With finals season around the corner, students are reacclimating themselves to sleepless nights and studying mnemonics. With growing eyebags, the only cure is the sweet release of caffeine. Thus, our stomachs revitalize with the bubbles of another Celsius as the clock strikes 3 a.m. When a good night’s rest feels impossible, students can compensate for lost sleep through a timeless method: napping.
What may feel like a cheap cop-out to catch up on sleep proves to be a scientifically backed solution. Napping can play a crucial role in helping students maintain their overall well-being and offers a balanced solution to their busy schedules, especially during the demanding finals season.
Whether through naps or a full night’s rest, sleep remains vital for physical and mental health.
“REM sleep is especially good for your psychological and emotional well-being,” Kathy Richards, a clinical research professor specializing in translational sleep and aging, said. “You need slow-wave stages of sleep, which are very important for cognitive status and memory, (like what) you’ve learned to prepare for a test, life (or) college. Getting those stages requires a good, solid nighttime sleep.”
A full night’s rest may not be feasible with a busy college schedule, though. Other than quick fixes like caffeine, naps can help mitigate drowsiness and ensure students still reap the benefits of getting enough rest.
“For every two hours that we are awake, we start to accrue a sleep debt of one hour,” professor Jenny Hensley said. “While we are awake, we are busy spending a lot of energy to metabolize oxygen and glucose. The good byproduct of metabolism is adenosine, (which) makes us sleepy. There’s no other way to offload or shovel out this adenosine unless you sleep, rest, (restore) and repair your body. … During the day, a 20- to 30-minute nap can help offload some of that adenosine.”
While scientists are still studying the complicated relationship between sleep deprivation and mental health, a correlation is clear.
“This question is … (do) anxiety and depression cause poor sleep, or does poor sleep cause anxiety and depression?” Hensley said. “What we do know is that inadequate sleep will worsen any underlying mental health condition, and if a student or person who has had a problem with anxiety or depression starts to have difficulty sleeping, it might be the first warning sign or onset for another depressive episode.”
In addition to improving your mental health, napping doesn’t just make you feel refreshed — it boosts your appearance, too.
“With a good night’s sleep and rest, your skin’s going to be healthier, you’re going to be physically stronger and (you won’t) have bags under your eyes,” Richards said.
Some students argue that they feel more groggy after a nap. However, this lethargy usually results from napping too long or during the wrong time of the day. When done in a controlled environment, students can avoid disrupting their nighttime sleep and minimize grogginess while boosting improved cognitive function and alertness.
“(Late and long naps) will interfere with the regularity of the circadian rhythm, further delay your sleep at night and mess up your daily rhythm more,” Richards said. “(We recommend) earlier naps in the afternoon. If you need to nap, you can nap for about (up to) 90 minutes. That should give you enough time for a sleep cycle.”
The obvious answer to tiredness would be obtaining a full night of sleep, but as a college student, especially during finals week, that demand can be unrealistic. If you need more Z’s these upcoming weeks, visit any of the University’s Nap Map spots and stay restful this final exam season.
Lam is a computer science freshman from Mansfield, Texas.
