A good night’s sleep is beneficial to your health. In fact, taking this for granted can have astonishing effects.

Ashland University Lifetime Wellness Coordinator Laura Kruger explained that the appropriate amount of sleep you need at night varies with your age.

“The younger the age, the more sleep one would need. For adults, we should get seven if not eight hours, and some people even need nine,” she said. “What I have found in teaching class is that many students don’t even get the minimum on average—or it is inconsistent from weekdays to weekends.”

Professor and Chair of the AU Psychology Department Mitchell Metzger agreed with Kruger. He went on to explain that students should meet the amount of sleep they require each night. 

“One person may be able to function on six hours of sleep while another might need nine hours,” he said. “If you know your optimal level, do whatever is necessary to meet that requirement,” Metzger advised.

Metzger continued by referencing the story of Randy Gardner, a seventeen-year-old high school student from 1964 who was the subject of a sleep study by staying awake for 11 straight days (264 hours) without any stimulants. Gardner’s health, activity, and responses were monitored by Lt. Cdr. John J. Ross in San Diego, California. As Metzger explained, the effects of sleep deprivation can result in moodiness, mental lapses, and even the possibility of hallucinations. However, Metzger reassured that these effects would likely not affect someone who only remains awake for an entire day at most.

According to Ross’s study on Gardner, the effects of staying awake excessively were evident. By the second day, Gardner had developed mild astereognosis—which is the inability to identify objects by means of touch. 

He even had to swear off watching television at this point in the experiment because focusing his eyes was too much of a strain. This was only the beginning. 

“Sleep deprivation can cause lack of concentration, weight gain, increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and all sorts of things that can really affect your health,” Kruger warned. “For a lot of students this comes into play in regards to two main times during the year: midterms and finals week.”

Metzger agreed and explained that staying up late to study really does not help in the long-run either, because it is difficult to be attentive in class the next day and retaining the information can be challenging.

By the third day Gardner had developed mood changes, nausea, and he even showed signs of ataxia—lacking the ability to coordinate muscle movements. On day four of no sleep, Gardner became irritable and had lapses of memory. 

He even had physical deficiencies such as seeing fog around street lamps and even confusing a street sign for a person. 

Amazingly, he also led himself to falsely believe that he was a football player. For the remainder of the experiment he continued to display these symptoms and struggled to think clearly in any way. Gardner finally slept for 14.75 hours after being awake for 264.

Gardner’s story may seem a bit unrealistic, scary, or even outdated. 

However, one can truly learn a lot from the experiment’s results. Never underestimate the power of sleep—it can do you a lot of good.

“Sleep can restore performance—a lot of students can recognize this, but particularly athletes. It can also assist with learning and memory, boost production of your brain cells, reduce fatigue, and it can also improve your mood, performance, and alertness,” said Kruger.

Near the end of Gardner’s wakefulness, he was asked to start at the number 100 and count down by intervals of seven. During the process, he wound up at the number sixty-five (which is incorrect mathematically). When asked why he stopped, he responded that he had forgotten what he was even doing in the first place.

Sleeping not only makes intellectual thought more effective, it also can vastly improve dimensions of social and emotional wellness. 

“Sometimes you find that when you are on lack of sleep, you might get snappier,” Kruger explained. This makes sense, after all. “We spend almost a third of our day sleeping—it is significant to our health. So it does affect every aspect of our wellness.”

Whether you are a health professional or not, make sure to get the right amounts of sleep. It can be helpful to establish a routine, avoid caffeine late in the afternoon, keeping technology away from your bedside, and exercising earlier on in the day. Taking naps throughout the day can also be worth-while. 

Gardner’s experiment summarizes one simple life lesson: the more sleep you get, the happier you will be.