by Felicia Fonseca
Daily Lobo
Coffee can make a person stay awake at times, but when the body is ready, sleep is inevitable.
"Sleep is not like avoiding eating for a week," said Amanda Beck, medical director of the University of New Mexico's Sleeping Disorders Center. "You can't overcome sleep."
Although the center does not see many college students, Beck said the major sleeping disorder they are in danger of is sleep deprivation.
The Sleep Disorders Center, founded in 1985, treats numerous sleep problems and conducts clinics for adults and children, according to the center's Web site.
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Earlier this year the center was relocated to a new $1 million, 6,000-square-foot facility with six patient sleeping rooms and a host of high-tech equipment that can monitor patient's sleep cycles, heart rate and breathing patterns.
Most people require eight hours of sleep, which many students are not getting, Beck said. Beck said the average person needs from six to 10 hours of sleep per night. As people deprive themselves of sleep, they get sleepier and need to catch up.
"Sleep is like a bank account," Beck said. "You need so much to pay bills."
The reason many students find themselves nodding off in classes is because they engage in irregular sleeping patterns which early morning classes, work and late night bar scenes all contribute to, Beck said.
"It is not normal to be so excessively sleepy and fall asleep in lectures," Beck said. "Sleep will inherently, naturally take over no matter what you try to do."
When sleep deprivation becomes more regular, bigger problems including disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea arise.
Vanessa Rivera, a junior at Manzano High School, experienced short-term insomnia over three months. She progressively got less and less sleep until she remained awake for nearly a week.
"I couldn't tell if things were really happening, I was delusional," Rivera said. "My brother would come in the room and I would say 'I'm busy at work,' only I wasn't at work."
UNM's Sleep Disorders Center conducts about 1,200 sleep studies and sees about 2,400 new patients a year
According to its Web site, use of the sleep center is covered by most insurance.
Pedro Esparza, a UNM custodian, has a sleeping disorder that will last the rest of his life. Esparza has sleep apnea which is a condition where breathing stops many times a night for periods of up to two minutes.
It is unfortunate, Beck said, because people with apnea are labeled as lazy or dumb, when in fact they are just tired.
"I would be stopped at a red light and fall asleep in my car," Esparza said. "I would be angry, breaking peoples' windows and then start laughing. It was tearing up my mind."
Beck suggests preventative naps for college students somewhere around 45 minutes in mid-afternoon. She said people should avoid drinking alcohol before going to bed because as it wears off, fragmented sleep occurs, making deprivation worse.
"It is better to get up at a normal time and take a nap than sleep in," Beck said. "There are some things you can't get away with. The more you add to the plate, the more you have to deal with."
