Reflective Essay: The Importance Of Sleep

After recording my sleep for a whole week I came to some realizations that I should probably go to bed a little earlier. Though in an regular week, full of classes, exams, and other events I was able to average a little under 8 hours. There were nights that I was only able to squeeze in a little under 6 hours. I was able to go home that weekend, so you can see that I obviously sleep better there than I do in my dorm bed, I was able to catch up on sleep and get way over the recommended amounts. I do think that I get a decent amount of sleep when you average it out, but when you start to look at it separately the nights that I was only allowed 5 or so hours were really rough days for me. According to Psychology in Modules, eleventh edition, about every ninety minutes you go through a REM cycle. (Pg. 104) This means that on average I would have gone through about 5 REM cycles a night. This would obviously depend on how much sleep I received in a given night and if I woke up at all, but I tend to not wake up during the night. On page 104 it talks about how you almost always dream but if you remember a dream you probably woke up in the middle of a REM stage.
I would say that in a random given night I do not get enough sleep. This could cause me to have a lot of problems associated with a lack of sleeping. I found it really interesting that sleep loss can be related with depression. (Pg. 107) I do not consider myself to be an individual with depression, nor have I been diagnosed with depression. I would also have to agree with some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation, they are often cranky, have trouble studying, concentrating and getting projects done, along with making mistakes. (Pg. 108) These are things that I do on a daily