So, during the very last test that we turned in, we looked at the book The Anxiety Cure by Dr. Archibald D. Hart analyzing some of the factors that can lower stress and anxiety. Hart claims that one of the largest reducers of stress is sleep, which gives the brain a chance to "reset." Ironically, as I was working on my test at 3am in the morning, I learned that sleep deprivation causes a lot of stress in an individual.
That being said, I've found an article discussing the dreaded all-nighter that many a college students have performed. This was once seen as an uncanny ability to steal time from the night, in order to finish uncompleted projects, such as an annotated bibliography or two. But, as this article argues, all-nighters have the same effect on the brain as consecutive nights of sleep deprivation.
Taking several rats that willingly sacrificed their lives to the cause of science, the researchers tested the effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation on these scientific martyrs. In doing so, they acknowledged that the effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation were equivalent. As such, much of the cognitive functions of the rats were
drastically reduced through this sleep deprivation.
This study made me consider and think about the long term damage that pulling a all-nighter can do on the body. Not only, does it have the effect of reducing an individuals ability to deal with everyday task, but it also reduces an individuals ability to deal with emotional problems as well.
I love this picture! This post makes me think too about the importance of sleep! As college students, it can be difficult to not pull all-nighters. But after seeing the effects that sleep deprivation has on a body, it makes me more aware of getting the much needed sleep that I need by keeping up with my work in advance. I do not want more stress on my body than what it already has, so I think I'm going to get the recommended hours of sleep every night that I need!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on this. It is amazing that everyone is surprised when don’t get along on our halls or make wise choices in college. How could we? We are all walking around like zombies from the lack of sleep, but what are we going to do about? Nothing. Really we can’t do much about it. The papers have to be written and the exams have to be studied for and you still need to have a little fun. Yes, we are all here to learn but college is a unique opportunity to make lifelong friends with much of the same interest as you. So yes we are hurting ourselves by pulling these all nighters but we will only be young once.
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