Students Urged to Keep Regular Sleep Schedule

Sleep disorders and a general lack of sleep are legitimate medical problems, experts on sleep told a crowd of about 100 at Lowell Lecture Hall last night.

Panelists urged the audience to develop regular sleep patterns and discussed ways that students could deal with sleep deficiencies.

"Sleep complaints have to be analyzed in the exact same way as other medical problems are analyzed," said Jean K. Matheseon, an assistant professor of clinical neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Joining Matheseon in the panel were Associate Professor of Psychiatry Quentin R. Regestein and psychotherapist Melissa Freizinger. The panel was sponsored by University Health Services and moderated by members of the Student Health Advisory Council.

Regestein said that each person's sleep needs are different and there is no universally sufficient amount of sleep.

He said people's optimal sleep times are determined by their body clocks, which dictate that a person should sleep at night, and a chemical which builds up in their nervous systems as they get more tired. He said that ignoring these two factors leads to abnormal sleep patterns and, as a result, not enough sleep.

Regestein said that psychological problems could result from lack of sleep. For example, his patients who did not get enough sleep often complained of depression and expressed feelings that their lives were a failure.

Matheseon said most sleep problems, ranging from delayed sleep-phase syndrome--the medical term for going to bed too late and, consequently, not getting enough sleep--to narcolepsy, were due to physiological problems.

In her presentation, Freizinger focused on the physical and emotional effects of stress, and said that daily stress is a significant cause of sleeping problems.

"Chances are, if you can manage stress you'll probably sleep better," she said.

Freizinger recommended that students follow a procedure known as the "relaxation response" twice a day to manage stress and improve the quality of their sleep.

In a handout, she described the relaxation response as sitting down in a comfortable place, removing all potential distractions, closing one's eyes and attempting to relax for 20 minutes.

While the panel members emphasized getting adequate, regular amounts of sleep, audience questions focused on how to best handle an already problematic sleep schedule.

Regestein told audience members that there is not much a person can do to change the amount of sleep he or she needs.

"You'll have to take it up with God," he said. "It's the way it is."

He added, though, that there are ways for students sleeping as few as five hours a day to best use the little sleep they get.

"Take a siesta during the day," he said. "You might get more mileage out of your sleep."

Audience members had mixed reactions to the panel discussion.

Harpaul A. Kohla '02 said he appreciated getting sleep advice from actual experts in the field.

"It's really hard to find people who know a lot about sleep," Kohla said.

Kohla added, though, that the panel should have put more focus on sleep issues specifically relating to college students.

"They may have put too much focus on serious sleep disorders," he said.

Josh B. Rutenberg, a student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said the panel was informative but he doubts the speakers' message will have much effect on college students' sleep patterns.

"Most college students have already got their patterns of life down," Rutenberg said. "Unfortunately, most of the problems will go on."