UP ALL NIGHT: College students’ caffeine-fueled worlds of jobs, homework and social media leave little time for a good’s night rest
Photo courtesy of StudentBody.care
By TAIYA BEAN/Talon Contributor
Sitting in a classroom at the UT Tyler campus at 8 a.m., Jessica Hale begins to yawn as the lecture starts.
“I have ADHD, which affects my sleep,” Hale says later, rubbing her eyes. “A co-effect of ADHD is having either anxiety — and that affects my sleep patterns — or just general insomnia.”
Sleep experts say people should get about eight hours of good sleep each night to function at their best the next day. For most college students, that rarely happens. According to a Harvard University study, “70% to 90% of college students get fewer than eight hours of sleep a night.”
“Sometimes my mind is running so much that I can’t fall asleep until 3 in the morning,” Hale says.
ANOTHER LATE NIGHT
Pacing back and forth in her apartment, Jenna Marshall, a student at Tyler Junior College, is becoming more overwhelmed by the minute.
It is just past 6 p.m. She knows she needs to work on a paper for school, but she is tired. Instead, she decides to watch TikTok videos on her phone. Later, she gets cozy under her covers, hoping a nap will help.
She didn’t get enough sleep the night before and has felt exhausted all day. When she is tired, Marshall says she puts off doing homework and other things that force her to concentrate.
“I procrastinate like there’s no tomorrow,” Marshall says. “I still have six hours. That’s plenty of time to write a paper.”
To get her writing assignment done on time, she will have to stay up late. It will be another long night.
Even when they don’t have homework, Marshall and her roommate Emma Banbeculer find it hard to fall asleep thanks to noisy neighbors in their apartment complex.
At 10 p.m., Marshall wakes up in a panic from the nap that she finally took.
“I overslept,” she says as she grabs an energy drink out of the fridge and stares at the blank document on her computer screen.
Now she must hurry to complete the assignment on time. She shuts off her phone, which is pinging from text messages and social media. She submits her paper at 11:59 p.m. – there’s just one minute to spare.
Marshall says it is not her best work, but under the circumstances, she is just glad she could turn something in.
Banbeculer sympathizes with her roommate’s battle to get school work done and also get enough sleep.
“College students often feel burned out by midterms, from being so overwhelmed with the amount of work they have to do,” Banbeculer says.
MAKING CHOICES
Hale sometimes does not get enough sleep. She not only has a lot of homework as a full-time student, but also works as a manager of Big Shot Coffee House in Tyler.
She has a lot to deal with.
“It can get overwhelming, especially because I am a manager. Sometimes I’ll forget I have to go to class early the next day, and I’ll end up drinking coffee past 4 p.m.,” she says.
Hale knows it is not recommended to drink coffee late in the day since the caffeine in coffee can make it hard to fall asleep. However, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, 92% of college students drink coffee, and 79% of these say they specifically drink coffee to stay awake.
“Don’t drink coffee past 4 p.m.,” advises Hale. “It will keep you awake all night. Depending on how your body metabolizes it.”
Hale also knows people who drink coffee so they can stay up at night texting and checking out social media.
“Social media can kind of take us to a state where we don’t realize how much time we are spending on it,” she says.
Hale knows that she should get seven to nine hours of sleep each night, but, like many, she struggles to do so.
When Hale doesn’t get enough sleep, she uses other strategies to stay refreshed.
“I try to practice self-care, giving myself breaks from my school work or just work in general, and allowing myself, my mind and my body to rest.”
CHECK OUT OTHER TALON STORIES BELOW:
PHOTO GALLERY: WALK AROUND HARVEY LAKE IN THE EVENING FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH