To compensate for Winter Quarter’s gift to harried ninth-week students everywhere ‘mdash; a lost hour of sleep, thanks to daylight saving time ‘mdash; the UCSD Wellness Center will host a post-lecture power nap Monday, March 9.
The first annual UCSD Nap-In, an initiative of the newly launched LiveWell UC San Diego, comes in a response to a UC-wide report that found mental problems such as stress, depression and eating disorders among the most common health issues on campuses.’
‘It’s kind of like wellness political activism,’ acting director of the Wellness Center Jerry Phelps said. ‘What we’re doing is trying to create a framework for a healthy learning environment.’
Two registration-fee increases over the last two years have partly gone toward improving student-health resources and hiring additional staff for Counseling and Psychological Services and Student Health.
Three percent of the total 7 percent increase in 2007-08 went to fund Student Health programs, as did 5 percent of the total 10 percent increase in 2008-09.’
The Nap-In coincides with daylight savings time, and will be supplemented by talks on how a quick snooze can improve students’ mental health and classroom performance.
According to sleep researcher and Nap-In keynote speaker Sara Mednick, an assistant professor of psychology at UCSD, lack of sleep is a major contributor to an array of common problems, including high blood pressure and obesity.’
In her research, Mednick runs electrocardiogram tests assessing memory, vision, motor skills and creative problem-solving abilities in napped and non-napped subjects. She explained that getting enough sleep is essential for information retention and improved cognitive performance, but added that she understands why cram sessions are sometimes necessary.
‘If you’re not prepared for the test, you have the ability to retain the information for a certain amount of time ‘mdash; but if you want to have that information and use it and generalize it to future tests, sleep is essential to that,’ Mednick said.
Sonia Ancoli-Israel, professor of psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine, explained that because sleep is controlled partly by a decrease in body temperature, napping comes naturally after lunch, as the body’s temperature falls. Since circadian rhythms in adolescents are delayed ‘mdash; often they don’t feel sleepy until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., but still have to wake up early for class.
‘Most students are sleep deprived,’ Ancoli-Israel said. ‘[Mednick] has shown that taking that nap actually consolidates an improved memory.’
Revelle College senior Maggie Profita said that finals often make her irritable due to sleep deprivation; regardless, the all-nighter isn’t going anywhere.’
‘Finals week, I don’t sleep that much at all,’ Profita said. ‘When I’m super tired I don’t do as well, but I still stay up because I need to study. I think because I feel like there’s that one thing that could be on there, and if I stay up and study then I might get a little better [score].’
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