Several health and sleep experts discuss the dangers of sleep deprivation in students and its impact on health and academic performance in a report from The Daily Universe.
College students who deprive themselves of sleep are more at risk of losing academic success, according to health professional Dr. Keith Willmore.
Willmore, medical director of the BYU Student Health Clinic, said there is definitely a connection between lack of sleep and poor academic performance. He said cognitive functions are worsened due to sleep deprivation.
“Most students tend to stay up much later and sleep in, resulting in both less quantity and quality sleep,” Willmore said in an email.
Daniel Kay, an assistant professor of psychology, explained there is a danger for students when it comes to this “sleep debt.”
“‘Sleep debt’ as it’s called, accumulates over time,” Kay said. “So if an individual obtains 15 minutes less sleep than is needed on a nightly basis, after a week or two that starts to add up, and can have an impact of daytime functioning that is as great as going a whole night without sleep.”
