No Z's For College Students

Aliza Moorji, 21, napping on the Great Lawn at St. John's University

Sleep deprivation. We have all suffered from it at one time or another leaving us in a zombie like trance throughout our daily activities, despite the unparalleled amounts of caffeine ingested by our bodies. However, what happens when this occasional phenomenon becomes part of a daily regime?

The coffee cup in one hand and energy drink in the other trend has become a commonplace one among college students to stay awake in class. This phenomenon is no stranger to New York City’s St. John’s University. With little or no sleep and class lectures on average running from one to three hours, students constantly try new methods to stay conscious. Yet sometimes a can of Redbull doesn’t do the trick leaving students dozing off during class or missing them altogether.

According to St. John’s University Media Graphics Professor Durso, this is not something that surprises the staff of the university, but rather the number of such circumstances.

“Although this is not a “new” problem, there appears to be many more instances of it today than in the past.”

According to an article in the Daily Utah Chronicle, a recent poll taken by the National Sleep Foundation found that approximately 60 percent of college students lack in sleep. The study also showed that 39 percent of the adult population, including college students, gets less than 6-7 hours of sleep on a daily basis.

“I usually get about 7 hours of sleep during the school week but that's not enough. I wake up feeling tired and have to drag myself out of bed. I would like to get at least 8 hours but that only happens when my first class in the morning is cancelled,” St. John’s University student, 21, Aliza Moorji, said.

This leads to a massive amount of problems. From cascading grades and GPA’s to the inability to perform and handle stress or emotions, the side-effects are endless and can progress to serious health problems. According to sleepdeprivation.com, doctors warn that severe sleep deprivation can lead to depression, heart disease, irritability, and tremors. In addition, weight fluctuations can occur as well as faster skin aging, since the body does not receive enough time to rejuvenate itself.

So why do college students sleep so little?

While some students may resort to late night partying, others complain about the workload, implying that between classes, exams, assignments, and work they have too much to consume on their plates. Some even have an additional task of an internship.

“It's not so much of sleep deprivation but more of stress. During the last few weeks though, I do find it harder to fall asleep than usual because I toss and turn until I can actually fall asleep. But it's because of stress,” Moorji, said.

However, there are those students who resort to procrastination, and do their assignments at the very last minute resulting in all-nighters. Often times they are also distracted by the array of websites designed specifically for them keeping them from a good night’s sleep.

“Students think that staying up late to catch up on school work and social networks is a good idea. The reality is that they lose so much sleep that they fall further behind on everything and the vicious cycle starts again,” Durso said.

With so many students falling into this trap, the question remains, how can these problems be solved? University professors are eager to work together with students to make college life a little more bearable for them, but under one condition—student cooperation.

“I would be more than happy to work with any student, but I think the issue is time management and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses as a student of life,” Durso said.