Sleep Health & Why You Should Care

by commentnewspaper

By Jesse Sewall
Special to the Comment

When college students are lumped together and stereotyped, sleep deprivation is usually at the top of the list, along with binge drinking, being poor, and partying too hard.
Sleep health is important, and usually one of the first sacrifices made in the college student’s schedule. Time management is much easier when you add a few more hours to every day, right?
It’s important to understand that a good night’s rest has to be a priority, though. Lack of sleep has an abundance of physical and emotional health risks: a weaker immune system, increased stress, increased weight gain, lowered academic performance, increased fatigue throughout the day, and depression and anxiety.
When health professionals recommend ways to get those 7-8 hours, they usually involve getting some sort of ritual going for your bedtime.
Loud noises and bright screens are bad. If you’re a self-diagnosed insomniac, maybe check and see if you’re playing Call of Duty until you hopefully doze off, or are sitting on your laptop until you pass out. These actions stimulate your brain and prevent you from falling asleep.
If you need to be asleep by a certain time, maybe try something crazy and dust off that textbook that’s been sitting above your desk all semester. Yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises before bed are all helpful for telling your brain it’s time to power down.
Cool it with the late night snacks and caffeine, and try to keep your bed use limited to sleep and sex. You have to train your brain, go Pavlov on it and classically condition. If you only use your bed when it’s time to sleep, your brain makes the association that it’s time for bed when your head hits the pillow.
Students from HEAL 450: Health Promotion Strategies will be at ECC and RCC from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20, hosting tables to help with some sleep health awareness. Prizes and games will be included, so be sure to stop by.
Also, keep an eye out for posters, flyers, and the like going up around campus this month.

This article was submitted by the HEAL450: Health Promotion Strategies class.

+ posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Diddy Sentence Reaches Appeals Court

The lawyers of Sean “Diddy” Combs are in the process of overturning the 50-month prison sentence imposed in October 2025. No ruling was immediate on the appeal. Combs was convicted of two counts of transportation for the purpose of prostitution in July 2025, two violations of the Mann Act. The case has been called “exceptionally […]

by Evan Spurr

Boston Police Officer Arrested on Manslaughter Charges

A Boston police officer was arraigned and arrested on manslaughter charges stemming from the killing of Stephenson King Jr. on March 11. King was 39 years old and experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of his death. After being admitted to a hospital, he was found the same day in an incident involving […]

by Ronan Culbert