As classes awake from the snow days and teachers dish out exams and papers, many students migrate to Alden Library and the local coffee shops that provide fuel for all-nighters.
But a sleep study published last month concludes that chronic sleep loss can cause damage to the brain and could cause an increased risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease and multiple sclerosis, said Christian Benedict, lead author of the study and researcher in the department of neuroscience at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Sleep loss is “a common problem nationwide,” said Chris Sanders, manager of the sleep medicine department at Holzer Clinic. “But this area’s probably a little bit more. There’s been a lot (of sleep loss cases) in Athens since 1999.”
He said that since Athens is located in an Appalachian region, obesity and other factors that can affect sleep are more common.
Researchers in the study observed 15 “healthy young men,” according to the article, published in Journal Sleep. The participants were observed in a sleep laboratory, once after eight hours of sleep and once after no sleep, and researchers determined the effects of sleep loss by measuring blood levels of proteins and chemicals associated with brain injuries, such as concussions.
“If I don’t sleep, I cannot form these memories as efficient as if I have sleep,” Benedict said, adding that memory loss that can occur due to chemicals not releasing into the brain after sleep loss. “(Sleep) provides chemical conditions for strengthening neural networks.”
He added, however, that he would not argue that one night of sleep loss would affect the brain in an irreversible way — recovery sleep, a balanced diet, avoiding smoking and other lifestyle factors can cushion the problem.
In other words, chronic sleep loss can lead to memory loss due to damage in certain regions of the brain.
“(Patients) don’t feel rested and they don’t know why, and that’s where we come in,” Sanders said, adding that treatment varies from person to person. “That’s where sleep studies come in handy.”
An Ohio University Campus Care spokeswoman said that Campus Care is able to treat sleep loss or sleep disorders, such as insomnia, but she was unable to provide further comment.
However, some students do not lose sleep due to a disorder; instead, they choose to stay awake to cram for a test or work on homework.
“I’ve been losing sleep to work on homework or stressing over things related to school,” said Darian Pinkston, a senior studying linguistics and French, of her college career.
Pinkston said on average, depending on the semester, she lost sleep two to four nights per week by choice.
Though Benedict said studying before sleep onset provides a good chance of retaining the information, he said the duration of time an individual remains awake can make or break the study session.
He also pointed out that while it might be beneficial to spend more time at night studying, some students end up spending that time on social media sites.
“On the one side, you should learn near to sleep onset because then you have a good chance to consolidate this and then it’s accessible,” he said. “But it should not be a chronic condition and you should not chronically learn at a time that goes at the expense of your sleep.”
Pinkston said knowing this, she will prioritize sleep better this semester.
“I’ve been trying to let myself sleep and save (homework) for the morning,” she said, adding that as she has gotten older, her body has become less tolerant of losing hours of sleep.
Next, Benedict plans to research the correlation between sleep loss and psychological stress. He did not comment, however, on when he will have any findings published.
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