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
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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.
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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.
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