With the spring semester now in full swing, insomnia - commonly defined as the inability to sleep - can become problematic for academically and socially active college students. According to Margaret Higham, Medical Director of Tufts Health Services, many Tufts students have come to Health Services complaining of insomnia - but even more, she said, have sleep problems and don't seek help.
"With any medical condition, the first thing to do is to understand the cause," Higham said. "With college students, the main cause is what's called 'poor sleep hygiene.' The human body operates under a regular sleep cycle, and college students oftentimes feel like they can get away with not having a regular pattern."
Insomnia has been shown to manifest itself in people who sleep and wake up at different times every day, take regular naps during the day, and ingest excessive amounts of caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. Because college students partake in many (or all) of the above activities, it may be no surprise that so many of them show signs of transient, if not chronic, insomnia.
Tufts students say that stress is the number one reason for their inability to fall asleep. "A lot of doctors and experts recommend you take time out of your day for yourself - say through meditation or yoga - to drain out your thoughts because you're so busy during the day," sophomore Elad Cohen said.
But with so much on students' minds, Cohen continued, such "me-time" can be hard to fit in. "Sleeping is the only time you have to yourself," Cohen said. "If you don't find a way to zone out of your thoughts, then you can't fall asleep and you think about everything that's going on in your life when you're supposed to be sleeping."
At demanding universities like Tufts, academic pressure often plays a large part in keeping students awake at night. "It's hard to compare [the prevalence of insomnia at Tufts] to that of other schools, because I work mainly with Tufts students," Higham said. "[But] I feel like the inability to sleep is just as prevalent here as it is at, say, MIT, Harvard, Dartmouth, and other competitive schools."
Freshman Michelle Cronin is one Tufts student who experiences insomnia - and said that she "wishes" she knew her condition's exact roots. "I used to love watching 'Get Smart' and 'Dragnet' on TV, and my grandparents would always complain that I stayed up too late," she said. "I also know I started watching 'Conan O'Brien' in third or fourth grade. So I think that over the years, I've just gotten into the rhythm of going to bed late."
Although most students agree that the inability to sleep gets in the way of their schoolwork by making them tired and unwilling to work during the day, Cronin begs to differ. "My mind feels clearer later [at night], and if you'd ask my roommate, I get a lot more done in the wee hours of the morning," she said. "There are also a lot less distractions late at night."
In our current world, where sleeping pills and medicine with drowsy side effects can be easily procured by walking to the closest Brooks or CVS, one would think that insomnia among college students would be easy to cure pharmaceutically.
"Melatonin is a chemical that is secreted in your brain which controls your ability to sleep," Higham said. "There are over-the-counter sleep aides available which stimulate melatonin."
However, some students are wary of the potential side effects of such drugs. "I'm afraid of having to rely on pills to sleep," Cronin said, citing this fear as her reason for not seeking therapy or medical attention for her sleep problems.
"Insomnia is such a lifestyle," Cronin added, remembering a popular "Saved by the Bell" episode in which the character Jessie uses the over-the-counter drug No-Doz to stay awake for her geometry midterm, and goes on to develop a dependency.
Commonly, students instead turn to TV, Instant Messenger, the phone, reading, and listening to mellow music to ease them into sleep mode.
Higham, however, recommends setting up some "wind-down" time to completely relax before actually going to bed. "It can't be done if you're watching '24' or hear a loud party next door," she said. "You really have to relax your body. You also can't stay out all night on weekends and then try to go to bed at a decent hour on weekdays - this messes up your sleep cycle."
