Tuesday, February 8th

For the first three years of my college career, I did not understand the importance of sleep.  I'm ashamed to admit that I pulled all-nighters on the worst nights and slept way too much or too little on the best nights. 

This year, my FINAL year of taking important tests and determining how I will be judged when doing post-graduate things, like, applying for jobs (and who cares about that...), I have finally been able to learn more about sleep and how it important it is to living a healthy life. 

According to my fave Dr. Mercola, the optimum amount of sleep for adults in six to eight hours.  However, taking naps in the middle of the day to "catch up on sleep" won't cut it.  Our bodies recharge the best during the hours of 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., so it's important to go to sleep as early as possible. 

You might be thinking that you'd rather go to a party and live it up while you're young or stay up late studying to make a good grade on a test (this is college, after all).  But sleep deprivation can cause all kinds of negative effects on your health, such as:

- Weaking your immune system

Gross.  Living in dorms means that if ONE person on your hall gets sick, EVERYONE on your hall gets sick.  Sleeping the appropriate amount of hours at the right time can reduce your chances of catching what everyone else has. 

- Messing up your diet, causing you to feel hungry when you actually aren't

As college students we don't need any more opportunities to gain weight.  Enough said.

- Impairing your memory

Yikes.  Staying up late to study as much as possible for a test or, God forbid, pulling an all-nighter to study (or party--even worse) will actually impact your ability to think clearly the next day!!

So start planning your days around going to sleep early and sleeping for 6-8 hours.  It will definitely be worth it!