Sleep or study? A college student’s ultimate battle
Research reveals that there is a direct correlation between how much sleep students get and their GPAs
Many college students sacrifice sleep in order to maintain other aspects of their busy lives. Sleep holds a lot of power over how a person feels, acts and performs in their daily tasks. College students typically have full schedules, which can make it hard to find time for everything, but studies show prioritizing sleep can be highly beneficial for mental and physical health.
“Between school, work, my social life and the gym, I am always exhausted,” San Diego Miramar College student Seonna York said. “I feel like I can’t ever get enough sleep.”
The National Academy of Sciences recently conducted a study that found college students not getting enough sleep got worse grades than students who were getting a full night’s rest. Research shows undisturbed sleep helps the brain process and retain information. The study was two years long and surveyed over 600 college freshmen and the results were clear; the less sleep each student got the lower their grade point average was.
The student perspective
An issue some students face is deciding to prioritize school, work, social life, exercise or sleep. Some students say there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
San Diego Mesa Community College student Kaleb Miller works full-time as a bartender in addition to attending his daily classes, leaving him with a little freetime for other activities.
“When I do get eight or nine hours of sleep, I do have to sacrifice something else like my social life or hanging out with friends, doing something I want to do like a hobby or something like that,” Miller said. “I’d rather get a little less sleep and be able to do the things I want to do outside of school work.”
There is a paradox when it comes to staying up late to do homework, or sleeping less to study for an exam. Although doing homework is essential for good grades, so is sleep. Some students will pull “all-nighters” in order to cram for an exam the next day. This can be detrimental to their grades. Professionals say that without sleep information retention declines, and so does performance.
“I notice a huge difference in how I perform in school based on how much sleep I get,” San Diego State University senior Danilla Witaker said. “If I didn’t sleep very much the night before I have a hard time paying attention and I am way less focused.”
Witaker is not alone. Several other students find their focus declining if they did not get enough sleep the night beforehand.
“If I don’t sleep, I can’t function; all I will be thinking about is taking a nap,” SDSU junior Paridhi Shrivastava said. “I genuinely love sleep.”
The science behind why sleep is essential
Medical professionals have been sharing for years how essential a good night’s rest is for their patient’s health. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, sleep affects the individual’s heart, circulatory system, metabolism, respiratory system and immune system.
“I think sleep is really important from a medical standpoint, it really helps your efficiency throughout the day and obviously your energy levels,” registered nurse Emma Salminen said. “It is really important in regards to cardiovascular health and also neurological health … sleep deprivation has a lot of consequences.”
As an example of some of the consequences of sleep deprivation, Salminen said that driving exhausted is almost equivalent to driving drunk.
“There are a whole lot of physiologic pieces that are at stake if you don’t get it so anywhere from increasing your heart rate, to your blood pressure which ultimately trickles down to the risk of heart conditions,” said Allison Tarrasch, a physician’s assistant at LA Children’s Hospital.
With all of the research surrounding sleep and its benefits to students, policymakers have started taking action. California has implemented a statewide later school start time for middle school and high school students. The later start time was put in place with the intention of giving students more time to get essential sleep.
“Sleep is important for a variety of things that make you successful in your day, a couple of the biggest things would be your capacity for learning throughout the day or memory,” Tarrasch said. “If you short yourself on those hours you are less capable of succeeding in those things.”
This project was produced by Hannah Halferty as a published learning experience in JMS 550 Multimedia News Lab, part of the Journalism and Media Studies Program at San Diego State University.
