“Alertness aids” seem to be the rage on campus these
days. With everything from energy drinks to Adderalls, University
students are pushing the limits of their studying capabilities.
Sacrificing sleep for the promise of stronger academic results,
these individuals don’t quit until they “crash”
the next day.

Endemic to America’s institutions of higher learning, this
trend is disturbing because of the implications it has for the
mental well-beings of this nation’s college students.

It has been said that in college, when it comes to grades, fun
and sleep, you can only have two. From an informal survey of
virtually any college campus, it’s evident that students
usually opt for the first two upon hearing the classic maxim.

“My sleeping patterns are very inconsistent; I either get
a lot (of sleep), or none at all,” said LSA senior Pamela
Itzkowitch. “It’s mostly due to my workload … I
have a full course schedule. But when I get a decent amount of
sleep, I’m a lot more functional,” Itzkowitch
added.

LSA senior Daniel Rieger admitted, however, that his lack of
sleep comes from slightly different source: “It’s
mainly from partying,” he said. “I’m so busy
during the week, I just have to release on the weekends. I just end
up not getting any sleep during these times.”

People may lose sleep for a variety of reasons, whether it is
from academic stress or an unusual lifestyle. Yet, whatever the
case may be, both the bookworms and the revelers place themselves
at risk for an assortment of serious health problems with every
sleepless night they accrue.

The effects of sleep deprivation may be manifested through a
number of negative physical responses. In an exhausted body, the
eyes lose their ability to focus properly; muscle strength becomes
sharply reduced when the metabolism slows down. Consequently, basic
motor skills become impaired, the degree correlated to the amount
of regular sleep that is lost. Lack of sleep also results in a
compromise of the immune system, rendering the non-sleeper
susceptible to infections. Moreover, long-term sleeplessness may
cause severe gastrointestinal problems, as the body forces itself
to adjust to a foreign schedule.

Sleep deprivation also takes a significant toll on the emotional
stability of a person. Recent studies suggest that sleep
deprivation can be linked to the aggravation of clinical
depression. Stress, anxiety, general mental duress all may
perpetuate insomnia, yet they may also precipitates chronic
sleeplessness; the progression of emotional side effects is
circular in this way.

“The risk for psychiatric disorders such as depression is
increased … in the short term, people with insomnia describe
moodiness, irritability, difficultly with concentration and just
plain feeling lousy,” said Ronald Chervin, director of the
University’s Sleep Disorders Laboratory.

An excessive denial of sleep will even result in very grave
psychological repercussions. The New England Journal of Medicine
has definitively linked fatigue to automobile accidents; many
researchers agree that a night of lost sleep is equivalent in its
effects on the central nervous system as one or two alcoholic
beverages.

In Britain, several recent studies have alarmingly concluded
that long-term sleep deprivation can result in borderline
retardation, with every hour of sleep lost translating into a
temporary, one-point drop in the IQ of the individual.

There are several different treatments for sleeplessness, each
one depending on the causes and severity of the case. A
pharmacological approach is most frequently used for serious but
short-term insomnia. There are several pills on the market that can
be used to combat insomnia. Most of these are benzodiazepines
— a class of drugs prescribed for their tranquilizing,
sedative and anti-anxiety effects. However, drugs of this category
are extremely addictive physiologically, and should be used with
prudence and caution.

Non-benzodiazepine prescription sleep aids like Ambien and
Sonata do exist, yet these pills are also habit-forming, making it
potentially difficult for users to adopt a natural sleep cycle
after their discontinuance.

Actual medical treatment is also a helpful solution for
insomnia. Usually employed in cases of acute, chronic insomnia,
psychological counseling and behavioral therapy, physicians seek to
find the underlying causes behind a patient’s inability to
sleep. Physicians may often find psychological and/or neurological
trauma to be the root of sleepless, making it easier to continue
with a suitable plan of action.