A good night’s rest can impact one’s health and well-being

Ronnie Saenz / Asst. Opinion Editor

With the stress of assignments, exams and work, many students find sleep to be less of a priority. Students often decide to go to bed later for the sake of their studies, but sleep is so important that this may actually be worse than not studying at all.

Associate professor in the department of psychological sciences Dr. Veronica Galvan teaches her biopsychology class about this very issue.

“Sleep is incredibly important,” Dr. Galvan said. She highly recommends reading “Why We Sleep” for anyone who wants to improve their sleep. According to the author of the book, Matthew Walker, nutrition and exercise depend on sleep to properly function.

“Matthew Walker talks about how nutrition, exercise and sleep are important, but you recover from 24 hours without nutrition and exercise much easier than [without] sleep,” Dr. Galvan explained.

Dr. Galvan further emphasised possible side effects from sleep deprivation. “A lot of bodily functions are negatively affected by sleep deprivation, such as memory, hormones, your cardiovascular system, your immune system and also the ability to make moral decisions.” Dr. Galvan explained. “Believe it or not, six to seven hours of sleep can be sleep deprivation. What’s worse is that the effects of sleep deprivation are cumulative, so a week of six-hour sleep really is the same as one all nighter. That’s why on average you need a good eight to nine hours of sleep [a night].”

“Why We Sleep” also delves into the importance of going through all the stages of sleep, such as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM).

NREM is present in early stages of sleep and removes unnecessary neural connections, and REM is present later in sleep and strengthens important neural connections. If you sleep too little, you can miss out on one or both these stages of sleep, hindering your memory and attentiveness, and causing sleep deprivation. Dr. Galvan explained various ways to avoid sleep deprivation.

“It varies for individuals, but on average at least eight hours of sleep is ideal for a healthy night’s sleep.”

Along with sleeping at least eight hours each night, Dr. Galvan also highly recommends utilizing a sleep schedule. “Create a sleep schedule by getting to bed and getting out of bed around the same time every day,” Dr. Galvan said. “If you want to change it, change it five minutes at a time, so you aren’t shocking your body.”

Dr. Galvan discussed some important pre-sleep routines. “Warm showers are good because it creates a bodily response to cool off which is good for sleep. Write in a journal before you go to bed so you’re not awake in bed thinking about your day. Also, make sure it’s dark and not noisy, and stay away from blue light screens.” Your consumption can also have a big impact on your sleep. “What you put into your body matters in terms of whether or not you will be getting a good night’s rest. Cherries and cherry juice are actually excellent for sleep, as well as milk,” Dr. Galvan explained. “However, before going to bed you should avoid eating, especially proteins, as the digestion will stop you from sleeping. Also you shouldn’t consume any alcohol or caffeine past 3 p.m. as you will still go to sleep, but many of the important processes won’t happen.”

Dr. Galvan also strongly advised against sleeping pills as they can create more problems than they’re worth.

A WebMD article titled “Understanding the Side Effects of Sleeping Pills” cites sleeping pills as being “highly addictive” and potentially “can cause problems with memory and attention.”

When asked about her sleep patterns, USD senior Andrea Yazzlyn Martinez majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Operations and Supply Chain management said she, “[aims] for six hours of sleep.”

“As a Computer Science major with a Supply Chain minor and a student leader, it is really hard to have a consistent sleep schedule.”

Martinez also shared what she thinks will help her maintain a consistent sleep schedule. “The only way I could realistically maintain a sleep schedule is if I dropped all my extracurriculars and only focused on school.”

Javian Johnson, a USD junior majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience, has slightly different sleep patterns. “At night, I get about five hours maximum. During the day I sleep an extra two, three, four hours.” Javian also commented on the fact that he sleeps below the daily recommended amount of night time sleep.

“Even though the science says seven hours is deprivation, I don’t believe that. For an average person sure, but when you’re someone like me who’s been in the ROTC since the beginning of high school, you’re absolutely used to sleeping less than five hours on a daily basis. So your body becomes accustomed to that. Those short naps that I take literally refresh me to be normal to where I can be as alert and awake as I am now.”

Javian’s schedule is a reminder that there is some variation in the amount of sleep we all need. Whether it’s five hours or nine hours, for many getting the proper amount of daily sleep can improve your stress, mental health, immune system and moral compass.

Just as long as you go through your NREM and REM stages, and sleep and wake up at consistent hours.