Kansan.com: Sleeping through school

When going into a class, Andrew Sigler knows what to expect. His mind starts to wander, his eyelids grow heavy and he finds himself nodding off in the middle of a lecture. He leaves class with half-hearted notes and a foggy idea of what the professor was talking about.

The basics of health — sleep, exercise and a balanced diet — are what keep our bodies going through classes, tests and extracurricular activities. The average college student needs eight to nine hours of sleep a night. A balanced diet doesn’t consist of beer, pizza and Ramen noodles. Regular exercise should consist of more than a pub crawl on Mass Street. When any (or usually the case, all) of the factors of health take a hit, so do our GPAs. Getting those extra hours of shut-eye might seem impossible, but eating better and fitting fitness into your schedule is easier than you might think.

Food for thought

Before his classes in the afternoon, Sigler, Lawrence junior, will usually have a bowl of cereal or a small snack for lunch. Often, this is his first meal of the day.

Cereals are high in simple sugars, which cause your body to quickly produce insulin followed by a crash in energy level, says Matt Goodmote, physical therapist and health writer. Protein is Goodmote’s best bet on a consistent energy level. Protein takes longer for the body to digest, so the sugar is slowly released into the bloodstream, keeping your energy up longer than simple sugars found in oft-eaten foods such as chips, cookies and crackers.

Trying to fit a meal into a busy schedule by hurridly scarfing down food can also cause fatigue. If you’re eating too fast, your body becomes focused on your stomach and digesting the food, not your brain and registering how full you are, says Elaine Wilkes, author of Nature’s Secret Messages: Hidden in Plain Sight.

“Food can be a sedative — too much will make you tired,” Wilkes says.

Foods that give other people energy might not always have the same effect for you, she says. Wilkes encourages people to “play detective,” taking note of what they eat and when they feel tired. This will lead you to make a connection between the two so you can avoid the foods that don’t do your body good.

Having snacks throughout the day is a good way to keep energy up as well as stimulate your metabolism, but not all snacks are helpful. Stay away from soda, which is not only acidic for your body but is also high in sugar and causes the crash mentioned above, Wilkes says. Matt Nahrstedt, St. Charles, Mo., junior, usually has a citrus fruit before a class he knows will make him tired, but this strategy isn’t always effective. Fresh fruit is good for you, but doesn’t pack the energy punch needed to make it through a PowerPoint lecture.

Besides providing an energy boost, snacks can also be made easily and cheaply, Goodmote says. A Ziploc baggy of trail mix, heavy on the nuts and short on the M&Ms, is an easily-made treat for your mid-afternoon slump. Yogurt or peanut butter and bananas are also healthy and cheap choices.

When your metabolism goes missing

In high school, Nahrstedt was on the swim and water polo team. He went to practices four to five days a week for the majority of the school year. Although he is involved in the swim and water polo club teams at the University, he usually only attends practices two days a week. He says practices aren’t as vigorous as they were in high school.

“I’m eating healthier than I did in high school, but the weeks where I don’t work out I see the weight come back easier,” Nahrstedt says.

Nahrstedt also has difficulty staying awake in class. Even though exercise can be a tiring experience, when done regularly it can provide your body with energy as well as better sleep.

The transition from high school to college coincides with the transition from the teens to the 20s, when most people’s metabolism begin to stabilize, says Becky Wenner, personal trainer and founder of Becky’s Fitness Company. Wenner says there are factors that have an impact on a person’s energy level.

“A person who is fit tends to exercise, get proper rest, eat a decent diet and consequently has less weight to carry around with them all day.”

Finding the time for exercise doesn’t mean setting aside an hour a day at the gym. Both Wenner and Goodmote say that simply walking or riding your bike to class can help. A cardio workout in the morning is also a good way to increase energy levels as well as help with sleep at night, they say. Over-exercising can attribute to fatigue. Wenner says more than four or five one hour workouts in a week may be overdoing it.

“Whatever it is, be sure that you eat appropriately for your workout for that day,” she says.

It’s past your bedtime

For 20 semesters, Paulyn Cartwright has taught Biology 100, one of the most widely taken classes on campus. Cartwright used to have that class at 8 a.m., but has moved the class to the afternoon because as many as 100 out of the 800 students in class would be sleeping or dozing off.

According to Dr. Carl Johnson, most students only get around six hours of sleep during the week and as much as 10 or 12 hours of sleep a night on the weekends. This disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm, Johnson says. Circadian rhythm is the pattern your body goes through each day and is why you may feel tired at the same time each night or wake up at a certain time in the morning without an alarm. When you’re going to bed or waking up at times that don’t mesh with your circadian rhythm drowsiness is a side effect.

Johnson is currently doing research on sleep at Central Michigan University and says sleep deprivation has a terrible effect not only on a student’s ability to stay awake in class, but also on the absorption of material.

Johnson says most people feel fatigued mid-afternoon, which is why so many cultures have naps at this time. If you do take a nap, it should be no longer than 20 or 30 minutes, he says. Any longer and your nap could be another factor that throws off your circadian rhythm.

Johnson also encourages students to be aware of what times of the day are the worst for them and what classes put them to sleep the fastest.

“Make sure you schedule class around times when you know you won’t be tired or make time in your schedule for a quick nap,” he says.

How engaging a professor is in class greatly affects Nahrstedt’s ability to stay. Johnson, who is also a professor, agrees with Nahrstedt and aims to be charismatic when lecturing by involving students and doing more than just stand behind the podium or click through a PowerPoint presentation.

A whole new you?

The crash diets or foot-long subs, drinking Nyquil to fall asleep or taking eight espresso shots for the big midterm — there are some crazy health trends you might pick up on the Beach. Sometimes it’s not that difficult.

“Your body tries to tell you what’s good for it. You just have to listen,” Wilkes says.

So, that’s just what you have to do to improve your health, and your grades — listen to your body. Just not while your trying to pay attention in class

Original Article
http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/apr/15/sleeping-through-school/?jayplay