You are considered insomnia by the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) if your answer to the simple question “how often do you have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep?” is “most of the time” or “all of the time”. Based on this criterion, CCHS estimated 13.4% of the Canadian population aged 15 or older to suffer from insomnia in the year 2002. Comparing to their non-insomniac counterparts, they are significantly more likely to suffer from chronic physical conditions (such as asthma and arthritis), anxiety disorders, mood disorders, work stress, and other general life stress (such as being divorced or having less than average level of education). Source
As university students, we are often relatively younger, better educated, less likely to suffer from chronic physical conditions, and less likely to have substance abuse problems, but that does not mean we don’t need to worry about insomnia. On the contrary, we only need one good reason to worry about it – insomnia is negatively correlated with GPA.
Of course, correlation does not equal causation. It is unclear whether those students get lower GPA because of their lack of sleep or that they cannot fall asleep because they are worried about their GPA, or if there is a third variable causing them both. However, it is not news in psychology that sleep helps memory consolidation – for both declarative memory (how you consciously remember things, such as in an exam) and procedural memory (how you acquire a skill, such as playing an instrument). We can therefore safely conclude that not going to sleep is not good for your grades.
How to combat insomnia, then? Well, if it gets to the point where you have to consult a doctor, don’t hesitate to do so. But here are some additional tips to help combat those sleepless nights:
- Try going to bed at approximately the same time every night and wake up around the same time in the morning.
- Use your bed primarily for sleeping. Avoid doing schoolwork or watching TV while in bed.
- Try not to stimulate your brain right before bed by, for instance, smoking, using stimulating drugs, drinking alcohol (unless you are looking for a hangover), or watching action movies.
- Insomnia is sometimes caused by stress, so anything that reduces stress for you can also reduce insomnia.
