Harvard Medical School has conducted numerous studies, including research by Pace-Schott, demonstrating a link between sleep deprivation and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression.Įarn college credits with a summer course at Harvard Summer School. The impact on your mental health can be just as serious. Insufficient sleep has been linked, for example, to weight gain and obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Over the long term, chronic sleep deprivation can have a serious impact on your physical and mental health. Difficulty focusing, concentrating, and remembering.Other signs of chronic sleep deprivation include: Drivers who sleep less than five hours per night are more than five times as likely to have a crash as drivers who sleep for seven hours or more. Staying awake for 24 hours can equate to a BAC of 0.10 percent (higher than the legal limit of 0.08 percent).Īnd according to research by AAA, drowsy driving causes an average of 328,000 motor vehicle accidents each year in the US. The consequences of sleep deprivation are fairly well established but may still be surprising.įor example, did you know that sleep deprivation can create the same level of cognitive impairment as drinking alcohol?Īccording to the CDC, staying awake for 18 hours can have the same effect as a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05 percent. But, there are a lot more people who claim to be short sleepers than there are real short sleepers,” says Pace-Schott.

“There are very few individuals who are so-called short sleepers, people who really don’t need more than six hours of sleep. Unfortunately, this pattern is neither healthy nor a true long-term solution to sleep deprivation.Īnd what about those students who say that they function perfectly well on just a couple hours of sleep? Of course, many students attempt to catch up on lost sleep by sleeping late on the weekends. The numbers are similar for high school students 73 percent of high school students get between seven and seven and a half hours of sleep. And over half of college students sleep less than seven hours per night. Seventy to 96 percent of college students get less than eight hours of sleep each week night. Most students, however, get far less sleep than the recommended amount. “When you’ve been on vacation for two weeks, how are you sleeping during that second week? How long are you sleeping? If you’re sleeping eight or nine hours when you don’t have any reason to get up, then chances are you need that amount or close to that amount of sleep,” says Pace-Schott. Edward Pace-Schott, Harvard Summer School and Harvard Medical School faculty member and sleep expert, you can answer that question simply by observing how much you sleep when you don’t need to get up. How do you know how much sleep you need within this range?Īccording to Dr. For young adults (ages 18 to 25), the range is need between seven and nine hours. The sleep you need versus the sleep you getĪccording to the National Sleep Foundation, high school students (ages 14-17) need about eight to 10 hours of sleep each night.

But regularly short-changing yourself on quality sleep can have serious implications for school, work, and your physical and mental health.Īlternatively, prioritizing a regular sleep schedule can make these years healthier, less stressful, and more successful long-term. With so many competing priorities, sacrificing sleep may feel like the only way to get everything done.ĭespite the sleepiness you might feel the next day, one late night probably won’t have a major impact on your well-being. And if you also work or have family commitments, it can feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. At the same time, these can be some of the busiest years of your life.īalancing all the demands on your time-a full course load, extracurricular activities, and socializing with friends-can be challenging. The time you spend in high school and college can be both fun and rewarding.

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