On November 4th, Student Health Services organized a sleep seminar in CAS 220. The event follows a series of different initiatives that SHS is putting on in order to improve the wellness and all around health of students. The overall program is called GTK (good to know) and will be running all year. In addition to health seminars, GTK will also be involved with wellness movies nights and online chats in conjunction with giving out prizes to attendees who collect credits.
Event and Student Health Services wellness coordinator Michelle George said that the point of wellness and the events is to “decrease stress, likelihood of colds and flu, and increase awareness about sexually transmitted infections, alcohol and drug education, and many other topics that are important to learn about at a younger age.”
The event was led by neurologist and regional medical director of Sleep Health Centers (Brighton, MA.), Dr. Sandra Horowitz and focused on the sleep patterns of teenagers and college students. The seminar was based different sleep disorders and sleep deprivation. The first part of the seminar had Dr. Horowitz explaining different sleep patterns, from babies to adults.
From the basics, the seminar went on to the subject of sleep disorders, like insomnia, the chronic inability to sleep. Over 30 to 40 percent of people suffer from this disorder for one reason or another, making it more common than it appears.
During the seminar, Dr. Horowitz explained that the environmental factors can worsen or better the treatment of insomnia. In addition to healthy diet and exercise, Dr. Horowitz reminded students that sleep is influenced by everyone around you, and if you’re unable to sleep, then just get up and distract yourself.
Also, the doctor explained sleep deprivation. An interesting fact that she brought up was that staying up for 24 hours was comparatively the same as having a .1 blood alcohol level, in terms of reaction time and other characteristics. Horowitz also reminded the students that studying all night before a test is not the best idea. According to research, getting 8 hours of sleep before an exam causes retention to go up by 44%.
In essence, Dr. Horowitz was there to make sure students knew that sleep was their friend, which is something that George later stressed she wants students to realize. If you’re a student who’s having a difficult time sleeping, products like a water heated mattress might be vital for you.
“We all try to get enough sleep, but can’t,” she said. “It’s really hard. We get 4 to 5 hours when we really need 8 to 9, instead. We all need to make it more of a priority.”
For more information on the wellness events and GTK program, you can go to the wellness education blog at http://blogs.bu.edu/wellness/
One Comment on “Sleep? Oh Yeah I Need That”