Introduction
Over the years, college students have been associated with numerous sleep issues which are linked to varied factors. Quality sleep has been indicated to protect mental and physical health, while inadequate periods of slumber negatively affect memory and health in many aspects (Madison, 2019). Sleep disorders affect students’ ability to achieve excellence in higher academic institutions because they are involved in numerous activities, such as relocation from parents’ homes, completion of academic tasks, and internship programs. Sufficient sleep among college students each night is essential because it enhances their cognitive well-being (Guadiana & Okashima, 2021). The ability to have quality sleep by college students assists in eliminating disorders while creating a conducive environment for learning and completion of their day-to-day activities. Therefore, having an in-depth understanding of the effects of sleep deprivation and ways of mitigating them among college students is highly instrumental.
Sleep deprivation refers to a situation when a person fails to get enough sleep needed to keep him or she refreshed. Sleep is fundamental for college students since they are engaged in different activities which require high levels of attention and participation. It is estimated that 70.6% of college-going students have been spending less than eight hours of slumber in a single night, while over 60% were associated with sleep of poor quality (Kim, 2019). The appropriate period of sleep for each adult is approximately seven to eight hours. Sleep deprivation emanates from the inadequacy and failure to maintain recommended amounts of sleep (Guadiana & Okashima, 2021). Sleep disorders and sleeplessness alter students’ ability to excel academically while exposing them to psychological, physiological, and cognitive functionality problems. According to research by Madison (2019), there is a registered 20% increase in psychological health signs on average due to additional nights of sleep deprivation. College students are only able to properly, adequately, and effectively maintain positive mental well-being if they maintain proper sleeping patterns.
The paper seeks to explore sleep deprivation and its associated effects, particularly among college students. There is a need to understand the benefits of sleep concerning the quality of students’ livelihood, and physical and mental health since it is estimated that over a third of Americans fail to have quality sleep (Madison, 2019). Similarly, 60% of college-going students are suffering from deprived sleep (Guadiana & Okashima, 2021). Therefore, three articles that discuss the topic of interest, ‘Sleep deprivation and its effects on college students, will be summarized and discussed.
Summary and Reflection
The section will be summarizing three articles that were found to relate to the paper’s topic. The first was Madison’s article, whose research question examined the associated consequences of sleep deprivation among college-going students (Madison, 2019). Findings from the research showed that severe sleep deprivation negatively influenced the academic achievements of the study’s participants, who were mainly college students. Similarly, the outcomes demonstrate how there existed no major difference after a single night of sleep deprivation but indicated acute denial would not be detrimental to a college student’s cognitive abilities. Additionally, the research showed the association between difficulty in regulating emotions and sleep interference brought by trauma, since they contributed to poor sleep quality (Madison, 2019). The results were essential since they explored and provided answers to the study’s topic of interest while answering the raised questions relating to the consequences of sleep deprivation among college-going students.
The second article was by Guadiana and Okashima and its research question explored how sleep deprivation impacted college students’ psychological and physiological health and their cognitive functioning ability. Similarly, the research paper examined how the ongoing aspect of sleep deprivation affected college students’ academic performance in their consecutive four-year period at the university (Guadiana & Okashima, 2021). Together with the available evidence, the findings showed how sufficient quality sleep is fundamental to the adequate functioning of college students and individuals working in hospitals. Consistently, it revealed that sleep deprivation negatively impacts clinical and academic performance while generating issues related to the functioning of the brain, psychomotor performance, and mental health (Guadiana & Okashima, 2021). The study’s results were essential in providing solutions to the identified gap relating to sleep deprivation among college-going students, specifically regarding psychological well-being, physiological health, and cognitive functioning ability.
The third article was by Kim and its research question was skewed towards examining sleep deprivation’s effects on the academic performance of North Texas college students. The study showed an existing close association between academic performance and sleep deprivation among the students in a North Texas college. In other outcomes, it was suggested that individuals who had slept well possess a higher GPA than those who had experienced poor quality of slumber. The study’s outcomes are essential in providing, a new understanding relating to the impacts of sleep deprivation on the academic excellence of college-going students in North Texas (Kim, 2019). The results are essential for learning institutions in North Texas to integrate necessary programs to promote healthy sleeping tendencies while ideally eliminating the negative aspects of sleep deprivation.
The three articles are significant since they enhance insight into understanding the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation. They are focusing on college students because they are the group, that is mainly affected by the problem. Similarly, the research will be instrumental in answering the perceived questions on whether sleep deprivation has any effect on the well-being of college students and the performance of their cognitive and learning abilities.
Conclusion
According to the discussed articles, it is evident that sleep deprivation among college-going students possesses numerous effects which touch on their academic performance, mental well-being, and physiological aspects. The studies explored the exciting relationship between quality sleep deprivation and its related effect on the academic performance of college-going students. All the papers have suggested an existing correlation between quality sleep and academic excellence among college-going students. Therefore, I believe the urge to accomplish academic tasks within the stipulated time, leads to poor sleep quality and in turn affects the performance of students during the day. Similarly, the first two articles concurred that sleep deprivation contributes to psychological and physiological disorders. They suggest that students have been denied quality sleep, which would have been essential in offloading the weight of workload they have been involved in during the day. Quality sleep is essential for ensuring college-going students are in a position of dispensing and accomplishing their tasks fully without unnecessary slumber disturbance witnessed among them during learning hours.
The articles indicate how poor quality of sleep interferes with the academic achievements of students. College students are daily met with a tight and busy schedule, which, if they are deprived of sleep, is bound to yield dismal results. I concur that sleep deprivation is caused by the need and desire to meet academic goals of academics. Furthermore, students are at a risk of reducing their accuracy and alertness in every task or activity they are involved in when supposedly awake when they should be sleeping. Therefore, sleep deprivation is not only dangerous to students’ health but also hurts their academic performance since slumber alters their level of accuracy and alertness when undertaking various learning activities.
References
Guadiana, N., & Okashima, T. (2021). The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on College Students (Publication number: 5-2021) [Senior Thesis, Dominican University of California]. Dominican Scholar.
Kim, H. (2019). The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Academic Performance of College Students. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 10(5), 882-890. Web.
Madison, C. (2019). The effects of sleep deprivation among college students. (Publication number: 5-2021) [Senior Thesis, Oral Roberts University]. Digital showcase.