As a college student, sleep is something that is hard to find. Whether I’m busy studying for a test, doing work, or just hanging out with my friends, my ‘bed time’ always ends up being a lot later than I wanted it to be. 11:30 quickly turns into 1:30, and waking up for classes in the morning has become almost impossible.
Some people may say that a person doesn’t need much sleep, that they can push through the tiredness and drink coffee in order to stay awake. But this isn’t the case. Sleep is extremely important: lack of sleep can have a negative impact on a person both physically and emotionally.
2. Medical risks: Your chances of having a stroke and developing coronary heart disease increases with less sleep. Shortened sleep has also been associated with higher rates of cholesterol, prostate and breast cancers. You are also at a higher risk for diabetes, higher blood pressure and obesity.
3. Your mind stops working: Lack of sleep for even one night can lead to many cognitive issues. It can affect a person's memory, decision-making, reasoning and problem solving. These are not things you want to be affected before a big exam!
4. Relationship stress: We all know that person who gets angry and mean when they don’t get enough sleep. When a person sleeps less than they are supposed to, they can become more moody and have more conflicts with others.
5. You are more prone to accidents: Each year, thousands of car crashes occur because a person falls asleep at the wheel. Without enough sleep, a person's reflexes are slower and it becomes more likely that they will drift on while driving.
6. It affects your appearance: You can see that a person hasn’t gotten enough sleep by the dark bags under their eye, the pimples that have broken out all over their face, and even by their weight gain. This is why they call it ‘beauty sleep’.
So, as you can see, there are many consequences to not getting enough sleep. Now here is the next question: What IS enough sleep?
College students -- get this through your head: SLEEP IS IMPORTANT. So please, the next time you choose to pull an all-nighter to study for an exam or decide to binge watch a show until 3 a.m.: don’t. Go to sleep!
