Yupeng Zhuo

Students Sometimes Should Sleep Shorter

In current era, many people complain that they do not have enough sleep. According to
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), 50 to 70 million US adults have sleep
problems. They wish they could have more time to sleep, because sleep disorder has made so
much trouble for them, especially true for college students. They feel time has never been their
luxury and they want more time to sleep, because aside from daily classes and monthly
midterms, they have part time jobs, need to hang out with friends, spend time with family, watch
favorite TV shows However, I think occasional sleep deprivation in life is acceptable for
college students, because it does health no harm; life is more than sleep; also, stress actually
motivates us.
Many students believe that insufficient sleep would cause danger in daily life. To prevent
that, they had better have more sleep. A study conducted by Dr. Breus (2012) shows that
insufficient sleep would impair cognitive performance. That is one of the major cause for car
accident every year (Peters et al., 1999). Since insufficient sleep could even endanger life, does it
mean this argument is valid for having longer sleep? I disagree. Nothing is invented to endanger
peoples welfare. For instance, guns were not invented to kill people, but for self-protection. So
are the car incidents. Cars were not invented for drowsy driving, but for daily convenience. If
people misuse inventions, nothing is safe. A small candy can even choke people. Therefore, I do
believe chronical insufficient sleep is bad for students; nevertheless, occasional sleep deprivation
would not harm them, but only benefit them.
Short term sleep deprivation is harmless to body. From my interview to Dr. Adair, who is
specialized in internal medicine, short term sleep deprivation just takes little catch up sleep to
help people recover from uncomfortable body conditions (interview, March 25, 2015). After the

Yupeng Zhuo

sleep, there is no further physical effect from the short term sleep deprivation, no problems like
brain cell loss or immune system impairment. For college students, they are young; therefore,
their bodies can handle this with ease. In addition, it would give them more hours a day to finish
their schedule without further health problem. They only gain from the short term sleep loss.
They as well can use caffeine to help them keep awake without physical harm. Although this
stimulant cannot take off their fatigue, they at least would not feel sleepy anymore and would be
able to concentrate better on their work (W. Adair, interview, March 25, 2015). Thus, short term
sleep loss would generally promote well-being without any harm to body.
Furthermore, there is always something much more important than a healthy physical
body every day. Everybody has life goals that they want to fight for with all their might in short
life time. Most people say college time is the best period of time in peoples life, because there is
no life pressure and people are old enough to pursue their dream. Imagine how big a loss it
would be if college students just always want to sleep more in their best time. Imagine how
delightful life would have been if they had not sleep to miss beautiful things in life. Imagine how
bad it would hurt to know that value chances fly away when they are sleeping. The worst thing in
the world is that time only flows in one way and never comes back. Many people in their old age
tend to regret not precious their time in college, to make more friends, to learn more knowledge
and to seize more opportunity. In order to not waste best time in life and not to regret in old age,
college students should sacrifice some sleeping time occasionally to work more. This will give
them a clearer and more promising future.
Stressful life can make college students more competitive and have more motivation to
improve themselves. Every top elite in Wall Street lives under huge pressure every day, and
being able to be inside the top elite list usually means ascending life rather than descending life.

Yupeng Zhuo

Those people sleep very less every day because of high pressure. However, they still can manage
successful lives. Why? The high pressure strengthens their faith in themselves, sharpens their
skills and hardens their will to improve current conditions. The high pressure does not obstruct
them from success, but becomes solid foundation for their success. Occasion insufficient sleep is
what it takes to handle stressful life, so college students should do it when they need to. They are
responsible for their own future, not anyone else, so if they want to succeed in the future, they
need to go through tough process some times. Besides, I strongly deem that pressure can
sometimes create wonderful miracle. French novelist Balzac finished Le Pre Goriot in three
days due to his debt. High life pressure forced him to create world heritage. Therefore,
occasional sleep deprivation would benefit college students by motivating them to be
competitive.
In a nutshell, short term sleep deprivation should not be objected in college students life,
because it would be controllable for them, give them time to pursue their life goals and
incentivize them to perfect themselves. Maybe some of them may feel it is hard to function under
sleep deprivation, but this is what they should do to use their time better and to be able to
succeed. Friedrich Nietzsche said That which does not kill us makes us stronger. College
students are the future leaders of the world, so the occasional sleep deprivation would only
spurge their success, not impede their success. They should stop grumbling about insufficient
sleep and gladly sacrifice their sleep when they need it for their life goals.

Yupeng Zhuo

References
Insufficient Sleep Is a Public Health Epidemic. (2014, January 13). Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/index.html#References
Breus, M. (2012, August 21). Sleep Problems May Contribute to Cognitive Decline.
Retrieved from http://blogs.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/2012/08/sleep-problems-maycontribute-to-cognitive-decline.html
Peters, R., Kloeppel, E., Alicandri, E., Fox, J.,Thomas, M., Thorne, D., Sing, H. &
Balwinski, S. (1999, Febuary). Effects of Partial and Total Sleep Deprivation On Driving
Performance. Retrieved from
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/humanfac/94046/index.cfm