An Argumentative Paper on the Importance of Sleep Quality over Sleep Quantity among College Students
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ENGL 106
Sleep quality is extremely essential for both adolescents and young adults because the brain is still developing. In comparison to sleep quantity, sleep quality has a greater impact on the cognitive performance, vulnerability to depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction of college students. Getting quality sleep enhances processing of social experiences and other information. Sleep deprivation studies demonstrate that low sleep quality adversely affects mental concentration, memory, emotional control, and behavioral competence. All of these aspects are vital to the growth of fundamental social interaction abilities and to academic outcomes. Low sleep quality also raises health problems, like confusion, depression, and greater vulnerability to substance abuse. It is also linked to several other physical disorders such as cardiovascular illness, mood, low immunity, and metabolism.
Some studies (e.g. Lowry, Dean, & Manders, 2010; Gikunda et al., 2014) have placed emphasis on the duration of sleep so as to evaluate the sleep quality of research subjects. Indeed, leep quantity also affects all these vital cognitive, physical, and social functions, but according to studies (e.g. Galambos, Howard, Maggs, 2010; Gilbert & Weaver, 2010; Hershner & Chervin, 2014; etc.) sleep quality has a greater impact. However, Gunnarsdottir (2014) proposed that researchers and experts must place greater importance on the quality of sleep rather than the quantity. Likewise, the study of Gunnarsdottir (2014), which explored whether lengthier sleep would result in improved life quality, revealed that sleep quality has a greater impact on psychological and physiological functioning.
Therefore, in view of the aforementioned studies, the quality of sleep rather than sleep quantity requires greater attention from educators, social scientists, and health care professionals. All the same, both sleep quality and sleep quantity are essential. However, according to several studies (e.g. Gunnarsdottir, 2014; Liu, 2004), even students who manage to get sufficient amount of sleep (7-8 hours), but are wakeful or shallow sleepers and have a disrupted sleep-wake cycle exhibit more serious symptoms of reduced concentration and depression. When students are not able to get sufficient sleep during examinations or other important academic activities, they often make an attempt to sleep longer during their free time. Even though this generates some positive outcomes, the adjustment in the sleep-wake cycle or sleep quantity weakens sleep quality and leads to a steady deterioration of memory, focus, and concentration and higher susceptibility to depression (Pilcher, Ginter, & Sadowsky, 1997; Galambos et al., 2010). This alone substantiates the assumption that sleep quality has a greater impact on the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive performance of college students than sleep quantity.
Sleep is an activity that every individual requires on a regular basis. However, even though sleep is exceptionally vital to human life, not all people sleep thoroughly or qualitatively well. One of the aspects that is significantly affected by sleep quality is cognitive performance. The quality of sleep has been reported to be a greater predictor of cognitive performance than sleep quantity. Studies on the general effects of poor sleep quality on the cognitive performance of college students suggest that low quality of sleep adversely influences cognitive outcomes. According to Galambos and colleagues (2010), higher quantity of sleep is related to lesser adverse cognitive impact, but greater quality of sleep is associated with greater positive cognitive performance and reduced stress.
Basically, poor quality of sleep affects numerous aspects of college students’ cognitive performance. The study of Telzer and colleagues (2013) discovered that cognitive performance declines without quality sleep. Poor sleepers tend to produce poorer academic outcomes compared to college students who have a healthy sleep-wake cycle. Simply put, poor quality of sleep generate more inadvertent outcomes than insufficient amount of sleep, such as adverse effect on performance, memory, and learning skills. Unfortunately, as revealed by Gilbert and Weaver (2010), there is poor awareness of the importance of sleep quality in strengthening normal brain functioning, particularly memory.
