by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Students who fall asleep in class probably won't face any direct consequences.
UNM doesn't have an official policy on falling asleep in class.
Paul Neville, a lecturer in the geology department, said he is sympathetic to the fatiguing student lifestyle.
"My students are generally pretty good," he said. "But I can understand that a few of them drift off. That's just the way it is."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Neville teaches class in late afternoons and early evenings, which he said makes for varying degrees of alertness in students.
"You get some students who are thinking their best, and there are some who have had a very long day," Neville said. "But it's never really been a serious problem."
Neville said about one or two students per week fall asleep in his class. He said it is discouraging to see a student sleeping during class, but he tries to disregard those lost in slumber.
Instead of waking or punishing sleeping students, Neville said he tries to keep students awake by making his classes engaging, and he encourages students to actively think about the material he is presenting.
"I try to get them to think about the problem instead of doing a bunch of yadda yadda," Neville said. "I try to keep it invigorating."
Political science professor Ellen Grigsby uses a similar strategy.
"I think it's important for students to be engaged in class instead of just sitting there staring," Grigsby said.
Grigsby, who prefers teaching 8 a.m. classes, said she encourages her students to do anything necessary to be physically and mentally present in class.
"Bring your coffee to class, bring your breakfast to class, come in your pajamas - whatever you have to do to come to class and participate," she said.
Grigsby said she has not had a problem with students falling asleep and could remember only two students who fell asleep regularly in class. She said she talked to those students outside of class to make sure they were all right.
She would do the same for other students who had trouble staying awake, she said.
Sophomore Jillian Castor said she often sees other students falling asleep but isn't bothered by it. Castor said she thinks professors should ignore sleeping students.
"The professor should teach those of us who are interested," Castor said. "If you fall asleep, it's your loss, not theirs."
Student Jenn Dawson had a differing opinion on how professors should approach sleeping students.
She said she thinks professors should have policies for sleeping similar to those on attendance.
"If you're sleeping in class, you're pretty much not there," Dawson said.
Dawson said it would be fair to take a few points off the final grade of a student who slept in class.
Grigsby wasn't sure if a university-wide policy would be useful, but thinks UNM would benefit greatly from a discussion about a student's role in class, she said. The discussion would mention that it is a student's duty to stay awake during class, and it would suggest how to deal with students who did not fulfill their duty.
Neville said he doesn't think there should be a university-wide policy about dealing with students who fall asleep.
"There's no silver bullet," Neville said. "I can't think of a policy that would work for all classes in all cases."
Sleep deprivation hurts students' daily activities
College students are one of the groups most likely to suffer from sleep deprivation, according to Amanda Beck, the medical director at the UNM Sleep Disorders Center.
This is because many students try to juggle school, work and a social life. Getting enough sleep is often one of their lowest priorities, Beck said.
How much sleep is enough varies from person to person according to their genetics, she said. Most students need between seven and nine hours of sleep. Beck said someone is probably not getting enough sleep if he or she is tired during the day. She said waking later on the weekends is also a sign of sleep deprivation.
"It's not normal to feel sleepy during a lecture," Beck said. "People who are not sleep-deprived do not sleep in on weekends."
Student Aaron Lee said he tries to sleep eight to nine hours per night. But because of work and school, he is often able to sleep only five or six, he said. He frequently feels tired during the day and almost always sleeps in on weekends, Lee said.
People suffering from sleep deprivation can experience dangerous lapses in judgment similar to those caused by alcohol consumption, Beck said.
"For a young, healthy body, the major impairment is going to be in judgment," Beck said.
In addition to the physical risks caused by impaired judgment, Beck said, sleep deprivation also has a negative impact on students' academic lives.
"A sleepy person cannot learn. They cannot retain. They cannot grasp. They cannot analyze," Beck said.
According to Beck, sleep loss is cumulative: If someone misses an hour of sleep each night, after five days he or she will be missing five hours' of sleep.
"You're really cheating mother nature," she said. "You can only do that for so long."
