2008 Woodie Awards
Rise and shine
Erin Cooper
Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: Student Life
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"If I don't have to wake up to go to class I see no reason why I need to wake up at eight in the morning," said University of Arizona student Lindsay Lafaille. "I normally sleep in until eleven on holiday breaks."
Once the holiday breaks are over, school or work can be a huge adjustment at first. Dr. John Herman, a pediatric sleep expert at UT Southwestern, says waking up earlier may be hard at first and leave you tired during the day, but in return it will help you fall asleep earlier and get back into your routine.
It is a well-known fact that many college students do not get the required amount of sleep each night. Exams, homework, friends, and jobs have left college students with the side effects of sleep deprivation. When the holidays are over it can be even harder for students to receive the amount of sleep they need.
"The first week of school after the holiday break is horrible," said Lafaille. "I am constantly trying to keep my eyes open during my early morning classes."
Lack of sleep can be shown in many different ways. Students can be: irritable, hyper active, experience short-term memory loss, delayed reactions, and lack of attention.
"I probably get five to six hours of sleep a night," says Sonoma State Junior Amanda White. "On a good night, seven hours."
A lot of students think they can catch up on their loss of sleep on the weekends.
"I always think I'll make up the lost hours when the weekends come," said White.
The bad thing about trying to catch up on lost sleep on the weekends is the fact that you're aggravating your sleep patterns more. The clock in your body works best when your body is on a constant schedule. By compensating for lost hours on the weekend, you may be making it twice as hard for your body to wake up early on the weekdays.
"Once school starts I try to get back into my usual sleep routine," says Chico Senior Megan McGrady. "Normally it's hard so I'll sleep in on weekends, but in return I find it makes it that much harder to wake up early on weekdays."
Studies have shown the average adult needs about eight hours of sleep, and young adults may need a little more. Tammy Barrow, a senior at Texas A&M, said that as a freshman her sleeping patterns changed a lot. "I went from going to bed around 9:30pm in High school, to getting to bed around 11:00pm here. My work load was more."