The Advantageous Effects Of Sleep For Humans Related To Different Aspects Of Learning
The human memory is segregated into two sections declarative and procedural memory. Performance of activities and knowing how to resolve issues are primarily linked to the procedural memory. These skills are subconsciously learned by the human brain and this could be through vision, listening and communication this is associated to REM sleep. Declarative material relates to memories that are available by remembrance this is associated to NREM sleep. Thus, the outcome of sleep state on memory processes will vary from the activities performed.
Lack of sleep is hence closely related to malfunctioning of declarative and procedural memory. Researchers have observed in a study related to sleep habits compares to the grades achieved at University that students performed better when they went to bed early and woke up accordingly as compared to the ones who went to bed late and as a result woke up late. Studies have also raised awareness about day time sleepiness as a consequence of poor sleep habits this had an impact on academic performance.
The 2006 National sleep foundation extended their study and used the following ways to measure their research PSQI - Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, ESS - Epworth Sleepiness Scale, MES - Horne-Ostberg Morningness Eveningness Scale, SUDS - Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and POMS - Profile of Mood States. The results for this study revealed that approximately twenty percent of students described staying awake all night, twenty five percent university students stated sleeping for less than 6. 5 hours and the students who were sleeping for 8 hours or more were around twenty nine percent. Due to pressure of studies thirty five percent of students reported staying awake till around 3 am studying. This study also disclosed the gender variance in sleep habits for instance females had relatively earlier bedtimes and corresponding earlier start the next day as compared to their male counterparts. Due to the late bedtime and waking up late the next day over thirty two percent students were unable to go to bed at least once a week. This study also showcased that fifty two percent students did not feel enthusiastic to achieve targets or complete activities. The results from this experiment however have limited scope as this was not a generalised experiment and it was conducted on standard universities at an area with similar health and education levels.
The results from these universities were similar to those obtained from China and New England. The other aspect of this study is that it was conducted as a one time survey hence it is not accurate to draw inferences between sleep and anxiety levels faced by the students. Based on the details in the article by it can be concluded that professionals should emphasise on the wellbeing of university students by giving due credit to sleep quality and extent as it has a direct impact on the condition and performance of students. University students who are constantly sleep deprived may develop long term issues such as anxiety and drug dependency or addiction or even chronic sleep disorders.
Studies that have corelated REM and NREM stages have clearly illustrated the effects of sleep deprived students in terms of daytime drowsiness and how it negatively affects their cognitive abilities. A steady sleep pattern not only reduces the stress levels for students it also helps ease anxiety faced by students during their university tenure. It helps reduce environmental competitive pressure. Additional research is required on this topic to substantiate the derived evidence which may include using multiple measures and different studies however the impact of sleeplessness on university students must be addressed in order to achieve student wellbeing.
