increase.
However, behaviors like caffeine intake after 3 p.m. and screen time right before bed can mess up these hormones from functioning as they should.
Caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist, meaning it can bind to the same receptor as adenosine but causes the opposite response by increasing cortisol–wakefulness instead of relaxation. Similarly, screen time or even bright lights in the bedroom can decrease the release of melatonin, which is released in response to darkness.
Hence, continuous negative behaviors that manipulate human physiology can lead to similar consequences.
To get back on a normal, quality sleep schedule, experts suggest the following: get at least 30 minutes of sun exposure outside daily to help the body produce vitamin D; exercise daily but not 2-3 hours before bed; avoid caffeine or naps after 3 p.m.; avoid alcohol, large meals and technology/bright lights right before bed. Lastly, dedicate the last 30 minutes to an hour before bed to activities away from technology that promote relaxation.
Good sleep is not impossible; it is essential.