Bob Tomaszewski
Staff Writer
A recent sleep study is claiming that we may only need around seven hours of sleep, which is less than the previously thought amount of eight hours recommended by the Center for Disease Control. The CDC is currently re-evaluating its stance on sleep for 2015. Psychology Professor Dr. Leila Azarbad commented that the study was “interesting” in that “it doesn’t reflect the general status of sleep research.”
Dr. Azarbad’s main area of research is obesity and weight, however she is familiar with research involving sleep and obesity. Fewer than seven hours of sleep per night increases your chances of being obese, because it creates a hormonal imbalance in your appetite hormones, particularly leptin. It also creates an imbalance in stress hormones especially cortizol. When people do pull an all-nighter the next day they are likely to snack all day because they equate their lack of energy with being hungry instead of not getting enough sleep says Azarbar.
According to neurology professor Dr. Margret Gill, while we sleep a neurological process called consolidation of learning is happening. Staying up late cramming “is one of the worst things you can do,” says Gill, because your body uses this time to consolidate the information that you have learned.
“The body can’t put the information together, because it hasn’t been consolidated,” said Gill.
Half of the battle of learning is getting enough sleep. So how much should we get? Both Professors agreed that it depends on the individual and that it depends on how active an individual is in their lives.
Dr. Azarbad contributing that there are people called short sleepers, who might be fine operating continually on five to six hours of sleep and long sleepers who just require seven to eight hours of sleep. Dr. Gill admits that she is like students trying to get work done and cram in that last bit of work before sleeping.
Professors, in some cases, are worse off because for college students, “the circadian rhythm is actually shifted” Gill says. Professors aren’t as well off because they aren’t adjusted to staying up late. So despite research suggesting we need less sleep, you should look into why we need sleep before you pull your next all-nighter.
