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behavioral changes that occur when you lose sleep that make you hungry," he says. "If you're not sleeping well, we are biologically programmed to look for food."
To make matters worse, the food that sleepy people go for is usually high in fat, sugar and salt, Kramer says.
The long sleeper
He also says that acute sleep deprivation — about four or less hours of sleep a night — can play a part in the "freshman 15."
At 9:30 on any given night, when many students haven't even given their homework a glance, Ruth Ann Atchely is probably sleeping.
"I sleep an abnormally large amount tor any individual," says Atchely, a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor of psychology at the University who is beginning a line of research on sleep.
Preparing for better sleep
Atchley says it is not uncommon for her to sleep 10 hours a night during the week. As an undergraduate at The Ohio State University, Atchley says she lived at home and commuted to school each day with her father, who was a professor at the university. This structured environment allowed her to get a good amount of sleep, though her sleep schedule wasn't consistent, she says.
"If we could teach a major in time management, we could probably serve our students almost as well as with any other major we could offer them,"she says.
Her situation was atypical, as most students, especially those in residence halls, have many more distractions to keep them awake. But Achley says everyone can get eight hours a sleep a night if they budget their time wisely.
"I know I shifted my sleep patterns on Friday and Saturday night because I closed the bars just like everybody else," Aatchley says.
In line with the idea that sleep is a ritual, Gehrman recommends students set a sleep schedule and stick to it.
"Consistency is really important, especially keeping the timing relatively consistent, so the time you go to bed doesn't vary by hours from night to night," he says.
When it comes to sleep deprivation, Atchley places some of the blame on the poor "sleep hygiene" — a set of habits that can promote healthy sleep — that some students display.
Students who eat, do homework and play video games in bed could find it harder to fall asleep because psychologically the bed no longer is a place designated only for sleeping, she says.She says that activities such as routinely putting on pajamas and brushing one's teeth before bed can help students fall asleep more easily.
CAN'T SLEEP? TRY THIS
As a person sleeps, his or her body temperature drops, which is why Ruth Ann Atchley, associate professor of psychology, takes a hot shower before turning in for the night. The hot shower raises body temperature, and the drop afterward reinforces the body's natural process of falling asleep, she says.
Up all night
The all-nighter is the last resort for the seasoned procrastinator, but it might do more harm than good.
If you've put off writing that big paper until the last minute and you're considering pulling an all-nighter, you'd be better off sleeping at least a few hours. Kramer says.
"You probably should really give in and sleep from 3 to 6 a.m. when your body temperature drops like a rock and you can barely keep your eyes open," he says.
Body temperature naturally drops during sleep, so fighting that critical window is extremely detrimental to studying because the body is trying to go to sleep, Kramer says.
Asleep. Kind of.
Alcohol and caffeine work in different ways but each has a negative impact on sleep.
Although a person usually has no problem passing out after a night of drinking, the alcohol does not let your body reach the deeper stages of sleep, which is why a 10-hour sleep session after boozing leaves you feeling less than refreshed.
"It will make you go to sleep but then, as your body metabolizes the alcohol, the by-products that are produced actually destruct your sleep, so it's really poor quality." Gehrman says.
He says that caffeine also interferes with our sleep, even long after the buzz has worn off.
"Caffeine can actually last in your body up to 10 hours," he says.
Just because you feel tired, that doesn't mean the caffeine isn't working to keep your body alert and thus disrupting your sleep, he says.
Sweet dreams
As technology advances and the world becomes more connected every day, it doesn't appear our world — or campus — will slow down anytime soon.
"it's kind of assumed, but it's not scientifically proven, that all of society, adolescents and up, are losing more and more sleep as we move to a 24-hour society based a lot on Internet and electronic communication and work," says Kramer, the Denver sleep expert.
It looks like it's going to be a long night.
12> JAYFLAY 05.03.2007