College Napping- Scott

Scott McGrath
English 150 Section 14
Kathy Cowley
July 28, 2009
College Nap Time
Late night study sessions and early morning classes’ leads to sleep deprivation and loss of attention. This is what many call the normal college student life. However, there are many different views on how this lack of sleep is not only harming college student’s bodies physically but affecting their grades and success as well. In doing my research I found many different articles that talked about how serious of a problem sleep deprivation is and its many different effects on the body. With many college students lacking the right amount of sleep needed don’t you think a nap would be a great way to help? In many different studies naps have been proven to help students be more alert and stay awake during class time. I think that if students need to stay awake late working on homework than a nap is a great way to catch up on missed sleep.
A major factor in college students’ lives is evolved around stress and time management. We all know how good we feel when you finish that long paper or map out your time just right so you can get everything done for the day. Elizabeth Scott an expert on stress management with college students stated, “And research shows that you can make yourself more alert reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning with a nap. Mid-day sleep, or a ‘power nap’, means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, increased learning, more efficiency and better health” (Scott). In this quote she is talking about all of the positives that come from napping and catching up on loss sleep. However, on the flip side there are some very serious symptoms that may result from lack of sleep as well. The reason I have narrowed my topic down to specifically college students, is because they are a rather large group that lacks the most sleep.
As stated in the Scotts’ quote, napping can be extremely helpful for the body to make it more alert and attentive. Doesn’t this sound exactly like something every college student could use? If by simply taking a short nap a day to make up for loss sleep over night and help you be more alert in class, wouldn’t this be very helpful? By napping, college students will be more alert in class and pay more attention to specific details which in return should show a positive correlation with their grades. By simply adding a few more minutes of sleep a day could largely change your overall out come or grade in the class. This is one thing almost all college students’ desire: better grades.
Increased alertness would really help college students with staying awake in class, paying attention, taking notes, reading, quizzes and tests. I know from first hand that when I don’t get enough sleep the next day it is extremely hard for me to stay awake in my classes and I don’t learn much because of this. “Research shows that a midday snooze can increase productivity and alertness” (Kliff). Imagine what it would be like if all college students took a midday nap everyday. Grades would sky rocket and the students’ mentality on college campuses would completely change.
Taking a nap will help increase learning which in the long run will help raise your grades. One study found that “researchers who have studied college students' sleeping patterns have found that ZZZ's translate to A's” (Anas). This study was done at Colorado Universtiy where they have made a new nap room for college students to catch up on sleep which in return will help them with their grades. This just shows how important it is to get the right amount of sleep when in college. I think that the napping room is a really good idea and more colleges should input these around campuses. Although it may cost more money to make nap rooms on college campuses, it will be improving students’ health as well as grades which will make the college look much better.
Sleep deprivation is not healthy for your body to function correctly and our bodies need the right amount of sleep. Sleeping is very good for our bodies and is needed to stay healthy. "Sleep is part of good health, as important as nutrition and exercise to overall well-being," (Wasowicz). This is a very strong point she makes, because people are always worried about watching what they eat and exercising but you never see people worry much about their sleep. This is very bad for college students who don’t get enough sleep because not only are the tired and run down the next day; they are harming their bodies as well. If more people looked at sleep in this manner I think that many would take it much more seriously and make sure they got the right amount of sleep per night.
If a quick twenty minute nap can really help increase learning, reduce stress, more patience and better health why doesn’t everyone nap? Many people think that napping isn’t helpful at all and that it can actually be harmful to the person. Many people whose “sleep is lighter and marked by more frequent awakenings. This situation is exacerbated by afternoon napping” (therapeutics). Frequent awakenings and lighter sleeping is a major reason why people don’t nap. Another reason many don’t nap is because many people nap for hours at a time and wake up feeling groggy and more tired than before. This is very common and even though naps are making up for missed sleep, they do not need to be much longer than twenty to thirty minutes. Naps longer than twenty to thirty minutes go into your later stages of sleep cycle and even into REM where the body is completely asleep and relaxed. Trying to wake up in the later stages of the sleep cycle will be hard and make you feel very groggy because your body wants to keep sleeping.