The ‘dual process’ model argues that specific forms of memory are significantly affected by particular sleep conditions; for instance, ‘procedural memory’ or the process of gaining knowledge of how to do things, such as driving a car or cooking, could be significantly rooted in rapid eye movement (REM). As further elaborated by Galambos and colleagues (2010), poor sleep quality may negatively affect the quality of REM that college students receive, which could in turn weaken memory and learning. During quality sleep, the brain effectively processes and categorizes all gathered information, and stores it away for eventual retrieval. When a person is unable to obtain a sufficient amount of sleep, the capability to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory deteriorates (Galambos et al., 2010). For instance, according to the study of Hershner and Chervin (2014), college students who are able to sleep without disruption prior to taking an exam perform better than those who are unable to obtain quality sleep.
Besides memory, quality of sleep is also crucial in sustaining performance, learning, and concentration abilities. In both experimental and correlational research, college students who get poor sleep quality exhibit marginally lower academic performance than students who are able to get a good night sleep. Professors and parents largely admit that adolescents with poor sleeping habits appear absent-minded and have problems focusing or sustain a normal level of concentration (Hershner & Chervin, 2014). Likewise, the quantity of sleep also affect the ability of adolescents to focus and concentrate; for instance, Trockel and colleagues (2000) explained that insufficient quantity of sleep during weekends significantly affects the ability of first-year college students to sustain a longer attention span to classroom lectures and activities. Gilbert and Weaver (2010) substantiated this claim but further stated that quality of sleep can offset such adverse effects of inadequate sleep quantity.
The findings of Telzer and colleagues (2013) confirm that sleep quality rather than sleep quantity is related to higher stimulation and cognitive control. These findings most probably arose due to the reduced arousal brought about by poor sleep quality. The interplay between weakened cognitive control, intensified arousal, and low sleep quality could produce a detrimental cycle through which sleep reduces control and intensifies arousal, which consequently drives adolescents towards greater sensitivity to stimuli and, as a result, lower quality of sleep.
Correspondingly, similar to its impact on cognitive performance, sleep quality also has a greater influence on depression than sleep quantity. Poor quality of sleep is linked to anxiety and depression. Poor quality of sleep, not inadequate sleep, is one of the most widespread causes of depression. Sleep patterns are altered in depressed students, marked by the following symptoms (Edell-Gustafsson, 1999, 2):
Poorer health, higher level of anxiety and increased difficulties maintaining sleep (DMS) were consistent with significantly longer sleep latency, increased fragmented sleep, and. REM sleep.
Weakened quality and efficacy of sleep, as well as disrupted sleep-wake cycle, could shed light on the reason why students experiencing depression at times feel exhausted even though they seem to have received longer sleeps. Such defective sleep-wake cycle will have an impact on their performance on everyday tasks due to excessive tiredness (Pilcher et al., 1997). Collectively, students with sleep disruptions were more prone to experience depression, tiredness, weight loss, and grief than students who are able to sleep soundly at night.
Excessive arousal has also been shown in other physical, cognitive, mental circumstances, leading to an unhealthy cycle of sleeplessness. Edell-Gustafsson and colleagues (2006) describes the unhealthy sleeplessness cycle “as cognitive activities, intrusion worries, frustration, and negative expectation producing depressive reactions of sleeping difficulties, which maintain or aggravate sleeplessness, in relation to one’s sense of helplessness and self-efficacy in this regard” (as cited in Johansson, 2012, 13). College students who are unable to recover the quality of sleep they had skipped because of too much stimulation and other factors amass a ‘sleep debt’ that results in susceptibility to depression, cognitive disability, weight changes, physical and mental exhaustion, and heightened sleepiness. The development of sleep debt and disrupted sleep are primarily associated with depression, fatigue, sleep apnea, and other hyperactive neurophysiological functions. All of these reduce the life satisfaction of college students.
Waking up because of emotional, physical, and psychological reasons brings about anxiety and tension, and can be categorized based on external or internal sources which consequently lead to greater sleep disruptions. For instance, college students who are chronically bothered by family issues or other difficulties may experience more sleep disruptions than those who have a certain level of peace of mind. Too much physiological and psychological arousal throughout the day or before sleeping could considerably interrupt the inception of sleep and result in more recurrent nighttime arousals. It is stated from earlier studies that sleep disruption results in morning deficiency caused by sleepiness.
