FOR RELEASE: March 12, 1997

Contact: Roger Segelken
Office: (607) 255-9736
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Larry Bernard 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu

ITHACA, N.Y. -- More than 80 percent of college undergraduate students are
smart enough to take a nap and help restore their mental and physical
powers, according to a survey of 802 Cornell University psychology students.

That's good news to sleep researcher and longtime nap-advocate James B.
Maas, professor of psychology in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences.
But too many of the best-educated students and too many working Americans,
he believes, still fail to acknowledge their need for ZZZZZs, as Maas
documents in two upcoming books.

"After completing what is probably the world's only introductory psychology
class to devote 3-1/2 weeks to the importance of sleep, 30 percent of my
students say they get more sleep than before," an encouraged Maas said.
"We need three things to stay alive and healthy: nutrition, exercise and --
no matter what shape we're in -- adequate sleep. We must educate people
about their own sleep needs -- which are usually substantially
underestimated," the psychologist said, explaining why, after three decades
of sleep research, he is turning his attention to a troubling phenomenon --
inappropriate drowsiness.

Last fall Maas surveyed his Psychology 101 class, which, with 1,300
students each semester, offers a reasonably representative cross section of
the university's 13,300-member undergraduate student body. The results:

-- About 30 percent of 802 students reported that, as a result of what they
learned about sleep in Psych 101, they were getting more sleep each night.

-- Some 34 percent said they were getting the same amount of sleep; 3
percent were sleeping less.

-- About 23 percent of the psychology students reported more frequent naps.

-- Overall, 81 percent said they take at least one nap a week; 17 percent
reported napping at least four days a week and 17 percent said they never
napped.

Maas, who coined the term "power nap" for the 20-minute workday snooze that
invariably leaves nappers refreshed and more productive, is delighted that
college students are getting some sleep. On average, he says, college
students and much of the general population get considerably less than
seven hours of sleep a day. About a third of the American population
somehow survives on fewer than six hours of sleep. That's far less than
the American norm of 10 hours a day in the 1800s, before Edison invented
the electric light bulb and people stopped going to bed with the chickens.

"It may be that 10 hours of sleep a day is normal for human beings;
certainly most of us function better with at least eight hours," Maas said.
The consequences of sleep deprivation are horrific, the psychologist says,
pointing to traffic accidents, industrial mishaps and the lower quality of
life as drowsy people become more irritable and dysfunctional.

For college-age students who are tempted to drink and drive with inadequate
sleep, the Cornell psychologist cites a recent finding from another
laboratory: A driver who consumes one beer on five to six hours of sleep
is just as impaired as an eight-hour sleeper who drinks a six-pack.

"When drowsy drivers say, 'I don't understand -- I only had one drink,'
they may be telling the truth. But they're failing to recognize the effect
that insufficient sleep has on our minds and bodies," Maas said. Details
of sleep research at Cornell and at other institutions are presented in two
upcoming books by Maas, The Power of Sleep: Preparing the Mind for Peak
Performance, and a second volume co-written with Stanford University sleep
researcher William Dement, M.D., tentatively titled The Stanford-Cornell
Sleep Book for College Students.

While considerable research has focused on sleep disorders and sleep
itself, Maas is now examining the condition of many sleep-deprived people
who spend their days in a daze -- that state of drowsiness on the verge of
dozing off at the wrong time or place. He is asking such questions as: Do
you always know when you are about to fall asleep? (More than 50 percent
of Maas' students said no, that sleep catches them by surprise or that they
are uncertain whether they know or not.)

Too many Americans are like the student who wrote Maas during exams last
semester, he said. "She was getting by on two hours of sleep a night and
getting good grades. She thought she was Superwoman and the rules didn't
apply to her, so she ignored all the signs.

"I was sure I had my body fooled," sophomore Susan Goodman wrote in a late
night

e-mail." "Yes, I was tired and, yes, I wasn't feeling top notch, but I was
doing so well. Then I carshed."

"Yes, it's possible, to accumulate a sleep deficit," Maas said. "But
sooner than we expect, our bodies have a way of collecting that sleep debt,
and the results can be disastrous."

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How to Sleep for a Better Tomorrow

James B. Maas, Ph.D., William C. Dement, M.D., Megan L. Wherry

"Sleep Alert" © 1997 Maas Presentations

-- Go to bed at the same time every night, including weekends.

-- Get enough sleep every night to be fully alert all day.

-- Get up at the same time every morning, without an alarm, seven days a week.

-- Remember, sleep debt is like a bank account. Put back what you take out.

-- If you are unable to obtain adequate nocturnal sleep, take a 15-20
minute "power nap" when you feel drowsy in the afternoon.

-- Avoid alcohol within two hours of bedtime.

-- Stop smoking.

-- Reduce caffeine intake from coffee, sodas and chocolate after 2 p.m.

-- Exercise daily and eat a proper diet.

-- Be sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool.

-- Periodically check the level of comfort and support of your mattress and
pillow.

-- Create a relaxing atmosphere in the bedroom, free from stress and tension.

-- Take a hot bath or do stretching before bedtime.

-- If your mind is focused on work and worries at bedtime, write down your
concerns on "worry cards."

-- Develop a ritual of reading for pleasure before you turn off the lights
each night.

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