Colleges hope to lure owls, offer midnight classes

All-night cram sessions and “after-hours” parties are nothing out of the ordinary in the average college town. Some universities are starting notice the night-owl habits of students and are scheduling classes late. And we’re not talking about traditional night classes. These schools are holding class at midnight.

The extremely late classes are to reach out to shift workers and keep up with an increase in enrollment and demand.

An article in this month’s issue of The Scientist profiles the midnight program at the College of Southern Nevada. The school’s main campus is in Las Vegas, which has among the top shift workers per capita in the U.S.

Classes offered include biology, math and appropriately, astronomy.

Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and Clackamas Community College in Oregon also offer midnight classes. Clackamas holds welding classes until 2 a.m.

This is all par for the course for college students who would be up anyway. A recent study found a majority of college students are poor sleepers. Only 30 percent of students reported sleeping at least eight hours per night.

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College Students & Parents: Sleeping in Different Time Zones

Earlier this week Michelle Slatalla wrote in the New York Times about how her sleep was disrupted when her two older daughters came home from college for winter break.

The nocturnal habits that her daughters developed as teens had escalated. At 3 a.m. they texted, made phone calls, played video games and watched TV as if it were daytime.

“It seems as if my husband and I live in a completely different time zone from our children,” Slatalla lamented.

AASM secretary/treasurer Dr. Nancy Collop told Slatalla that these habits tend to reinforce a late-night schedule.

“There are lots of environmental issues that play a role in altering people’s sleep patterns,” said Collop. “The most obvious would be the computer.”

Light is an important timing cue for the brain. It is a signal that tells the brain it is time to be alert. Staring at a brightly lit computer screen at night sends a stimulating signal to the brain.

So will Slatalla ever see her children again?

Sleep researcher Mary Carskadon, PhD, told her not to worry. Their brains are still developing. So their sleep patterns are likely to shift as they get older.

“The brain tends to correct itself,” said Carskadon.

Image by nickestamp

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Insomnia Cookies for College Students

Late nights will be common as college students head back to campus for the winter semester. Whether studying or partying, sleep is often put on hold.

Hungry students typically have to choose from the three late-night food groups: pizza, burgers and tacos. But on some campuses a company is delivering cookies and milk for students who crave something different after dark.

The idea began in 2003 when some students at the University of Pennsylvania began baking cookies for their friends. Soon other students started calling.

So they began delivering late-night cookies and milk across campus. Insomnia Cookies was born.

Now the company has expanded to nearly 20 campuses. Cookies and milk are being delivered to night owls at schools such as Cornell, NYU, Purdue and South Carolina.

But hunger isn’t the only nighttime problem for college students. A recent study of college students found that more than 60 percent were poor sleepers.

These students were much more likely to have problems with their physical and mental health. Tension and stress were significant predictors of sleep quality.

The study also found that students were sleep deprived. Only 30 percent of students reported sleeping at least eight hours per night.

Learn more about sleep and college students.

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Caffeine & Alcohol: “Caffeinated Cocktails” in College

Campus life at college tends to involve poor sleep and sleep deprivation. Often caffeine and alcohol are a part of the problem.

Each substance by itself can be disruptive to sleep. Now a popular trend among college students is to combine the two together.

Some make their own “caffeinated cocktails” by mixing alcohol with high-caffeine energy drinks. Others simply buy caffeinated beer.

A 2007 study surveyed 496 college students. Results show that 54 percent of energy drink users consumed the drinks with alcohol while partying.

In 2008 more than 4,200 college students completed a Web-based survey. Results show that 24 percent of current drinkers reported mixing alcohol with energy drinks.

The belief is that caffeine blunts the negative effects of alcohol intoxication. But is this true?

In a study published last May rats were given rum mixed with a soft drink. The caffeine did not reduce the metabolic effects of alcohol.

In another recent study women consumed an energy drink with alcohol. The mixture had a negative effect on cognitive performance.

A 2006 study found that caffeine had no effect on the degree to which alcohol increased errors. But caffeine did reduce how people perceived their alcohol intoxication.

Earlier this week the FDA reported that it is going to look into the safety and legality of caffeinated alcoholic beverages. It notified 30 companies that make the drinks.

In the past year both Anheuser-Busch and Miller agreed to discontinue their caffeinated alcoholic beverages. They also agreed that they would not produce these drinks in the future.

Earlier this year the Sleep Education Blog reported that adults between the ages of 18 and 24 are using more sleeping pills. Some students also are taking “smart drugs” to improve their academic performance.

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