With nights full of homework, hall chats and episodes of "Gossip Girl," many college students view sleep as an ephemeral afterthought rather than a vital component of good mental and physical health. According to the McKinley Health Center, the average college student sleeps for only six hours per night, although the center recommends eight hours of sleep.
Kathleen O'Dea, clinic manager at Tufts Health Service, explained that college students face a number of factors that can negatively affect their sleeping habits, including environmental conditions (noisy dorms, inconsiderate roommates), disrupted sleep patterns, increased alcohol consumption and common mental issues, such as depression and general anxiety.
These observations support evidence in a recently released study by the Journal of American College Health finding that 33 percent of surveyed students took longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep, 43 percent had an interrupted sleep (meaning they woke up during the night) and 33 percent said they did not feel rested the next day.
Most of Health Service's efforts regarding students' sleep habits, however, have focused on the general importance of getting adequate sleep, rather than sleep aids or sleeping problems. In March of 2007, Health Service conducted a campaign to help educate students about sleep and to encourage them to improve their sleep habits. O'Dea said that the campaign was not conducted as a reaction to sleeping issues on the rise here at Tufts.
O'Dea reported that the campaign was fairly successful and that the general theme of sleep importance was clearly perceived by students. Even so, a recent national study indicates that an increasing number of students are turning to medical sleep aids for the sleep they do get.
According to the Healthcare Business of Thomson Reuters, the use of sleep aids among college students has nearly tripled between 1998 and 2006. The results of the study fit into a general trend recently observed by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, which found that 59.9 percent of college students admitted to using prescription medications including sleep aids.
Medical professionals view this trend as a serious concern. Sleep aids cause physical and mental side effects including chest pain and hallucinations. Sleeping medications have additionally been criticized for their side effects of physical and emotional dependence. According to O'Dea, this trend has yet to hit the Hill.
"I haven't heard any concern recently about a huge upsurge in the prescriptions for sleep medications," she said. O'Dea added that if the issue was on the rise, it certainly would have come up within Health Service's staff.
O'Dea suggested a possible link between the national trend and her own observation of college students seeking easy fixes for their sleeping problems. "There are certain things people don't want to do," she said. "They don't want to avoid alcohol and caffeine or [to try] going to bed and waking up at the same time every day."
Freshman Luke Fraser explained that the stresses inherent in students' lifestyles could cause many to turn to sleeping pills. "It can probably be attributed to the fact that college students have such irregular sleeping patterns that when they want to and have time to sleep ... they are unable to," he said. "Sleeping pills are a quick fix. I have never used them but do understand why some students feel the need to use sleeping pills."
While freshman Callie McHugh avoids the use of sleeping pills, she explained how the relative availability of sleep aids could make her peers disposed to fit it into their lifestyles. "Because the medicine is there, they think that it's the first option to deal with any issue," she said. "But if you're not sleeping enough, maybe there is something that is causing you not to sleep, such as lack of exercise or bad diet."
O'Dea explained that Health Service tries to help students avoid the use of sleeping pills by advising alternative methods for better sleep. Examples include traditional relaxation methods and the practice of healthy habits throughout the day.
