Like exercise and eating, everyone needs a different amount of sleep. The normal amount of sleep needed can range between 6 and 10 hours. Most adults require about 8 hours of sleep each night to perform at their best. However, many people only receive 4 to 6 hours of sleep most nights. Losing a couple hours of sleep for several nights creates a condition known as sleep debt that can lead to health problems. You cannot just ignore these missing hours.
You need to catch up on the missed sleep or run the risk of personal injury or illness. Sleep deprivation can lead to health conditions such as depression, high blood pressure, and muscle pain. It is also a known contributor in the early onset of kidney disease and diabetes, and plays a role in memory loss, lack of concentration, and poor judgment.(Web,1)
As college students, we often complain that we have not gotten enough sleep on any given night. We drink copious amounts of caffeine in order to stay awake and finish that paper. Many times, we compensate for a lack of sleep at night by taking naps after (and sometimes during) our classes. This behavior might be recognized as "normal" by many teenagers and young people. However, many college-aged people suffer from sleep disorders.
The most commonly recognized among these is insomnia, or the inability to obtain an adequate amount of sleep. But often overlooked and potentially harmful is hypersomnia. Although we rarely identify it as a negative condition, many of us actually get too much sleep.
Hypersomnia is defined as excessive daytime sleepiness and/or nighttime sleep. Humans sleep for an average of eight hours a night. Those with hypersomnia may find themselves sleeping for over ten hours at a time.
