Sleep deprivation can do more than just make you feel tired — it may also seriously affect your health and safety.
“Many students will come back to school after break saying they were sick during the entire break,” said Jacqueline Defouw, health educator at The University of Memphis Student Health Center. “Much of this is due to the lack of sleep they experienced during the semester. Sleep deprivation causes the immune system to decline, thereby creating a pathway for illness.”
Sleep deprivation has been associated with impotence, headaches, personality changes, irritability and even intellectual impairment.
Although most studies stress the importance of REM (dreaming) sleep, the two periods of ‘deep’ (non-dreaming) sleep following REM sleep are crucial for retaining information, which can effect intellect.
According to Sid Nau, a research coordinator for the Sleep Research Program at The University of Memphis, these phases are crucial for retaining memories. Much like the fact that children who do not eat breakfast are unable to function in class, sleep deprivation also decreases a person’s ability to retain knowledge.
Another serious problem attributed to sleep deprivation is “sleep debt,” which is a log of sleep owed to one’s body. For example, if a person who requires eight hours of sleep gets only four hours one night, they will need twelve hours the next day.
“Sleep is important, and it is commonly underestimated because an individual can push themselves to function despite chronic insufficient sleep,” Nau said. “A lot of people summarize the effects of cumulative sleep loss as a sleep debt, which is so common that people often speak of a National Sleep Debt. It is a national problem that undermines performance in work and school, and enjoyment in free time.”
It may be in sleep debt that the origins of microsleep were discovered by Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, Harvard Medical School professor and founder and CEO of Circadian Technologies. Microsleep is a modern definition of “blocks,” “blackouts,” “mental lapses” and “gaps.” If you have ever come to in the middle of a lecture and realized you have no idea what your professor has just said, then you may have experienced a microsleep.
A microsleep is a lapse of light sleep that can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. This occurs while the individual’s eyes are still open. Unfortunately, microsleeps are involuntary and can happen at any time — even while driving.
It has been estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that 100,000 motor vehicle accidents each year are related to drowsiness.
So this semester, before you pull that next all-nighter, ask yourself if it is worth it.
