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Maybe you've seen them, laughed at them, or even been one of them.
They are one of those many awkwardly positioned students laying facedown on a Campus Center couch. Only breaking to refuel in the most convenient place - risking sleep-talking or exposing a hairy ankle - these students are tired from their studies. These students are the epitome of hard workers.
As convenient as it is, many ask why these students wouldn't just return to their own room and sleep in privacy? Somewhere where there is no real risk of anyone stealing your shoes or catching you sucking your thumb?
Rather than seeing baby-faced freshmen and sophomores laying in the fetal position on the couches of the Campus Center concourse, you're more likely to see upperclassmen or grad-students.
Many nappers said they live either too far away from their classes, or off-campus, making the beet colored couches look more like friendly futons.
While these cat naps may appear innocent, they are a serious matter, according to Harvard Neurology professor Dr. Carlos Blanco-Centurion.
"Short naps, less than 30 minutes, taken during the afternoon are a good way to cope with excessive daytime sleepiness in young people coping [with the] occasional previous night of restricted sleep or bad sleep," said Blanco-Centurion.
According to Blanco-Centurion, a night of restricted or bad sleep is one with six hours or less per night. Naps, Blanco-Centurion says, can also be used as a "preventative means to cope when a prolonged waking is expected to happen (prophylactic napping). So a student may take a two hour nap prior to a long night of studying."
In a pinch, Blanco-Centurion said naps can be a great option to resting up before or after a night of missed sleep, however, they are unhealthy as a regular diet of sleep deprivation.
"Two weeks of sleep restriction produces the same deterioration in cognitive performance than two nights of total sleep deprivation," said Blanco-Centurion. "Sleep deprivation produces the same kind of disinhibitory behavior as alcohol does."
They didn't tell you that in BASICS.
"When brain serotonin levels are low, animals and humans display more aggressive behaviors as well as eat more," said Blanco-Centurion
Who knew that achieving a perfect eight hours could possibly forgive students for a weekend of beirut?
According to Blanco-Centurion's research, young adults are the ones who have the greatest amount of sleep deprivation, averaging about 6.7 hours on weekdays, and 7.4 on weekends. So what to do during those four-plus years of fatigued captivity on the bottom-floor of DuBois?
Many students looking for an extra boost of alertness turn to energy drinks like Red Bull, which is distributed throughout campus. Blanco-Centurion contends there are other, more natural, ways to gain an extra boost.
"[The] brain has its natural ways to boost alertness. Motivation, attention, physical activity, even hunger all lead to neurons to keep responding," said Blanco-Centurion.
Thus, the best way to study for a test might be a little elbow grease as opposed to turning to an energy drink which according to Blanco-Centurion, is a drug.
"First, caffeine, as other psychoactive drugs, produces tolerance. As a result, people increase caffeine intake in order to get even," said Blanco-Centurion, also describing the coinciding caffeine withdrawal, which includes, "headache, fatigue, decreased energy, decreased alertness, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and foggy mind."
Perhaps college students do not take sleep as seriously as they should.
"Sleepiness should be considered as a drive in the same way as hunger or thirst," said Blanco-Centurion. "Hence, sleepiness builds up during the daytime even though people do nothing [about it]."
Given all the facts, 30 minutes of pillow time on that lumpy, cranberry couch, which looks strikingly like an extra-long twin bed, may not be a bad idea after all.
Cara Grandermeen and Eden Univer can be reached at cgrannem@student.umass.edu and euniver@student.umass.edu.
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