By Julie Kippenbrock
<[email protected]>

As junior Shataakshi Dube finishes her homework, she looks at the clock.

It’s 2:30 a.m.

“I’m taking five AP classes this year. For me, staying up that late is a necessity to get good grades,” Dube said.

And Dube’s lack of sleep is not atypical. College and high school students report at least two times as many sleep difficulties as the general population, according to the 2007 Oregon State University Student Health Services. To solve this problem, it is important to compare sleep quantity and sleep quality, which includes how restful your sleep is and how frequently it is interrupted.

School nurse Carol Gelatt advises students to keep a similar wake-up time and go to bed at a consistent time to keep an overall good quality and quantity of sleep.

For Dube, she said she can get by with four hours of sleep and not experience the common lack-of-sleep symptoms including an increase in tension, irritability, depression and confusion.

“Maybe what I’m doing isn’t healthy, but it will be over after this year. I plan to lessen my (class) load next year,” Dube said.

Dube said she never normally stayed up so late in the past and she only does now because she has to finish all her homework.

“I’m (staying up late) for the right reasons. I know lots of people who stay up late playing video games. If I didn’t have homework, I would definitely sleep,” Dube said.

When Dube does finish her homework and finally goes to bed, she said she sleeps very soundly.

“When you’re that tired, as soon as you hit the pillow, you’re asleep. It’s really hard to wake up in the mornings,” Dube said.

Whereas Dube sleeps very soundly for only four hours a night during the week, sophomore Kaitlin McBane said she sleeps fitfully for approximately eight hours a night.

“I’m a really restless sleeper. I scream in my sleep so that’s why I go to bed so early,” McBane said. McBane said she tries to be in bed by 10:30 every night.

When McBane was younger, she used to sleep walk, but now it has grown into what she calls “sleep screaming.” “It wakes me up so it takes me longer to get back to sleep,” McBane said. “I get tired around third period and I get headaches from being sleepy. I have to drink lots of coffee.”

According to both Dube and McBane, they make up for lost sleep on the weekends. “I like to sleep until 12:30 on the weekends if I don’t have anything to do. I feel less tired on Mondays when I sleep a lot on the weekends,” McBane said.

But Gelatt said she feels differently about catching up on sleep on the weekends. “You probably shouldn’t sleep more than two or three hours extra on the weekend. It disrupts your sleep patterns,” Gelatt said.

Gelatt also said many students come to the nurse’s office to lie down because they are tired. Gelatt said, “Most kids won’t admit that, but I’m sure it happens.”

McBane said she has seen that scenario happen many times. “I’ve never done it, but I’ve thought about it. I know people that do though. They say they have a stomachache. It’s a good excuse to lie down,” McBane said.

Gelatt said, “If I had to choose one, I would say sleep quantity is more important. If you have good sleep quantity, not too little or not too much, then you probably will have a good quality of sleep.”

But as for the “right” amount of sleep one should get, Gelatt was more vague. “People are different and require different amounts of sleep,” she said.