Delta Waves Vs Alpha Waves

A few weeks ago, my roommate and I were discussing how tired we were. We had foolishly stayed up most of the previous night watching The Office, and ended up with about four hours of sleep each. She decided to take a nap, and asked if I was going to as well. Because I had to leave for class in 45 minutes, I told her no. She responded with “But 45 minutes is the perfect timing for a nap! It’s long enough to get deep sleep, but not long enough to enter the REM stage.” If that were in fact the exact right amount of time to enter deep sleep without having time to enter the REM stage, that would be the very reason to not take a nap of this time. Why, as people requiring more sleep than the average adult, do college students not know more about napping?
Alpha waves are regular, have medium frequency, and occur while resting. Beta waves are irregular, have a low amplitude, and occur while attentive. In stage one of the sleep cycle, we experience Theta waves, which have similar frequencies and regularity to Alpha waves. Stage two also involves Theta waves, but may also have short bursts of Alpha and Beta waves called sleep spindles, or Delta waves called k complexes. These are the two shallowest sleep stages, and therefor the easiest to wake up from. Stages three and four are much deeper, and are almost identical. The major difference is that stage three consists of under 50% Delta waves, while stage four is over 50%. The 5th stage is called REM sleep, which stands for rapid eye movement. During this stage, we return to Alpha and Beta waves, making it impossible to differentiate between REM sleep and awakeness based on brain waves. Because of this similarity, REM sleep is the easiest to wake up
Students who have a hard time falling and staying asleep may have insomnia, along with 25% of the population. Previously, medications for this disorder were designed to aid in the process of getting to sleep (usually oriented towards stage four), which is not effective in terms of achieving REM sleep. Although this has been studied and the general medicinal approach has shifted, college students often reach for whatever they think will get them to sleep. Because they are concerned not with the quality of their sleep, but whether or not they actually get any, students are probably more likely to opt for an option more in line with this older theory of treatment. However, there are many over-the-counter medications that are currently available to help accomplish a sense of refreshment after sleep, which are designed to help reach REM sleep. Not only do these medications help with the process of falling asleep, they can also increase the efficiency of