(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – If you have a child heading off to college for this first time this fall, you may want to prepare them for a lesson many students find hard to learn. “Learning how to get a good night’s sleep in a dorm can be tough, and if you don’t take steps to get good sleep, it can quickly take a serious toll on your grades and your health,” said Dr. Aneesa Das, a sleep specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Too many students go in without a plan, and before they know it, they experience everything from bad grades to illness to weight gain, all tied to sleep issues.”
It’s estimated 70 percent of college students are sleep deprived, which isn’t surprising given their schedules and the fact that college dorms can be hot, noisy and uncomfortable. Dr. Das often meets with students at Ohio State, offering tips on how to keep cool at night and drown out noise in the dorm. She says it’s important for students to develop good habits so they can avoid taking pills to help them sleep or using caffeine to keep them awake.
