Sleep deprivation could have dangerous results

by Erica Bush
Staff Writer

Ohio University students may want to think twice before pulling an all-nighter during finals week. Missing sleep could be more harmful than they think.

Sleep deprivation has become increasingly common in the last 20 years, said Michael Morehead, M.D., of PM Sleep Medicine, Parkersburg, W.Va. College students need nine hours of sleep a night, but most burn the candle by getting no more than six-and-a-half, he said.

The reason for sleep deprivation is that teenagers have social pressures today that were not present in past years, Morehead said.

Students are balancing social and personal relationships, academics and extra-curricular activities. These are all factors that make a teenager's wake-up time earlier and their amount of sleep shorter, Morehead said.

OU junior Suzy Schildhouse is among those students whose sleep time has been disturbed by academics. She only gets five to six hours of sleep a night, but says she can function well on this amount of sleep.

"I am always up to 2 a.m. doing homework," she said.

But Morehead says that teenagers have a sleep need built into them and when they do not get the amount of sleep their body needs, this is when sleep deprivation can become harmful.

Students who sleep 6 1/2 hours were found to have side effects as a result of sleep deprivation, he said. Problems with grades, perception problems, success in extracurricular activities and moodiness are effects of sleep deprivation.

In addition to these side effects, teenagers and college students can also become more anxious, stressed and their behavioral and emotional interaction with others can suffer, Morehead said.

Being tired in class and staying up late studying has been a problem for OU junior Katie Schaefer, who only sleeps six hours a night.

"Sure, I would love to have 9 1/2 hours of sleep, but there is no way it is going to happen," she said.Aside from mood effects, sleep deprivation does not have any immediate physical effects in teenagers, Morehead said.

If one continually does not get the proper amount of sleep, however, it can increase their risk of health problems such as diabetes when they are adults. This is because the immune system performs actions during sleep to prevent infection, he said. 

Also, sleeping late in the afternoon does help students catch up on sleep they missed during the week but does not prevent them from being exposed to health problems when they are adults, Morehead said.          

Although they are rare, some teenagers can function on three or four hours of sleep a night, Morehead said. These people are called short sleepers, and their bodies allow them to use the time they sleep more efficiently and enter deep sleep quicker without the health risks.

Vitamins and caffeine are not a substitute for a nap or sleep, he said.