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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1997)
Page : ebruary 6, The Battalion Page 3 Thursday • February 6, 1997 mmsmm in Rogers, The Battaik* By Aaron Meier The Battalion leep: that precious thing every student needs, but most can never get enough The average person spends jne-third of their life asleep, but Jxperts say most Americans still |o not get enough. Dr. Ludy Benjamin, a former of Evans library Beep specialist and a professor of [sychology at Texas A&M Universi- F, said nocturnal slumbering — hands as a relatively unexplored Scientific frontier. “A lot is known about sleep, but lo one really understands why we jleep and what the actual benefits Highs & Lows Ire,” Benjamin said. foday’s Expected!) 59°F bnight’s Expected 48°F Psychologists generally agiee that five definite stages exist in a typical sleep cycle. Stages I, II, III and IV puzzle scientists and sleep experts. Varying brain activity differentiates the four stages, but die purposes of the stages remain a mystery. The most heavily explored sleep stage is Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Researchers believe dreaming occurs during REM sleep. Brain ac tivity greatly increases and the eyes quickly move around in the head during this stage. Dr. Don Freeman, a physician at A.P. Beutel Health Center, said in REM sleep, the body and mind re energize themselves for the next day’s work, but without REM sleep, the sleep cycle is useless. ost people do not get enoug, “Typically, the average person goes through three, possibly four, sleep cycles,” Freeman said. “But if no REM sleep is accomplished, the person feels fatigued and tired, even if they got a full eight hours’ sleep.” Although sleep requirements vary from person to person, Free man said a person needs a mini mum of six hours of sleep, prefer ably eight hours. However, as a person ages, they need less sleep. Benjamin said studies show when students start college, they cut an av erage of one hour out of their sleep schedules to accommodate for col lege life, but when they leave college and have more time to sleep, they typically do not add the hour back. “Sleep patterns and habits are pretty constant and hard to change,” Benjamin said. Freeman said sleep disorders and insomnia often affect students. However, they should not use sleeping aids, he said. “Most sleeping aids inhibit the important REM phase of sleep, making the sleep useless,” Free man said. “Some things, such as Benadryl and melatonin products, allow REM sleep to occur, but the safest thing is to allow sleep to oc cur normally.” Freeman also said students with other sleep disorders, such as sleepers who talk, sleep walk, ac tively dream or stop breathing while asleep, are common. For students who choose to lim it their sleep during exam time by pulling all-nighters, Freeman said a study shows no significant grade increase from studying all night. Freeman recommends students who have an early exam get to sleep early and wake up early. He suggests students who have to pull all-nighters take periodic naps of at least 45 minutes every few hours. Benjamin said a famous study by Dr. Webb, a Florida sleep spe cialist, shows America isa society largely deprived of sleep. He said the study shows the vast majori ty of Americans deprive them selves of sleep at different times in their lives, with few short-term consequences. Freeman said many artists and creative individuals also use sleep as inspiration for their work. The surrealist artist Salvador Dali would lie down with a fork in his hand and place a pie tin next to him. When Dali fell asleep, the fork would fall from his hand and hit the pie plate, waking him up. He would then draw the image he remembered upon waking up. This method led to the creation of his famous images of melting watches and oversized forks. “Sleep can be be an inspiring experience,” Freeman said. “Some great artists draw great in spiration from something every one does everyday.” Tomorrow’s Exp High 61°F Tomorrow Nig) Expected Low 47°F Aggies find sleep in low — and high — places I 5 i/irpj Chad Mallam, The Battalion ION ey Poston, City Editor ina Buffin, Sports Ed'- Walters, Opinion EdU i Stevens, Web Editor oog, Photo Editor Graeber, Cartoon EdU 5 ’ &M University in the Di# 1 ffices are in 013 Reed 2tamvml.tamu.edu; Inteii’ 11 lorsement by The Battalio 11 -' assified advertising, call $ > are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Moi*' 3 d student to pick up a siif ler school year and $50P f! 1845-2611. day during the fall and sp" r: (cept University holidays^ College Station,TX 77840 ^ Building, Texas A&M UnN sr: SUCCESS is right at your FEET Payless ShoeSource is the nation’s largest footwear retailer, operating over 4,200 stores in 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Sales during 1995 were $2.3 billion, with 200 million pairs of shoes sold. Headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, Payless ShoeSource is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. This growth has created outstanding opportunities at our corpo rate headquarters in Topeka, Kansas. We offer the fast track Corporate Management Associate Program and a compensation package competitive with any industry. Payless ShoeSource will be interviewing May graduates for Corporate Management Associate positions on February I 2th. For further information about career opportunities at Payless ShoeSource, visit the placement office on campus. Doesn’t it feel good to payless? 