A college student's schedule may not be conducive to sleep, but are students really so tired that they're mistaking lecture halls for their dorm rooms?
This video of a snoozing student lying on a table behind a projection screen is setting YouTube on fire. The poor kid apparently rolls off the table, hits the ground, wakes up and walks out of class in the sort of humiliation that might require years to get over.
Or maybe not. Trong Huynh posted a link to the video on his Facebook page, claiming he was the "sleeping student" and the episode was a prank he recently pulled at the University of Washington. It was unclear whether Huynh knew the stunt was being recorded or if the YouTube video's uploader knew Huynh.
Neither Huynh nor the YouTube video's uploader immediately responded to The Huffington Post's questions.
Prank or not, the clip is a reminder of just how real sleep deprivation is across college campuses everywhere. Surveys have shown as many as 50 percent of college students report regularly experiencing daytime sleepiness -- and more than 70 percent of college students report getting less than eight hours of sleep per night on average.
Numbers like those are concerning because other research suggests students who are poor sleepers are more likely to earn worse grades and withdraw from a course compared to their better-rested peers. And other studies suggest students with sleep problems have higher rates of psychological health problems than students without sleep trouble.
“You would never willingly go 24 hours without eating or drinking water -- other vital necessities to your daily routine. So why is it acceptable to sacrifice sleep in order to make room for other priorities in your life?”
- Jacqueline Baltz, a student at University of Southern California
"You would never willingly go 24 hours without eating or drinking water -- other vital necessities to your daily routine. So why is it acceptable to sacrifice sleep in order to make room for other priorities in your life?" Jacqueline Baltz, a student at University of Southern California, wrote in a Huffington Post blog.
More than 50 college students from across the country have written blogs for HuffPost about how sleep deprivation has infiltrated their college experiences (or about how they have found solutions to prioritize sleep in spite of the call of school work, jobs and a healthy social life).
Bottom line: Don't let this be you! Sleep experts say a few (quick and easy!) dorm room tweaks -- like saving your bed just for sleep and avoiding your snooze button like the plague -- can help make your multipurpose personal space a better space for sleep.
Sarah DiGiulio is The Huffington Post’s sleep reporter. You can contact her at sarah.digiulio@huffingtonpost.com.
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