By Monica Chavarria/Staff Reporter
Students tend to sacrifice health for their school work, prioritizing grades over proper sleep.
In today’s society it’s seen as the norm; however, the consequences of sleep deprivation are far more menacing than they appear.
“When I’m tired, even if I am active, it feels like I’m not completely present. I can’t put things together in my mind so I don’t even try,” Mariah Rodriguez, a nursing major, said.
A study conducted by the University of New South Wales concluded that moderate sleep loss has impairments similar to those of alcohol intoxication. After about 17 hours without sleep, performance was equivalent or worse than a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of 0.05 percent. After undergoing longer periods without sleep, performance levels reached an equivalent to a BAC of 0.1 percent.
According to the laws in the United States, most states in the nation set their DUI limits at a BAC of 0.08 percent for those over the age of 21.
Going even one day without sleep, therefore, makes it illegal to get behind the steering wheel. Unfortunately, sleep deprived students aren’t aware of such dangers.
According to the American Psychological Association, experiments on the effects of sleep deprivation have shown that not obtaining enough sleep impairs memory and concentration while increasing stress hormones. Further research suggests that long-term sleep loss puts people at higher risk of motor vehicle accidents and disease.
Yet, people can’t be blamed for lacking proper sleep, because it’s not a choice most decide to take. “It makes life a little bit harder,” Colton Drown, a mass media major, said. “The struggle of waking up, coming to school, staying up late after work, because I do get off pretty late so I get maybe five to six hours of sleep hours daily. I feel like that is genuinely affecting my performance in school,” he said.
Balancing multiple responsibilities and trying to stay healthy and get adequate sleep can be difficult for people. “Really, it’s just about managing time, but not stressing out too much as well,” Joshua Perez, a nursing major, said.
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