Rodriguez | 1

WID: I think that my thesis is strong at pointing out the problems with college students today

and what factors contribute to the problems. At the same time, my thesis also shows the reader,

why this an issue we should be addressing. If I had a couple more weeks I would take a look at

other factors that play a role in bad sleeping habits. Explore things like family and finance as

examples of what may affect sleep. If I had more time, I would also try to find ways to word it

into something more fun to read and not try to make it sounds so much like a research paper.

I learned that writing a good thesis or paper in general, takes a long time. Help from others can

also contribute to a good paper, I would give my thesis an “A-” grade on it.

Angel A. Rodriguez

Mrs. Suzanne Thomas

UWRT 1104-017

31 October 2018
 Rodriguez | 2

Surfacing an Overlooked Problem

One third of our lives is spent sleeping or attempting to do so. Six, seven or eight hours of

sleep is what we, in the United States, believe is the appropriate time to sleep. Any more or any

less and we assume that physical and psychological problems will begin to manifest. Studies

after studies have been conducted on the topics trying to dispute different controversies and

misconceptions. Dr. James Maas, CEO of Sleep for Success, past professor and chairman of

psychology at Cornell University, disagrees in his book Power Sleep with the previously

acceptable 6-8 hours recommended amount of sleep and finds that this amount of sleep will lead

a person to be sleep deprived (Maas 6). He later comes to point out that historical figures who we

think of today as pioneers in higher thinking, like Albert. We try to understand the behavioral

effects that sleep has on our everyday lives. On this thesis we will take a more focused look at

university students of America because studies are more abundant among young students of the

country. A young student today must struggle to manage a wide aspect of life. Social networks,
 Rodriguez | 3

families, work, homework and sleep are just a few of the factors in the everyday life of a student.

As college freshmen we have felt first hand, the impact college has on our time management.

Why is sleep a controversial issue? It is something we have had to do since, well, we

existed. Plants, animals, fishes and birds all do some sort of version of sleep. With this amount of

sleeping subjects, we want to exam the way a modified sleep affects cognitive performance, in

humans specifically. Looking at multiple research article, I will paint a better picture of how

sleeping affects us. Better education on sleep is key to success academically. Early prevention of

harmful sleep hygiene can help us surpass our perceived limitations.

A research article by Chandra Jennings, director of the Nena Amundson Lifetime

Wellness Program, Characteristics and State of College Student’s Sleep shows that students

suffer from poor quality sleep but less then have received proper education on sleep (Jennings 1).

Continually ignoring signs of sleep deprivation, such as drowsiness, fatigue and irritability is

much too common in most students. We become blind to the sickness, such as insomnia, and are

in turn, unable to treat it. Sleep does not only attribute to academic performance but also

physical. As stated in Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical performance in

university students, a research article published in The National Library of Medicine, concluded

that by pulling an all-nighter, a student’s physical capabilities were severely impaired which put

them at a higher risk of injury (Patrick et al). This means not just regular students should be

concerned with their sleep habits but also student athletes. Sport related injuries will drop as

GPAs and average letter grades increase.

Most, if not all the students reading this thesis have a used, or still currently use, some

sort of stimulant to help combat some of the side effects that come with a bad night of sleep.

Coffee and nicotine are the most commonly sought out “solutions”. Any use of stimulants come
 Rodriguez | 4

with side effects such as addiction. Dr. Rowan P. Ogiel, a researcher at the Eastern Health

Clinical School in Australia and Dr. James G. Phillips, an associate professor in the Psychology

Department at the Auckland University in New Zealand support the idea caffeine and nicotine

are harmful to sleep when they state there is decrement in sleep quality and increased

psychological distress associated with the use of caffeine and nicotine, which is observed to be

more severe in the female subjects (Ogiel, Phillips). Though they provide short term boost in a

user’s day, the overall negative effects overcome any positive ones.

As modern students may already know, technology can influence how we sleep. Some

students may claim that they can not fall asleep without having a Television on, others will claim

that they need to read on their phone until they are able to feel tired. Passive and interactive

devices affect our sleep differently, for instance, something like a Television before bed does not

any impact on how you sleep because it does not require user input unlike a cellphone or laptop

would (Gradisar). Having access to such devices need to be taken into account when determining

what time you need to fall asleep. Students may want to place a curfew for how long they can
 Rodriguez | 5

use such devices before bed. Most cellphones come with a night time mode used to alleviate

some of the impact on sleep, however, an articles on CNET claims that researchers tested the

night mode on Apple devices and concluded that there was no difference between those who had

it on or off before bed (Broida et al). A use of a book may be a welcomed alternative to these

devices since they do not require any input from the reader, so it does not disturb the sleep

process.

