With Halloween this weekend, many students are planning weekends full of debauchery, notwithstanding the fact that they have full weeks ahead of them after the weekend. It’s often said that college is about three things – work, fun, and sleep – but you can only choose two. However, there are pretty compelling reasons to make sure sleep is on your to-do list (because we all know WU students actually have to pencil it in):

+ Not getting enough sleep freaks out your hunger hormones, and the less sleep you get, the more likely you are to be obese. The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine also says that women who don’t sleep much make bad food choices, eating diets higher in cholesterol, protein, and saturated fat. Gross.

+ You’re more likely to get diabetes and heart attacks. If you sleep 5 or fewer hours a night, you’re 2.5 times more likely to be diabetic, and women who sleep 5 or fewer hours per night are 45% more likely to have a heart attack. That’s no fun.

+ Even though many WU students don’t have cars on campus, 20% of all serious car crashes involve a sleepy driver (independent of alcohol use). So being sleepy and on the road can be just as bad for you (and other drivers) as being intoxicated.

+ Less sleep means you will be more prone to depression, mental distress, and alcohol use. Even middle-schoolers report lower-self esteem when they haven’t been sleeping properly. College is the last place you need more mental stress!! [If you think you are depressed, contact Health Services: 314-935-6666]

+ Lastly, people who get 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night are at a 15% greater risk of dying (no matter what the cause!) than people who snooze more. Yikes!
 

Even though a lot of the health problems associated with not sleeping seem a little far off for our age group, we’re getting to the point in our lives where we are thinking about the future. And a good way to keep yourself healthy is to get into bed!

For some tips on getting to sleep at night, click here.
 

And don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend. On Sunday (November 2), set your clocks back one hour! You won’t have any excuses for being late to class on Monday.