Sleep deprivation is a significant issue commonly caused among college students. There are several causes of sleep deprivation and it can have a negative impact on a college student’s performance. Sleep deprivation is also known as chronic partial sleep deprivation or acute sleep deprivation. Generally, the most commonly found type of sleep deprivation is chronic partial sleep deprivation. Similar to essays on other assignment help services websites, this essay will help students extract relevant information for writing an essay on a similar topic.
In this condition, a student does not get proper and sufficient sleep. Sleep deprivation can also cause sleepiness. Although, sleepiness can result from several other reasons however it is commonly caused by sleeping disorders. Just like essays on different project management assignment help websites this essay will discuss the common reasons for sleep deprivation faced by college students.
Insufficient Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene is referred to as a practice that allows or restricts a student from getting sufficient sleep. It appertains sleep schedule, proper sleep environment, alcohol usage, caffeine and stimulants usage and activities that can have an adverse impact on sleep. Getting sufficient sleep daily also helps in preventing mental health issues and risks (bestassignmentwriter, 2022). Poor sleep behaviour can result in sleep deprivation. Sleep hygiene supports restorative sleep and helps in avoiding supplements or actions that can cause a negative impact on a student’s sleep.
Good sleep hygiene involves a regular sleeping and waking schedule, a peaceful sleeping ambience and place, avoiding the consumption of caffeine after lunch and other stimulating behaviours before sleeping. The combination of insufficient sleep hygiene and delayed circadian rhythm causes sleep deprivation. The college life factors that can have an adverse impact on the student’s sleep hygiene involve constantly changing class timings and sleep-wake patterns, staying up late and early morning tasks.
Alcohol
College students consume alcohol to help them sleep. College students who consume alcohol state that it helps them sleep properly. Despite helping them sleep it can result in a sleep disorder called obstructive sleep apnea. More or less, four out of five college students are alcohol consumers, among which 40 per cent are men and women who heavily consume about 4 to 5 drinks consecutively. Alcohol reduces sleep delay and also causes sleep fragmentation in the second of midnight. Alcohol can also cause obstructive sleep apnea. Alcohol consumption and sleep loss can collectively decrease college students’ driving performance.
Caffeine and Energy Drinks
Consumption of caffeine and energy drinks by college students can also cause sleep deprivation. Caffeine effects can prolong for several hours, causing difficulties in falling asleep. Many drinks can contain caffeine, for example, tea, coffee, energy drinks and sodas. The main constituent of energy drinks is caffeine. Energy drink consumption is linked to high usage of stimulants, alcohol and other drugs. Caffeine present in energy drinks provides an increase in energy. In an energy drink, there is about 45 to 500 mg of caffeine. This prevents sleepiness, consequently resulting in sleep deprivation.
Stimulants
Stimulants are substances that are consumed by students that increase energy temporarily. Stimulants including non-prescribed and prescribed are often consumed by college students than other people in the same age group. Consumption of non-prescribed or prescribed stimulants by younger adults is considered a problem that is growing.
Staying up late to study or improve concentration is the reason that is commonly used by students for consuming stimulants. These drugs are more utilised by students of the same age as compared non-students. People who consume stimulants are more probable to experience difficulty falling asleep and are less probable to report getting deep and rejuvenating sleep. On the other hand, they frequently report increasing their usage of alcohol and drugs that are illegal.
Technology Usage
Sleep deprivation is not only caused due to the consumption of stimulants however usage of smartphones or laptops before going to bed can have a negative impact on sleep as well. The main focus here is to stay away from digital technology before sleeping. Using smartphones and computers right before sleep can cause increased daytime tiredness, decrease sleep quality, cause trouble in sleeping and result in interrupted sleep during the night. Similarly, playing video games before bed can also cause trouble in falling asleep. Using these technologies exposes us to ultraviolet rays or light, which can suppress the secretion of melatonin, which is also known as the natural sleep hormone, in the body.
Sleeping Disorders
Sleepiness is a type of sleeping disorder, which can be resulted due to sleep deprivation however, there are also other common causes of sleepiness. Every productive wakefulness and restorative sleep obstacle is not voluntarily caused. There are different types of sleeping disorders that include, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, sleep-wake cycle disorder, Willis-Ekbom disease and excessive daytime sleepiness. Insufficient and improper amounts of sleep can cause tiredness in college students. According to Chen and Chen (2019), college students who lack sleep might struggle to build their leadership skills and their need for cognition. Sleepiness can obstruct the cognition and mental abilities of college students. Consequently, it can result in learning impairment, shortage of memory, anxiety, depression and personality changes in college students.
Staying up all night
Staying up all night can cause sleep deprivation of more than 24 hours. Normally, college students stay up all night at a friend’s house for group study before their final examination for the sake of getting good grades. However, it has a major drawback. It has been observed that all-nighter group study is not a good idea for studying and getting good grades. Staying up all night to study makes college students exhausted and mentally tired. Consequently, it results in forgetting everything that was learnt during the process and causes a problem in recalling the material that was studied. It also causes students to lose focus and concentration during the examination, which also results in panic due to the inability of recalling stuff.
Conclusion
In this essay, we discussed the common causes of sleep deprivation in college students. Sleep deprivation is a serious problem that frequently affects college students. A college student’s performance may suffer from sleep deprivation, which has a variety of effects. The most common causes of sleep deprivation among college students include insufficient sleep hygiene, consumption of alcohol, caffeine and energy drinks, and stimulants. Furthermore, usage of technology, staying up all night and other sleeping disorders can also contribute to sleep deprivation among college students. Chronic partial sleep deprivation is typically the type of sleep deprivation that is most frequently observed. Additionally, sleep loss can make a college student feel drowsy.
