The End

My last blog talked about my research paper and how I was eager to finish it off. After finishing it all off I can honestly say I am going to miss listening to the discussions in this class. I learned so much throughout the class and from writing this research paper. I will definitely continue to learn more about sleep and its effects on us. I will also be sure to promote sleep and create a better awareness of how dangerous sleep deprivation is to us and the people around us. I always knew that sleep was important I just never knew the details behind it. For now, I am going to catch up on all of the sleep I lost the past week and hopefully start fresh in the coming semester. Thanks for everything Dr. Strovas.

Finals Week!

Thanksgiving break was amazing and much needed. I was able to catch up on sleep and prepare myself for this upcoming week. Thankfully all of my finals except this class is an online final. This is allowing me to leave as early as Tuesday! I am excited for the week to end but I also hope it lasts long so I can get my grades straight. This week is going to be packed with very late nights, stressful days, and loads of caffeine. I guess this is a typical end of the semester for every student, so there isn't much complaining I can do. I am excited to finalize my research paper and to see the final product. I normally do not like any of my writing, but I have really come to love the topic I have chosen. I have learned so much about athletes and sleep and cannot wait to put it all on paper.

Caffeine and the Coming of the Enlightenment

Roger Schmidt's Caffeine and the Coming of the Enlightenment is very thought provoking. Hid argument on the evolution of sleep and where it all beginning is very convincing Schmidt believed that the evolution of caffeine and the age of enlightenment were the causes to humans depriving themselves of sleep. He stated that the caffeine, books, and mechanical clocks are the main causes to our quality f sleep being disrupted. He believed that these three things caused us to lose sleep by keeping us up later than we ever had. Schmidt even presents a counter argument to Ekrich's beliefs in segmented sleep and how the evolution of sleep slowly evolved. Schmidt dismisses this argument and argues that sleep was evolved abruptly after the age of enlightenment. If I had decide who argued best I would have to agree with Schmidt. He presents very logical thoughts on how the age of enlightenment caused the evolution of sleep.

Ekirch, A. Roger.  “Sleep We Have Lost:  Pre-industrial Slumber in the British Isles.” The American Historical Review 106, no. 2 (2001): 343-386.  JSTOR. (first half for today, pgs. 343-363) <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2651611>

Last Week Before Break!

We are finally in the last week before thanksgiving break! Before you know it, winter break will be in full session. This week is a big week in itself though. This weekend the swim team will be undergoing the biggest meet scheduled for this semester. With that being said, school is no longer the only thing I am stressed about. I will have to be more aware of the times I fall asleep and wake up, because I will need to the rest coming into this meet. Although I will enjoy the time competing at the meet, it just is poorly placed in relation to school and the amount of work that is being put on us around this time. The time after this meet will definitely be focused more on school and finishing strong.

Two More Weeks

One week down two more to go. Thanksgiving is creeping up on us and that means Christmas is next! My sleep debt is increasing every day and the only thing that keeps me going is the approach of the upcoming breaks. I am slowly preparing myself for the long nights that I will be enduring during the last week of school and the week of finals. This semester has to be my worst semester in terms of sleep. I think that the lack of sleep has also taken a toll on my grades. I am way more forgetful of things especially when it comes to tests. I will definitely be taking what I have learned in this class and do a better job of applying it every day starting from the beginning of the semester. Until then I will have to continue to dig myself out of the hole I have put myself into.

Insomnia

This weeks topic of insomnia was very interesting. I have always been interested in sleeping disorders and I even considered writing my research paper on sleep disorders. Insomnia is a freighting disorder to look at because of all of the ways the disorder can harm you or another person. After being forced awake for so long, insomnia can cause serious sleep deprivation that can end up in serious problems. In William Dement's The Promise of Sleep, he recounts a time when an extended family member was undergoing lots of stress. Helen sought help from a clinic but did not receive much but common advice. After several days of sleep deprivation, Helen's body could not take the stress any longer and gave out on her at the worst possible time. Helen got into a car accident after suddenly falling asleep on the wheel. This is just one account of injury induced by insomnia. Insomnia is a rising problem in our society especially with the fact that the later you can stay up working, the better you look as a hard worker. I believe that awareness of insomnia and other sleep disorders should be more prevalent, so that people like Helen are not put in a situation of high danger like she was.