Moreover, mood changes and different health problems have also been identified by various researchers among college students who have difficulties sleeping peacefully at night. Poor quality of sleep leads to intensified daytime emotional experiences that would eventually lead to health disorders like elevated blood pressure. Poor quality of sleep is also linked to lower immunity and abnormal metabolic functioning, which further weaken one’s life satisfaction. These findings support the idea that sleep quality has a greater impact than sleep quantity on the daily activities of college students, and that inefficient sleep could set off major depressive symptoms.
Additionally, a number of researchers further highlight the clinical significance of sleep disruption in depression among college students. Bertocci and associates (2005 as cited in Gruber & Brouillette, 2006) made a comparison of subjective sleep evaluations in adolescents and children experiencing depression to correlate normal functioning with age and discovered considerably poorer quality of sleep, more problems sleeping at night, and trouble getting up in the morning in depressed individuals. In addition, as reported by Liu (2004), greater suicidal tendencies have been discovered among those college students with most distressed sleep.
Earlier studies have also reported the correlation between psychological problems (e.g. anxiety and depression) and nightmares, and more recent studies have focused on the correlation between suicidal tendencies and nightmares among adolescents. More particularly, according to Liu (2004), sleeplessness is more widespread in students with higher suicidal tendency, and this pattern is usually attended by frequent nightmares. Nightmares are described as intense dreams characterized by heightened feelings of fear that rouses the person, which normally take place during REM sleep. In a research of individuals experiencing major depression, Agargun and associates (1998) (as cited in Liu, 2004) illustrated that recurrent nightmares are linked to heightened suicidal ideation. Current studies indicate that nightmares are more widespread than initially thought.
Hershner and Chevin (2014) put forth another detrimental impact of sleep quality on psychological wellbeing. They reported that sleep disruption is an important factor which brings about poor sense of worth or self-image, which, in turn, could cause depression. They further conveyed that university experts are more inclined to handle depression as the greatest contributing factor to poor academic outcomes, neglecting the fact that a poor self-image caused by poor sleep quality is major root of depression. Thus, given these gaps in the literature, it is essential to identify the actual fundamental relationship between sleep quality and depression among college students.
Nonetheless, despite the comprehensiveness and validity of the findings about the greater importance of sleep quality over sleep quantity, some researchers claim that proponents of sleep quality did not take into consideration other factors that could influence academic performance among college students. Without taking into account sleep quantity, these researchers argue that it is not possible to draw an accurate conclusion about the actual impact of sleep disorders on the academic performance of college students (Wolfson & Carskadon, 2003). The studies of educators, social scientists, and developmental psychologists in evaluating aspects that focus on disparities in academic performance have emphasized the significance of a more inclusive model than most sleep experts have adopted.
Similarly, other social scientists currently argued that researchers that examine the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral performance of college students have to take into full account of the quantity of sleep on the psychological and physiological health of college students. They argue that sleep quality alone cannot account for the full aspect of the academic performance of college students. For instance, studies have reported that shorter duration of sleep affects the ability of college students to focus during classroom activities and examinations. Lawrence Epstein, a medical professor at Harvard University, argues for the importance of sleep quantity (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2007, para 3):
Recent studies have shown that adequate sleep is essential to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health and working at peak performance. After two weeks of sleeping six hours or less a night, students feel as bad and perform as poorly as someone who has gone without sleep for 48 hours. New research also highlights the importance of sleep in learning and memory. Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep.
Several researchers support lengthier sleep for students because brain functions are also dependent on the amount of sleep an individual receives.
All of these contentions are valid and reasonable. It is true that both sleep quality and sleep quantity should be taken into account in the examination of the physical, cognitive, and behavioral performance of college students. Both sleep quality and sleep quantity affect the overall wellbeing of an individual. However, the primacy of sleep quality over sleep quantity has been supported by a fair number of studies. Stenzel (2015) firmly argues that college students should be trained in time management and taught about the importance of quality of sleep. He found out from his study of the impact of sleep quality on college students’ behavior that sleeping longer during weekends or free time does not compensate for the lack of efficient sleep. Deficient sleep quality is harder to recover than inadequate sleep quantity. Hence the argument of this paper stands—there should be a greater emphasis on sleep quality among college students.
