Junior Loria Lei Thunker said she rarely slept for more than five hours a night during the school week.
“On average it is four to five hours if I am lucky,” she said. “On weekends, it is about six hours.”
Thunker said she tried to take short naps to catch up on sleep if she had time.
A new sleep study by Matthew Walker, a University of California-Berkeley professor, found that these naps, even for adults, may be more helpful than previously thought, according to a Feb. 22 New York Times article.
In fact, according to the article, the study found that people who slept for an hour and a half in the early afternoon were more able to learn and remember.
Senior Janelle McGinnis said she did not often take naps or pull all-nighters to study.
“I’ve never been able to function on little sleep,” she said. “Since I live off campus, I can’t easily go back to my room and take a nap.”
Thunker said she had pulled an all-nighter in the past while playing cards.
“On the weekends I have played pitch until seven in the morning and then stayed up and took a nap in the afternoon,” she said.
She said she did not think the late night affected her too badly because her body was used to not getting extra sleep.
The sleep research findings show that the brain becomes slower the longer a person is awake and back up the notion that pulling an all-nighter actually decreases the brain’s capacity to process and remember information, according to a press release about the study on the university's Web site.
Junior Alison Prigge said she tried to get at least six or seven hours of sleep each night, but she seldom took naps during the day, even after a night of little sleep.
“It is hard for me to take a nap during the day because I don’t have time,” she said. “With classes, work study, homework, exercising and other things, I stay pretty busy.”
Individuals in the sleep study were tested on their ability to recognize and remember faces and names of strangers, according to the New York Times report of the study. Those who took a nap between learning names were able to remember more than those who stayed awake the whole time.
Still, Thunker said she sometimes struggled to get enough sleep or naps, regardless of the potential benefits of sleep.
“Sometimes I just can’t sleep or have too much to do with activities and homework,” she said.
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