2008 Woodie Awards
Sleep is key to a balanced life
Bea Basquiat
Issue date: 2/18/05 Section: News Stories
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Though many not realize this, sleep is a very important factor in living a normal lifestyle. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are common problems amongst college students.
Though you may not think about this much, sleep is something we all need a sufficient amount of. Sleep is what gives us energy and helps us focus. It even helps put us into good moods. It helps us live a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally.
Sleep is needed to maintain a healthy immune system as well. When someone does not get enough sleep and rest, they are more likely to get sick or come down with a virus such as a cold. The reason it affects your immune system is because it alters a person's blood levels and affects the protein in the body which causes a greater possibility for infection.
You know you may be suffering from sleep deprivation or not getting enough sleep if you are exhausted and you have no physical energy. You probably will doze off in class and struggle real hard to keep your eyes open.
There are so many different factors that may tie into your loss of sleep. One factor may be just living in on-campus housing. Your roommate could make it hard for you to sleep due to conflicting schedules. He or she may like to do work late at night around the time you are ready for bed, and you may rather do your work during the day when he or she may just be watching TV and relaxing. Perhaps you could say something to your roommate. Explain to them how you need some sleep because you have been dozing off in class. There are also usually lounge areas in the dorms maybe he or she would be willing to do work in there. Just living in a dorm may make it hard for one to sleep because there are just so many people. The music coming from another room may be keeping you awake. One solution to this could be wearing ear plugs to block any sound.
Another cause of restless nights is stress. Having a lot of worries and stressful situations will have you up at night thinking and cause you to lose a lot of sleep or have a horrible night's sleep. A lot of the time when one is stressed so much, enough to lose sleep over, it can lead to depression. Having anger or being anxious also causes loss of sleep. Eighty-five percent of people relate their lack of sleep to having trouble getting along with others. Losing sleep due to these causes is usually temporary.
Though you may not think about this much, sleep is something we all need a sufficient amount of. Sleep is what gives us energy and helps us focus. It even helps put us into good moods. It helps us live a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally.
Sleep is needed to maintain a healthy immune system as well. When someone does not get enough sleep and rest, they are more likely to get sick or come down with a virus such as a cold. The reason it affects your immune system is because it alters a person's blood levels and affects the protein in the body which causes a greater possibility for infection.
You know you may be suffering from sleep deprivation or not getting enough sleep if you are exhausted and you have no physical energy. You probably will doze off in class and struggle real hard to keep your eyes open.
There are so many different factors that may tie into your loss of sleep. One factor may be just living in on-campus housing. Your roommate could make it hard for you to sleep due to conflicting schedules. He or she may like to do work late at night around the time you are ready for bed, and you may rather do your work during the day when he or she may just be watching TV and relaxing. Perhaps you could say something to your roommate. Explain to them how you need some sleep because you have been dozing off in class. There are also usually lounge areas in the dorms maybe he or she would be willing to do work in there. Just living in a dorm may make it hard for one to sleep because there are just so many people. The music coming from another room may be keeping you awake. One solution to this could be wearing ear plugs to block any sound.
Another cause of restless nights is stress. Having a lot of worries and stressful situations will have you up at night thinking and cause you to lose a lot of sleep or have a horrible night's sleep. A lot of the time when one is stressed so much, enough to lose sleep over, it can lead to depression. Having anger or being anxious also causes loss of sleep. Eighty-five percent of people relate their lack of sleep to having trouble getting along with others. Losing sleep due to these causes is usually temporary.