As college students return to campus, they'll be showered in the usual handouts of coupons, condoms and credit cards. But some schools also are giving students what a growing body of research reveals could make a huge difference in their college careers: ear plugs, sleep shades and napping lessons.

College health officials are finally realizing healthy sleep habits are a potential miracle drug for much of what ails the famously frazzled modern American college student: anxiety, depression, physical health problems and - more than most students realize - academic troubles. Some studies have found students getting adequate sleep average a full letter grade higher than those who don't.


Technology isn't helping, with wireless Internet adding to the 24/7 distractions and students sleeping with their smartphones on. That likely helps explain data showing college students got about eight hours of sleep in the 1960s and '70s, seven by the '80s, and, according to more recent surveys, closer to six these days.

Campaigning last week, even President Barack Obama told some students at an Ohio State University diner he assumed "you guys have arranged it so you don't have really early morning classes." No such luck. "Actually, I failed that," one student replied, telling the president he had one at 8 a.m. the next day.


The University of Louisville is even planning a campus-wide "flash nap" - think of a flash mob but with sleeping, not dancing - later in the school year ("We have to arrange in it advance so our public safety folks know it's not an epidemic of something," said director of health promotion Karen Newton).

Still, given the scope of sleeping problems, what's surprising is such efforts are exceptional. Major, campus-wide campaigns appear rare or non-existent. Experts say professors (and doctors) aren't always good sleep role models. As for deans and administrators, many seem hesitant to tell parents who've just dropped $50,000 on tuition the big push on campus this year will be for everyone to sleep more.



As described by junior Sara Campbell, residence hall life at UA makes it hard even for students trying to sleep - constant late-night chattering, visitors coming and going, early morning cleaning crews running their vacuums. She aims to be asleep by 12:30 or so but was dumbfounded to find girls on her hall regularly pulling all-nighters for papers and exams - basically, academic suicide, the research shows.


Still, Campbell is applying what she's learned about sleep as a psychology major. This year, she's arranged her schedule to have classes and work start at 8 a.m. every day of the week. That will be tough, but commits her to avoiding the destructive pattern trapping many college students - getting up early one day, then sleeping late the next.




"On a campus they're dealing with alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, Ridalin abuse, sexual assault," Wolgast said. In comparison, sleep "looks like a small problem. But the truth is I could wave a magic wand and change everybody's sleep, there would be fewer problems with pretty much everything else."

But Wolgast and others don't have a magic wand, and have concluded nagging students, or fighting the campus culture, is hopeless. Running napping classes - pitched as ways to help students maximize their sleep - has proved a more effective pitch. Students also happily accept ear plugs. Hastings, with just 1,200 students, orders them in bulk from a manufacturing supply company and hands out thousands, said Beth Littrell, director of campus health services.

The guru of the college sleep crusade is James Maas, who over 48 years taught more than 65,000 students in Cornell University's most popular class - a sleep-focused version of introductory psychology. Maas evangelized to his students and experimented on them as well, asking them to wear sleep-monitoring headbands and showing them magnetic resonance images of the brains of sleep-deprived college students.





The results? Twenty percent fewer student visits to the health center (in a bad flu year); 17 percent more students taking time for a hot breakfast and a record increase in GPA. Also, several Deerfield sports teams enjoyed unexpectedly good years, thanks to late-season surges.




"Kids in the coffee line will brag, 'I got two hours of sleep last night,' almost like it's a competition," she said. "If that's all you hear as an adolescent, you begin to think these types of behavior are normal."

Sleep tips for students

Adolescents typically need between eight and nine hours of sleep a night, but some studies suggest they typically get closer to six. Here are some sleep tips for college students (or anyone) looking to improve their sleep habits.

•Exercise regularly, but not after the early evening. Avoid caffeine after 2 p.m. Try to avoid late-night eating and alcohol, but don't go to bed hungry, either.

•Don't use electronics - laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc. - late at night. Not only will the content stimulate your brain, the brightness of the screen is comparable to a morning walk in the sun when it comes to waking you up.

•Make your bed a place just for sleep. Don't study, watch TV or do anything else there (or not much else. Some colleges advise limiting your bed to the "three S's" - sleep, sex and sickness).

•If you have early classes on some days, try not to sleep in on the others. Experts say a regular schedule is the most essential element of a healthy sleep routine.

•Try to avoid naps, and if you do nap, nap before 3 p.m. and for no more than 20 minutes. Otherwise you'll keep yourself up at night.

•Set your alarm clock - but for the evening, at a reasonable bedtime. That way, you're less likely to need it in the morning (if you need an alarm clock to wake up feeling rested, you're not sleeping enough).

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