Ali Jackson | Hey students: Get some rest

We've all done it. It's a natural part of life. Some of us can go for hours without stopping. Others of us prefer to do it in snippets, never dwelling for long. Either way, we get it done - and we feel pretty damn good when it's over.

Engineering sophomore Jonathan Kruse said that his level of this activity "has a detrimental effect on academic performance."

I bet more than half of you are wishing you were doing it right now.

Which brings me to the main question: How much sleep did you get last night?

For most of you, the answer is probably "not enough."

David Dinges, a Psychiatry professor and doctor in the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, identifies the appropriate amount of sleep for college students as "eight or nine hours a night."

In order to determine if students were reaching this ideal amount, I conducted a poll of 150 Penn students. The results were distressing - especially to someone who considers sleep her No. 1 hobby.

Less than 30 percent of students polled said they got the recommended amount of sleep during the week; what's worse, 50 percent of them reported sleeping a mere five hours a night.

Dinges stressed that students getting by on this much sleep "are developing severe sleep debts," resulting in "memory loss and loss of ability to pay attention." In other words, not only will they not be able to focus in class, but the material they do manage to absorb will not stay with them.

Kruse agreed that he is "constantly trying to stay awake in class," adding that he sometimes stays up until 4 a.m. finishing homework.

Susan Villari, who directs the sleep campaign for the Office of Health Education, says that "lack of sleep affects cognition and ability to perform," she said. "Students will say it's impossible to get enough, but they need to make a more conscious effort to sleep."

Villari suggests setting an alarm clock at night to help you remember to go to bed. "Often students will get caught up in whatever they're doing and lose track of time," she said.

Many students also attempt to make up for their fatigue by catching up on the weekends. Harvard psychiatrist and sleep researcher Robert Stickgold calls this strategy "sleep bulimia." OHE's Web site refers to his belief that getting regular sleep is crucial in improving academic performance.

According to my survey, more than half of students increase their sleep by at least three hours on the weekend, throwing off their bodies for the coming week. These same students reported lower levels of alertness than those who maintained a constant level of sleep throughout the week.

Historically, I myself am quite the early bird. Call me after midnight on nights I don't go out and you'll get an incredibly groggy scolding before I hang up on you. But I've always slept in as long as possible. For the past month, however, I've been trying to cure myself of this "sleep bulimia."

Regardless of when I have class, I set my alarm for 9 a.m. At first, it was tough - my roommates can attest to my crankiness for the first few days. Still, I pressed on and eventually discovered something remarkable: I'm now waking up before my alarm goes off.

There's something about waking up naturally that agrees with me. As I write this, I feel more alert than I have in years. People have been asking me if I've started drinking coffee. A friend in my earliest class has noticed my brighter, "Hi!" as I sit down next to him each morning.

I've become more fun to be around, no longer shackled by my sleep deprivation.

Dinges said that "students need to make sleep a higher priority, as difficult as that may be."

I encourage each of every one of you to try out my experiment. I'm not telling you to wake up at 9 a.m. when you've gone to sleep four hours earlier - rather, try not to wait until midnight to start your work so you can get to bed sooner. You, your schoolwork and the people around you will thank me. I promise.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's way past my bedtime.

Ali Jackson is a Wharton and College sophomore from Cardiff, Calif. Her e-mail address is jackson@dailypennsylvanian.com. All Talk and One Jackson appears on Mondays.

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