Dement, The Promise of Sleep, part of ch. 6  (pgs. 131-139)

Three Week Countdown

Two weeks following fall break and I have already started thinking about thanksgiving break. We are in the middle of the semester and things are starting to get intense. With essays and big tests that may decide how rough finals week will be coming up, we are on this upward slope of stress build up. Now all I can think about is the next big break, Thanksgiving. As of right now, the only disappointing thing about this break is that I will not be going home for the break, but I have made arrangements with a friend to visit him in Oklahoma instead. I am mostly just looking forward to the nice long break before finals. My sleep is taking a toll and after discussing sleeping pills in class, trying them out again has definitely crossed my mind. I can't convince myself that they will actually help though, so for now I am stuck with the every day yawns and random zone outs from sleep deprivation.

Sleeping Pills

Sleeping pills have always intrigued me. My freshman year I received a free sample of sleeping pills and tried them out. I didn't see much of a difference in falling asleep, but I definitely felt more drowsy when I woke up. In the article titled CDC Details Use of Sleep Meds, John Gever details the usage of sleeping pills throughout the United States. One statistic that really caught my attention was "among individuals reporting 5 hours or less of sleep nightly, 6.0% said they used prescription sleep drugs, whereas 3.2% of those who said they averaged 7 hours nightly used sleep aids" (Gever). What I found so interesting was how high the usage of sleeping pills was for the people who recorded less than five hours of sleep. It makes me think how the usefulness of sleeping pills may differ from person to person. Maybe the reason I did not find the sleeping pills so useful is because of how the usefulness differs from person to person.

John Gever, “CDC Details Use of Sleep Meds,” Medpage, Aug. 30, 2013 (http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/SleepDisorders/41287)

Segmented Sleep

In Ekrich's article, Ekrich links both religion and medical accounts to early sleeping patterns. Ekrich introduces segmented sleep as one of the early sleeping patterns that humans used to prioritize. Ekrich quotes medical books from the 15th century as some of the first accounts of segmented sleep, "for better digestion and more tranquil repose, to lie on their right side during 'the fyrste slepe' and 'after the fyrste slepe turne on the lefte syde'" (366). I found this interesting, because as for myself, I  never wake up on the same side I went to sleep on. This is very far fetched, but what if our body does this subconsciously. Furthermore, Ekrich links early religious practices by monks "[rising] after midnight for the recital of verses and psalms, this like other regulations of the Benedictine order had spread to growing numbers of Frankish and German monasteries." (366). This early religious practice can definitely be compared to today's religious practices of reading our bible or praying before going sleep. Comparing early practices to now, we see some similarities, we have just evolved since these practices first came.

Upcoming Research Paper

The end of the semester is coming up and that means its research paper time. Initially I thought about expanding our discussion on students and sleep, but I think I would like to focus more on athletes and sleep. As an athlete I am constantly worried about sleep. Every night I constantly remind myself of the amount of hours left before I have to wake up before practice. I think it would be interesting to look at research done on the impact sleep, or lack of sleep may have on an athletes performance. I would also like to expand on possible reasons why athletes may need more or less sleep to someone who is more sedentary.

War and Sleep

Before this class I never took into perspective the amount of sleep our military loses due to war. The article I found the most intriguing was Los Angeles Times', Winning, but Really Feeling Beat. This article took statements from two military scientist who have studied sleep in the military. The scientists go over the problems they are constantly seeing in the field. One statement that really put things into perspective was "Fatigue may be a factor in 'friendly fire' deaths, accidents and battlefield errors." To think that some of our very own soldiers have lost their lives due to fatigue is unfathomable.