323 I E. Sixth Street Topeka, KS 66607 Equal Opportunity Employer TM By Michael Schaub The Battalion N O SLEEP. The sign hung in the window of the Langford Architecture Building for weeks last semester, as students inside be came one with T-squares, protractors and mugs of coffee. Brian Crockett, an architecture graduate student, said studying the ins and outs of en vironmental design is not conducive to a nor mal sleep schedule. ‘Architecture majors probably have the most screwed-up schedules of anybody,” Crockett said over a cup of coffee at Northgate’s Copaset- ic Cafe. “I have to sleep in two shifts.” College students are notorious for odd sleep habits. Grizzled college veterans often seize the opportunity to relate war stories about brutal all-nighters and classes spent dozing off into dreamland. “I’ve fallen asleep in the MSC before, so I bought this,” Crockett said, producing a small contraption the size of a pocket calculator. “It’s a little alarm clock. I can set it so I don’t sleep for more than 15 minutes.” Not all students are worried about their punctuality — or lack thereof. Oancvtn from $349 Acapulco from $399 plus tax Holiday Express 21st Year 800-235-TRIP Rhandi Selde, a junior bioengineering ma jor, said fear and caffeine keep her awake. "I can’t fall asleep in public places,” Selde said. “I have a fear of falling off benches and making a fool of myself.” She gets by with a little help from a friend. “I do all-nighters, but that’s mostly a lot of (soda),” Selde said. Other than that, she said her sleep schedule is relatively normal. Some students have no explanation for what happens when the sandman comes. Matthew Lillard, a sophomore environ mental design major, said he and a friend once stayed up days in a row attempting to com plete an architecture project. But that was just the tip of the weirdness iceberg, he said. “I woke up once and all the contents of my drawers were on top of me,” Lillard said. “It was kind of creepy. “One time, I came into my room late, and my roommate sat up in bed and said to me, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Watchput for that diameter!’ and then went back to sleep.” He said his roommate’s order was the result of hours spent calculating the diameters of stars, Lillard said. Ric Jensen, an educational administration graduate student, said he finds it difficult to stay awake during seminars he attends as an information specialist for the Texas Water Re sources Institute. “I attend quite a few scientific meetings,” Jensen said. “There’s a real tendency to find yourself fighting off sleep during slide shows when the lights are off. I assume I’m normal, which is a strong statement to make.” Stephariie Roe, a sophomore speech com munications major, said she toughs out the lack of sleep. “I wouldn’t say I get enough sleep,” Roe said. “I get really worn out. I feel like a zom bie walking around sometimes.” Crockett said sleep deprivation and caf feine dependency seem to be facts of life for university students. “I think I actually enjoy it,” Crockett said. “In a way, I kind of have more privacy. If I were at home, I’d be tempted to go to sleep. There are methods to the madness.” A&M students’ erratic sleeping schedules might be madness, but maybe students here are no different from the typical college student. “And then there was the time that for some reason—I’m a complete idiot—” Lillard said, “I almost set my roommate on fire while he was asleep.” Then again, maybe not. ciuickserv johnny INSTORE PERFORMANCE MONDAY AT MIDNIGHT AM CM C • PAVEMENT, BIG HEAD TODD \Jvi OHLCZ* MOBY, DAVID BOWIE, VERUCA SAIT Tickets: $10 Advance $12 Day of Show $14 Reserved Available at: Cavendars Boot City college station BALL R0)))0))) M Hwy. 105 East - Brenham Opening Act: Q<JC AQOC — UPENING ACT; ifeiS Emotions rTC^ MasterCard Texas Dancehall Music tf&UV 45*. S^CJL CLASSICAL COUNTRY SPECIAL ORDERS ALWAYS WELCOIVIE F? e O «r> F? I> STTTO F? e I «M •*"*** <c:<«9»aa< a»<4a»4e»—«»«» -m rar Home Page Construction Workshops for Beginners Sponsored by: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cost: FREE (preference to CoALS students) Register on-line at: http://dist-ed. tamu. edu/workshops.html Dates: Session 1: Feb. 11,12,13, Apr. 8 Session 2: Feb. 25,26,27, Apr. 9 Session 3: Mar. 25,26,27, Apr. 10 See the above web address for topics and registration information.