College students are all too familiar with erratic sleeping habits. As I write this post at 12:30 in the morning, acknowledging the fact that caffeine will be essential for my 10 o'clock class, I wonder if my sleeping habits have any negative side effects on my mental/physical health? Oftentimes I have found myself the morning-after the all-nighter, in a mental state where my brain processes seem to be in limbo - half awake half unaware of the world around me. In a 1998 study of British college students, it was proven that the sleepier an individual is, the more active his/her prefrontal lobe becomes - this part of your brain is associated with more systematic tasks, such as mathematics, organizing, and even short term memory. While the typical side effects of sleep deprivation were noted - speech, typing skills, increased irritability - it is interesting to note how the brain tries to compensate for being overworked.
Not that I encourage a warped sleeping schedule - apparently students who study all week and stay up on the weekends can lose up to 30% of the information they absorbed. As if I didn't have a problem retaining information already...the recommended amount of sleep for the average adult is 8 hours - so i'm going to call it a night and get my time in. GOODNIGHT :)
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