According to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation, only 26 percent of college-age people sleep eight hours or more per night.
Adequate sleep is vital for adolescents and college students because they are still developing, said Bradley Vaughn, UNC associate professor with the Sleep Center in the Neurology Department.
While the average adult needs eight hours of sleep per night, people in their late teens and early twenties often require up to 10 hours.
Franklin said on a typical night she sleeps about four hours. The rest of her time is filled with classes, club field hockey practice, sorority obligations, friends and homework.
Vaughn said students like Franklin must replace lost sleep in order to maintain a normal level of activity.
"Each hour of sleep that you lose must be paid back into the sleep bank," he said.
People react differently to sleep deprivation, and there is no one single symptom, Vaughn said.
According to the National Sleep Foundation Web site, lack of sleep can cause moodiness and underperformance in daily activities. It also hinders thought processes involving memory, learning and reasoning.
This means all-night study sessions might be ineffective because the lack of sleep can prevent information recall.
Statistics also show that one of the most dangerous effects of sleep deprivation is an increased risk of automobile accidents.
Jane Stutts of the UNC Department of Transportation and Parking and principal investigator of a study done for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, cited data that lists drowsiness as the most likely cause of more than 100,000 car accidents each year. More than 70 percent of those accidents involve people who have had fewer than six hours of sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation poll also found that 24 percent of drivers aged 18 to 29 fell asleep at the wheel at least once during the year.
Stutts has several tips to prevent sleepy drivers from causing car accidents during long trips. "First stop and drink two cups of coffee. Then take a 15-minute nap to give the caffeine time to work its way into your system. This should enable you to drive for another one to two hours," she said.
Off the road, sleep deprivation can be combatted in a number of ways. Setting a daily sleep schedule is crucial for maintaining optimum performance and personal health, Stutts said.
"Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day," she said. "Sleep continuously if possible."
But students like Franklin complain that college life makes regular sleep patterns nearly impossible to establish.
"I would follow this advice if I had more time, but I don't think college really allows you to have a normal schedule."
When sleep is scarce at night, the National Sleep Foundation recommends taking a short afternoon nap.
Understanding the body's rhythms can also help prevent sleepiness during the day. For example, during the natural post-lunch energy slump, students should avoid lecture courses, opting instead for interactive classes or physical activities.
And students often find their own remedies for weariness.
"Once I'm awake, I'm pretty alert," Franklin said. "But I do drink a lot of Diet Coke."
The Features Editor can be reached at features@unc.edu.
