The Importance of Sleep for College Students

It is a common practice among the college students to pull an all night before a test. All-nighters forego sleep at the expense of other activities usually to study. The increased demand makes it impossible for students to have a feasible consistent studying schedule. Work, academic obligations and socializing intensify and hence they require more time and effort. They, therefore, they sacrifice some activities for other. Sleep is one of the activities that is sacrificed at the expense of studying.

While studying is important for academic achievement, sleep is also important for academics. According to Wang et al. (2016) pulling an all night during a test to study can be counterproductive by impacting performance negatively). These students end up having less sleep while the optimal amount of sleep should be about 8 hours. Students who study the whole night ahead of a test do so because they believe this will help improve their grades. Sacrificing sleep for additional sleep is an ineffective strategy because it the average amount of sleep time also contributes to higher academic achievement. Students who have few hours of sleep tend to perform better than their peers who spend less time reading. The reason behind this case is because sleep derived students end up with greater fatigue the following day which can significantly affect their test performance. Consequently, the additional study time may not be beneficial to the student as they think as far as academic performance is concerned.

Sleep deprivation among students has been associated with physical dysfunction and consequently poor performance in academics. According to Patrick et al (2017), there is a detrimental effect caused by sleep deprivation on some of the aspects of a working memory. Students who do not get enough sleep have academic problems the following day and end up being more likely to perform poorly in tests. Lack of sleep may affect the students’ performance the next day or even longer than expected. Actually, it does not only have a detrimental effect on the next day exam performance but it also causes serious health problems such as heart attack and stroke.

Studies have found that students who lack sleep experience more problems more than those who rest before the night of the test. A full night rest enhances academic performance according to the Harris health sleep disorders center in Boston. The reason why sleep is preferable than additional studying is that recall skills and the ability to remain focused, are optimum when a person has had a good rest (Fakhari, Niloufar & Neda, 2016). Unfortunately, students start looking for tests materials when the test is just around the corner. While a student can stay active for a whole night studying especially through the help of caffeine by the time they will be sitting for the exams the following day they will be so exhausted for comprehension. In addition, the students will like remember less and their reasoning will also be affected. All-nighters are neither effective nor healthy. Research shows that people who stay all-night studying do not remember as much of what they studied or read. Lack of sleep can, therefore, leads to emotional distress and academic failure. Adequate sleep is important for students to perform well during and many instructors actually advise their students to have plenty of sleep the night before the exam.

It is advisable for students to read their notes about three days before the test. Sleep deprivation to cover up the lost time affects the brain. In fact, it has a direct to hippocampus which is part of the brain responsible for memory. Lack of enough sleep may, therefore, lead to memory loss and deficits in learning and cognitive faculties such as attention. When students sacrifice sleep for other late night activities for example, studying hence poor score and [performance in tests the following day. Due to procrastination on studying for the test, the students end up cramming at the expense of sleep. According to a study at the Loyola Marymount University sleep deprivation corresponded to lower final exam scores (Coletta, Wikholm & Pascoe 2018). The total amount of sleep during the last 24 hours before an exam has a positive and significant correlation with last exam scores. Sleeplessness causes a negative effect on performance. It interferes with daytime functioning due to memory interference. More importantly, fatigue affects the memory, attention, learning, and accuracy in tasks. The students who only slept during the night before the test performed better. The finding of the study state that those who slept 6-10 hours before the exam had better scores. Hence those students who had enough but not excessive sleep had higher exam results. Similar studies performed earlier on also indicate that enough sleep a night before the exam is associated with better for memory performance and academic achievement.

Huang et al. (2016), states that poor sleep before an exam is related to worse academic performance. This is because poor sleep affects the psychomotor and cognitive performance. It is advisable not to try and cram new information a night before the exam. Sleep is very important in consolidation and forming memories.

This does not, however, discourage students from spending more hours studying. In fact studies have shown that students who study more tend to attain better grades. The solution is good time management to avoid the last minute rash that necessitates pulling an all night. An easier recall is enhanced by taking enough time to assign meaning and elaborate information. The last-minute rash may create confusion instead of understanding information. This is because as the students spend the night trying to cram a lot of information which only work for short-term recall but the information is lost rapidly. In order to allow easier recall students are supposed to take time to comprehend information. This deep processing cannot take place when a whole subject or topic needs to be in your memory. The last-minute revision s similar to lack of sleep. To from enduring memories sleep is essential but the lack of it causes challenges in memory recall (Fakhari, Niloufar & Neda, 2016).

However, some studies have shown that all nighter has limited effect on the cognitive ability of students. It is therefore advisable to get some sleep instead of going to the classroom fatigued. The culture of sleep deprivation needs to stop because it propagates stress, stress, academic failure and even eventual detrimental health and physical effects. It is basically not worth it. Some good rest in bed will prepare you well psychologically more than those few hours of cramming. Nevertheless if you success to trans-night ready for the unforeseen repercussions which are unavoidable and definitely unhealthy.

Pulling an all-nighter does not improve the quality of your work or your productivity. Missing out on sleep will runs you down in terms of energy. In fact we more likely to lose what we study if we don’t catch enough sleep. Staying awake the whole night makes it difficult to integrate or consolidate new information. When staying up late you are not performing your best. However, students continue to priories it due circumstance and priorities but the myth comes with a price.

Works Cited

1. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Pulling an all-nighter for exams? 3 tips to help you study smarter, not harder. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sleep-study.aspx
2. Coletta, C., Wikholm, C., & Pascoe, M. (2018). The relationship between sleep and academic performance: A study of college students. Eastern Kentucky University, McNair Scholars Journal, 22(1), 11-21.
3. Fakhari, N., Niloufar, F., & Neda, G. (2016). The effect of sleep deprivation on memory and academic performance in students. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(42), 1-5.
4. Harvey, A. G., Stinson, K., Whitaker, K. L., & Moskovitz, D. (2008). The subjective meaning of sleep quality: A comparison of individuals with and without insomnia. Sleep, 31(3), 383-393.
5. Harris Health Sleep Disorders Center. (n.d.). How does lack of sleep affect your memory? Harris Health System. Retrieved from https://www.harrishealth.org/services-program/health-wellness/sleep-center/Pages/how-does-lack-of-sleep-affect-your-memory.aspx
6. Hershner, S. D., & Chervin, R. D. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature and Science of Sleep, 6, 73-84.
7. Huang, T., Li, Y., Liu, X., Xu, C., & Zhao, J. (2016). Sleep quality, sleep duration, and the academic performance of college students: A cross-sectional study in Zhejiang, China. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(3), 377-384.
8. Patrick, Y., Lee, A., Raha, O., Pillai, K., Gupta, S., & Sethi, S. (2017). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical performance in university students. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 15(3), 217-225.
9. Pilcher, J. J., & Walters, A. S. (1997). How sleep deprivation affects psychological variables related to college students' cognitive performance. Journal of American College Health, 46(3), 121-126.
10. Wang, G., Ma, J., Wang, Y., Li, R., Peng, C., & Sun, J. (2016). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 34, 43-53.