Melissa Healy, “Winning, but Feeling Really Beat,” Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2003 (http://articles.latimes.com/print/2003/apr/07/news/war-sleep7)

Post Fall Break

Fall break ended up being just what I needed. With a nice little break from school, I was relieved of stress and focused on finishing the semester off right. The first couple days back from fall break have been a bit rough because of the lack of sleep I had over the break. As I prepare for the last half of the semester, I look to get back on my regular sleeping schedule I put myself on before the break.

Manhole 69

This short story really sparked my interest. At the beginning of the semester we were asked the question on whether or not we would give up the ability to sleep. Manhole 69 really had me second guess my original answer. After learning more about sleep in our class and reading this short story, I have learned how important sleep really is and the thought of going sleepless is freighting. The story shows two different views on sleepless nights and I have to say that the negative effects that sleepless nights outweigh the positive effects.

J. G. Ballard, “Manhole 69,” 

Fall Break!

The week leading into fall break was very restless. I was beyond excited to travel out of Plainview to take a break from school, but also very stressed about the upcoming work that has to be done. Getting in sleep is tough, because I am either eager for the weekend to come or I am trying to get some last minute studying in before the weekend come. I think this break is going to help me clear my mind and buckle up for the last part of this semester. Besides the past few days, my sleeping patterns haven't been so random. I'm hoping that coming back from the break, I am able to continue this regular sleeping schedule I have put myself on.

Midterm

This class has exceeded my expectations thus far. Coming into this class I was not expecting to study such a vast variety of sleep and the effects that sleep can have on someone. The topic that intrigued me the most was students and sleep. In my opinion, students are effected the most by sleep because of how much society emphasizes the importance of school before a successful career. If I were to pick a topic for my research paper right now it would most likely involve students and sleep.

"Our Sick Society"

Paul Krugman's "Our Sick Society" was very interesting. He talks about how the poor health of Americans is correlated with our stressful lifestyle. He compares our health to the health of the English. A statistic that stood out to me was that the to me was that the "richest third in America is in worse health than the poorest third of the English". These numbers alone show how unhealthy our lifestyles are here in America. Last week we talked about how poor sleeping patterns are correlated to how stressful our jobs are because of how hard we work ourselves. Krugman suggests the same theory. He states that full time British workers work five weeks more per year than full time Americans. Although we cannot really say that sleep is the sole factor to why our health is significantly poorer, these statistics definitely suggest that it does play some sort of a role.

Paul Krugman, “Our Sick Society,” NYT, May 5, 2006 (http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/05/paul_krugman_ou.html)

Random Sleeping Patterns

Something that has really caught my attention is how random my sleep patterns are. Some nights I will sleep a solid 7 to 8 hours, other nights I wont get but 4 to 5 hours of sleep. One thing that does not change is how tired I feel even if I do get those few extra hours of sleep. This feeling made me think of  the sleep debt, the term we heard in last weeks video. I am constantly depriving myself of sleep and I cannot ever pay it back effectively. It all comes down to putting myself to sleep at a reasonable time. This has been difficult mostly because of the late hours I am forced to work. I am curious to see my if my sleeping patterns will effect my upcoming midterm grades.

Vacation

The article that really surprised me this week was the New York Times article on vacation in the states. The article touches on Americans and how we deprive ourselves from vacation time for a variety of reasons. The article says that we worry ourselves out of taking too much vacation. This past summer I interned for the Chamber of Commerce. I distinctly remember employees talking about how they hated coming back from vacation to a million emails so often they would keep themselves updated throughout their time away. The employees at the Chamber were very tenacious people who definitely overworked themselves. This is something that worries me as I begin to start thinking about a career after school.

