College students report at least two times as many sleep difficulties as the general population. This is of particular concern because poor sleep quality can cause increased tension, irritability, depression, confusion and lower life satisfaction. There is also strong evidence that getting adequate sleep can positively affect academic performance and GPA.
While many people believe that getting eight hours of sleep every night is the most important thing, this is not true. Sleep quality is actually just as important as – if not more important than – sleep quantity. Sleep quality includes how restful your sleep is and how frequently it is interrupted.
Contrary to many peoples’ beliefs, you cannot repay sleep debt. For example, sleeping 12 hours on the weekend will not replace the sleep lost from only getting four hours on the weeknights. These type of sleep schedule variations cause grogginess, depressed mood, attention and concentration difficulties, and long-term sleep difficulties. If you are going to stay up late one weekend night, it should be Friday. That way you can get back to your normal schedule on Saturday and Sunday, and be ready for Monday morning.
Source: Bulboltz, W.C., Loveland, J., Jenkins, S.M., Brown, F., Soper, B., Hodges, J. (2006). College Student Sleep: Relationship to health and academic performance. In College students: Mental health and coping strategies (pp. 1-39). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
