Sleep deprivation is arguably the most widespread problem among college students. Roughly 50 million American adults suffer from sleep deprivation, and reports of college students affected by inadequate sleep range from 63 percent to 90 percent. A twice-yearly study from the American College Health Association shows that “sleep difficulties” are consistently the third largest impediment to academic performance. The first and second largest impediments are stress and cold/flu/sore throat, respectively.

Not getting enough sleep both lowers the bodies’ levels of an appetite-regulating hormone, leptin, and raises the amount of ghrelin, an appetite stimulant. Ideally, these two hormones form a yin-yang equilibrium in the human body between intake and metabolism. But short sleep periods increases the amount of ghrelin being produced, in turn lowering the amount of leptin being produced. Summarily leading to an increase in appetite. This, no doubt, helps perpetuate the famous “freshman fifteen.”

Sleep deprivation increases blood pressure and often makes its’ victims easily irritated. For small children, the term is ‘cranky,’ and the college students ‘just haven’t had their coffee yet.’ Additionally, it can affect emotional responses, making victims more emotional than under normal circumstances. This occurs because sleep deprivation over stimulates areas of the brain associated with depression and anxiety, somewhat trumping the prefrontal cortex.

Tyler Dyer proudly exclaims, “I’m sleep deprived!” This civil engineering major gets an average six hours of sleep and routinely does all his homework on Sunday night. On his nights out, where he is often the designated driver, Tyler and his friends usually stay out until around 3 a.m. He likes coffee. When asked about the side-effects of his lifestyle, “pure insanity to the point where I seem normal.” Tyler also notices that he gets jittery with too much coffee or without food.

Not getting enough sleep is detrimental to the immune system, making it more susceptible to disease. Initial studies have also shown that continual sleep deprivation may lead to long term effects that surface long after the sleep schedule problem is solved. Clinical Insomnia may result from too many nights of forcing yourself awake.

Sleep and GPA may also share a relationship. In a study done by Brown University in 1998, high school students who reported getting C, D, and F grades got about 25 minutes less sleep than students who reported getting A and B grades. The A and B students were also found to go to bed about 40 minutes earlier than the lower grade students.

The ever popular cram session before a big test can also be counter-productive to grades. When we sleep, neurons in the brain are regenerated. Without this regeneration, new synapses are harder to form, inhibiting our ability to retain information. The lack of sleep from cramming also lowers cognitive ability, and could result in a poorer performance come test time. A University of Pittsburgh study hypothesized the reason for this is because more of the brains’ processing power is being used to “fight off a need for sleep” than normal, taking away from the ability to answer questions.

Junior criminal justice major, Nathan Recta used to cram. In previous years, Nathan stayed up to all hours studying for exams. Now having a practice of studying for three nights prior to a test, Nathan feels his performance has improved, “In my opinion, [cramming the night before] doesn’t do any good.” Nathan averages six hours of sleep and two cups of coffee per day.

As the country’s average hours of sleep per night continues to slowly decrease, more and more people are becoming aware is its’ importance. Some colleges, including Brown, and have removed the 8 a.m. class period in an effort to better students’ sleep patterns and academic performance.

In an effort to achieve better grades, work at their job, or for the sake of a social life, many students choose to cut into time that would normally be spent sleeping. UAF student Derek Thomas has no classes before 11:45 a.m., but still has trouble with getting enough rest, “I try to get eight hours, quite often it doesn’t work.”