Ezra Klein, “Keeping up is getting us down,” LAT, July 15, 2007 (http://articles.latimes.com/print/2007/jul/15/opinion/op-klein15)

A Good Nights Rest

The past week, swimming has really kicked it up a notch. Practices are getting tougher and tougher and the pain never seems to go away. My sleep has definitely been affected by it too. I am beginning to fall asleep faster than ever. I have been falling asleep no later than midnight the past few days and I haven't slept this good in a while. Now, I am still exhausted during the day from practice, but I am not woken up so easily at night anymore. Since I have been getting better rest at night, I have had more motivation to gradually finish my homework instead of doing it the night before. This should definitely pay off in the long run.

Sleepy Adults Feel Effects Every Day

An article that really stood out to me was "Sleepy Adults Feel Effects Every Day". In this article, we are given a report on research done on adults reporting that they get less than seven hours of sleep. The reports states that the amount of adults that get less than seven hours of sleep has increased from 1984 to 2004. The article also touches on some interesting statistics: 48% said they snored, 37.9% reported that they unintentionally fell asleep during the day, and 4.7% reported that they had fallen asleep while driving. Falling asleep while driving is a scary thing to think about. The article also talked about loss of productivity on the job due to sleep in jobs like child care, lifeguarding, or operating heavy machinery. Falling asleep while working any of these jobs is very dangerous for not just yourself but others too.

Todd Neale, “Sleepy Adults Feel Effects Every Day,” Medpage, Mar. 3, 2011 (http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/SleepDisorders/25180)

Procrastination

Running on three hours of sleep is probably one of the worst feelings ever. Recently, I procrastinated a bit too much on some homework and it backfired. I fell asleep at around 2:30 after doing homework due the following day. Now, 2:30 may not sound so bad, but when you have a 2 and a half hour practice in about 3 hours, things start to sound a bit worse. This completely ruined my energy and practice was not as productive as it could have been. Fortunately, I was able to get all the work done and my grades are still hold up okay for the moment, but if I keep procrastinating like this my grades and swimming will take a huge hit.

Sleep Patterns in College Students

Something that was very interesting to me was the research on the sleep patterns of college students. What was interesting was how closely it correlated to me in the past few weeks. The mean times that the Forquer reported in her studies were 12:24 on the weekdays, and 1:54 on the weekends. I definitely fall asleep two to three hours earlier on the weekdays. The study also reported that 33% of students took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep. This is a huge problem for me as well. Sometimes it'll take me longer than an hour to fall asleep. It can be very frustrating and stressful. Something that would be very interesting would be research on the correlation between students' sleep patterns and their grades.

LeAnne M. Forquer et al., “Sleep Patterns of College Students at a Public University,” Journal of American College Health 56.5(Mar/Apr 2008): 563-65.

Getting Ready for Practice

While the past few weeks have been filled with random bed times and late wakings, things are about to change drastically. This week we have started morning swim and weight training. Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are morning weights, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are morning swims. Each practice starts at 6 and can last up to 7:30. Getting a good nights rest is going to be very important if I want to be able to train effectively. Going to bed before 12 is going to be very tough, but I will not be able to handle 6 hours of sleep every day.

Sleep and Memory

Something from class that really blew my mind was the correlation between sleep and memory. After watching the clip from 60 minutes, I was amazed by the findings of the research done. I could not believe that by getting a good nights rest can actually enhance your memory the next day. This finding completely negates the motives of the countless college students who pull all nighters just to learn something for a test the next day. What topped it all off for me was when I looked back at times when friends who pulled all nighters for their final tests have done significantly worse on the final than on previous tests that year.

Sleep Patterns

Lately, my sleeping patterns could not be more random. Some nights I sleep a solid eight to ten hours, other nights I will sleep no more than six hours. This has definitely affected me. During the days I get minimal amounts of sleep, practice and class could not be more exhausting. On the days where I get good rest practice and class are not so exhausting, but at the end of the day I am still very sleepy. I am still very much affected by the days that I get very little sleep a few days after even if I do get a good nights rest. Without weekends, I would not be able to make it through practice or class everyday.