In conclusion, there is a certain level of confusion between sleep quality and sleep quantity. Many mistakenly interchange the two. Sleep quantity refers to the quantifiable aspect of sleep, such as duration and amount of sleep, whereas sleep quality refers to the intangible characteristic of sleep such as its efficiency and depth. It is the contention of this paper that sleep quality has a greater influence on the academic performance of college students than sleep quantity. There are three supporting premises for this argument: the greater impact of sleep quality on the cognitive performance of students; on the onset of depression; and, on life satisfaction. Poor quality of sleep adversely affects the learning, memory, and concentration skills of students, while nothing of the sort has been mentioned for sleep quantity. According to several studies, too much sleeping can even impair daytime activities, but there is no such thing as ‘excessive’ sleep quality that could detrimentally affect an individual’s psychological, emotional, and physiological performance.
Depressive symptoms usually occur in individuals who are chronically deprived of quality sleep. Staying awake for a number of hours does not significantly contribute to the onset of depression among college students, but excessive stimulation or repetitive arousal during sleep can significantly affect the ability of an individual to cope with internal and external stressors. And, lastly, the wellbeing and quality of life of students is largely determined by the quality of sleep they obtain. The recuperating and invigorating impact of sleep is simply achieved through efficient sleep. However, not everyone is convinced that sleep quality is more important than sleep quantity. Several professionals from various disciplines still adhere to the idea that the duration and amount of sleep that students get significantly affects their ability to perform well academically. Some support a more balanced view of sleep quality and sleep quantity.
Primary References
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2007, November 30). College students: getting enough sleep is vital to academic success. Retrieved from http://www.aasmnet.org/articles.aspx?id=659.
Edell-Gustafsson, U. (1999). Sleep, psychological symptoms and quality of life in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Uppsala, Sweden: Linkoping University. https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQFjAAahUKEwin5_Ok_PXGAhULSI4KHUqCAZA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diva-portal.org%2Fsmash%2Fget%2Fdiva2%3A249227%2FFULLTEXT02.pdf&ei=J1ezVee3GIuQuQTKhIaACQ&usg=AFQjCNFTWpGghxcnvGlMBa3jnItZyM3_FA&sig2=bEsX_hMXMTqE9UfyC2lHdw&bvm=bv.98717601,d.c2E
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Gilbert, S., & Weaver, C. (2010). Sleep quality and academic performance in university students: a wake-up call for college psychologists. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 24, 295-306.
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Hershner, S., & Chervin, R. (2014). Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students. Nature and Science of Sleep NSS, 6, 73-84.
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Pilcher, J., Ginter, D., & Sadowsky, B. (1997). Sleep quality versus sleep quantity: relationships between sleep and measures of health, well-being and sleepiness in college students. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 42(6), 583-596.
Stenzel, J. (2015). Sleep quality and negative associated behaviors of college students: A Cross-Sectional Study. The Spectrum: A Scholars Day Journal, 3(10), 1-11.
Telzer, et al. (2013). The effects of poor quality sleep on brain function and risk taking in adolescence. NeuroImage, 71, 275-283.
Trockel, M., Barnes, M., & Egget, D. (2000). Performance among first-year college students: implications for sleep and other behaviors. Journal of American College Health, 49, 125-131.
Wolfson, A. & Carskadon, M. (2003). Understanding adolescents’ sleep patterns and school performance: a critical appraisal. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 7(6), 491-506.
Secondary References
Agargun, M.Y. et al. (1998). Repetitive and frightening dreams and suicidal behavior in patients with major depression. Comparative Psychiatry, 39, 198-202.
Bertocci, M.A. et al. (2005). Subjective sleep complaints in pediatric depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44(11), 1158-66.