How can we revanp our lifestyle to improve sleep health? In the article Predictors of

sleep difficulties in college students, published in the Journal of the European Psychiatric

Association, the researchers found that, for lack of better words, students do not know how their

actions are playing a role in their mental health; a lack of understanding leads to no to little

maintenance or moderation which then leads to harmful sleep hygiene habit and a never ending

cycle of sleep related complications (Amaral et al). Research published in an article,

Epidemiology of Insomnia in College Students: Relationship With Mental Health, Quality of Life,

and Substance Use Difficulties, demonstrated some eye opening results. “Of the sample of 1,039

students, 57.1% were normal sleepers, 9.5% had chronic insomnia, 6.5% reported an insomnia

complaint but did not meet severity, frequency, and duration criteria, and 26.9% met severity,

frequency, and duration criteria but did not report an insomnia complaint.” (Taylor et al). We are

now able to see the root of the problem and simply teaching the youth about how sleep affects

everyday life and vise versa, could lead to a dramatic decrease in sleep related mental illness.

Implementation of Sleep Ed classes may benefit most when introduced at the earliest age

possible allowing the student to subconsciously follow a healthy sleep routine for a majority if

not all of his or her life.

 Rodriguez | 6

I would like to share the results of the survey conducted in class where I was fortunate

enough to have seven students participate. Most of the participants were male and about eighteen

or less years of age. Most did not use nicotine and or caffeine nor have they been clinically

diagnosed with insomnia and most did not think they show symptoms for the illness. The results

were varied but, most slept eight to nine hours per night and less than half claimed to have an A

average this semester. From a scale of one to ten, one being not all and ten being very much,

students had a range of four to eight about sleep hygiene education and a five to ten range when

ask how interested they were to learn more. The last question was an open ended one but I found

most of the written responses were similar. When asked “What do you think the main factor

plaguing the average college student's sleep is?” most students answer with procrastination,

which then leads to the student having to do the assignment very late in the day.

In conclusion, what can we draw from all the research we have access to on sleep? We

can see that academic performance goes hand in hand with sleep. Students do not have the

proper education on sleep hygiene. A better understanding about how to time sleep and what

effects it can help students increase their GPA and athletes can decrease the amount of sport

related injuries they suffer. Early prevention in places such as high school health classes can lead

to a better implementation of sleep techniques in college students.

 Rodriguez | 7

Works Cited

Maas, James B., et al. Power Sleep : the Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for

Peak Performance . 1st ed., Villard, 1998.

Jennings, Chandra. “Characteristics and State of College Students’ Sleep.” Research Quarterly

for Exercise and Sport, vol. 85, no. S1, Taylor & Francis Ltd., Mar. 2014, p. A71,

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1621830005/.

Patrick, Yusuf, et al. “Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive and Physical Performance in

University Students.” Sleep and Biological Rhythms, vol. 15, no. 3, Springer Japan, July

2017, pp. 217–25, doi:10.1007/s41105-017-0099-5.

 Rodriguez | 8

Gradisar, Michael, et al. “The Sleep and Technology Use of Americans: Findings from the

National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America Poll.” Journal of Clinical Sleep

Medicine : JCSM : Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, vol.

9, no. 12, Dec. 2013, pp. 1291–99, doi:10.5664/jcsm.3272.

Broida, Rick. “Turns out Apple's Night Shift feature might not be helping you sleep.” CNET

March 2018. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/turns-out-apples-night-shift-feature-might-

not-be-helping-you-sleep/

Amaral, A. Paula, et al. “Predictors of Sleep Difficulties in College Students.” European

Psychiatry, vol. 41, no. sS, Elsevier Masson SAS, Apr. 2017, pp. S81–S81,

doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.257.

Taylor, Daniel J., et al. “Epidemiology of Insomnia in College Students: Relationship With

Mental Health, Quality of Life, and Substance Use Difficulties.” Behavior Therapy, vol.

44, no. 3, Elsevier Ltd, Sept. 2013, pp. 339–48, doi:10.1016/j.beth.2012.12.001.