University student Tyson Neukirch said he got an average of about seven hours of sleep per night this term, which is “better than it has been in terms past.”
But so far, dead week has not been kind to him. “To be honest, I’ve been getting about four hours of sleep a night,” Neukirch said.
College students are famous for pulling all-nighters and getting by with next to no sleep, especially in the weeks leading up to finals. But a recent study has found that college-age adults aren’t the only ones regularly skipping out on rest.
The study, which was published Feb. 29 in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, surveyed adults from Delaware, Hawaii, New York and Rhode Island about their sleeping patterns. Ten percent reported insufficient rest or sleep every day during the preceding 30 days.

“Lack of sleep is an increasing problem here in the U.S.,” said Lela McKnight-Eily, the study’s lead author. “Some people think it’s something you do on the weekends, that it’s a luxury. A lot of people don’t know sleep is important to our overall health.”
According to McKnight-Eily, a solid seven to nine hours of sleep every night can prevent problems such as stress, depression, obesity, accidents and judgment issues.
“The less sleep you get, the more likely you are to make errors,” said University Health Center Medical Director Ben Douglas. “In terms of school performance, that would be one of the things students would think about.”
Douglas said students who make time for full nights of sleep may be able to get more work done “than if they had gotten up early or stayed up late to finish their work.”
Plus, Douglas said, getting the standard eight hours of sleep is in our nature.
“There have been some studies where they take a person and put them in a room with no windows or watches, and they’ll be active for three or four hours then take a nap,” Douglas said. “In general, they got 8 hours of rest every 24 hours.”
According to the CDC study, sleep insufficiency – defined as six or fewer hours of sleep per night – has increased in both men and women in all age groups over the past two decades.
Douglas attributed this increase to our modern society. “It’s that American cultural thing,” he said. “Our lives are just so much busier. We fill our spare time with activities when we’re not working.”
According to McKnight-Eily, the National Sleep Foundation says recent lifestyle and occupational changes such as night shifts, increased television watching and Internet surfing have greatly altered our sleeping patterns.
“We have seen the insufficiency increase with increases in technology use and changes in our overall lifestyle,” McKnight-Eily said.
Even students who carry a full load of classes have no excuse for sleep loss. “What people don’t know is there are a lot of behavioral strategies people can employ,” McKnight-Eily said. For example, students who write out and stick to daily schedules will get more done in less time.
The most important thing students should keep in mind is that lack of sleep can lead to brain malfunctions over a long period of time, she said.
“If you get enough sleep,” McKnight-Eily said, “your brain is working more efficiently. You’re able to get work done better, and it helps you feel better.”
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