By Peter Kendron
News Editor

The professor paces the room, speaking of the Crimean War. Slowly, your eyes begin to close. When you regain consciousness, drool has found its way to your notebook, and you're not sure if Lithuanians won or were even in the war.

Junior Bryan Prior hopes his teachers understand when his mind wanders in class - he normally only gets three hours of sleep a night.

"It's not that I don't have time to sleep. I can't afford to," he said.

Prior said he spends most of his nights studying and has to go to work early in the morning.

"Especially in my 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. classes, my mind wanders. It isn't as sharp as it should be," Prior said.

Robin Turco, assistant professor of psychology, said a lot of college students, like Prior, suffer from a condition called sleep restriction.

"Our society really doesn't value sleep," she said. "You always hear people saying they don't need it."

Most studies recommend at least eight hours of sleep a night, Turco said.

For college students it seems like something to brag about, she said.

"Students say, `he can get by on three hours of sleep,' and admire that," Turco added.

"Everyone sees people who don't get a lot of sleep as efficient. It seems like they have busy and important lives," she said.

However, not getting enough sleep can lead to trouble studying and paying attention in class, Turco said.

"Tasks that are long-lasting, difficult and uninteresting are quite hard to accomplish," she said.

Prior said his lack of sleep has resulted in low test scores. "I read the questions wrong. I miss `not trues' and read them as `trues,'" he said.

People overestimate their ability to go without sleep, Turco said.

"College students are trying to do so many things at once - go to class, hang out with friends, go out at night - they run out of time for sleep," she said.

Sophomore Kate Sixt agreed.

"This year, I've been going on five or six hours of sleep a night," she said. "Between studying, going to class and dancing, I have too much to do."

Sixt said sometimes she skips class to get sleep.

"The worst classes are around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. I feel really tired, but I hate getting up for morning classes, too," she said.

As for the ultimate in sleep restriction, the all-nighter, Turco said it probably does not aid students much.

"Research on work has shown that it is more efficient when the worker is rested, but most college students are not willing to experiment to see if getting two more hours of sleep will help them on a test."

Besides affecting students' ability to perform in the classroom, a lack of sleep can also affect their health, said Kathleen Kerr, a physician's assistant at Olean Medical Group.

"You fatigue much quicker. … If you're not well rested, you're more at risk to catch every cold or flu that comes along," Kerr said.

If you do not feel like getting up, begin to doze off at 7 or 8 p.m. or have trouble completing homework or studying, you most likely suffer from a lack of sleep, Kerr said.

A student who does not get enough sleep can become irritable and have more intense dreams, Turco said.

"It's called REM rebound. Because you're not getting enough sleep, you go to REM sleep, where you dream, faster," Turco said. REM sleep is the most restful stage of sleep.

Drinking coffee or taking caffeine pills does not substitute for sleep, Kerr said.

"That's just a quick fix. You're stimulating yourself for a short time. Then you fall back to or below where you were before," she said.

"While feeling sleepy may seem innocuous, it impairs," she said.

If a student does not get enough rest, it could lead to falling asleep quickly, no matter where you are, Turco said.

Teachers tend to forget students probably aren't getting enough sleep. They may assume a student does not care about the course, she said.

"Even a well-intentioned student can nod off right away in class," Turco said.

Getting more sleep represents the only solution to sleep restriction, Kerr said. "You need sleep to function."

So if you really want to keep the Crimean War straight, get some sleep.

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